Mathematics Teaching and Learning: South Korean Elementary Teachers' Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching

The purpose of this research is to identify the categories of South Korean elementary teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics. Emerging from the data collected and the subsequent analysis are five categories of South Korean elementary teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics: Mathematics Curriculum Knowledge, Mathematics Learner Knowledge, Fundamental Mathematics Conceptual Knowledge, Mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge, and Mathematics Pedagogical Procedural Knowledge. The first three categories of knowledge play a significant role in mathematics instruction as an integrated form within Mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge. This study also demonstrated that Mathematics Pedagogical Procedural Knowledge might play a pivotal role in constructing Mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge. These findings are connected to results from relevant studies in terms of the significant role of teachers’ knowledge in mathematics instruction.

Rina Kim has Ph. D in Curriculum and Instruction from Boston College. She works as an elementary school teacher in South Korea and teaches courses in mathematics education at Seoul National University of Education. Her academic focus is mathematics education at the elementary level. Her research interests also include using technology to improve the quality of mathematics instruction. She has published her research in leading journals in her field and presented papers at major research conferences. Her other recent book is Reading, Writing, and Discussing at the Graduate Level: A Guidebook for International Graduate Students coauthored with Lillie R. Albert and Hang Gyun Sihn.

Lillie R. Albert, an associate professor at Boston College Lynch School of Education, has a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on the influence that sociocultural historic contexts have on learning and development of learners across the lifespan. Her specialization includes the exploration of the relationship between the teaching and learning of mathematics and the use of cultural and communicative tools to develop conceptual understanding of mathematics, which includes collaborating with mathematics education scholars at Seoul National University of Education, Seoul, South Korea to explore government policies in supporting the preparation of mathematics teachers. She has published her research in leading national and international journals in her field and presented papers at major research conferences. Her other recent books are Rhetorical Ways of Thinking: Vygotskian Theory and Mathematical Learning, in collaboration with Danielle Corea and Vittoria Macadino and Reading, Writing, and Discussing at the Graduate Level: A Guidebook for International Graduate Students coauthored with Rina Kim and Hang Gyun Sihn.