Learners learn mathematics to foster their mathematical inquiry process skills and apply the skills to daily routine life. Mathematical inquiry process skills refers to inquiring, predicting and logical reasoning based on mathematical knowledge. And a...
Learners learn mathematics to foster their mathematical inquiry process skills and apply the skills to daily routine life. Mathematical inquiry process skills refers to inquiring, predicting and logical reasoning based on mathematical knowledge. And analogy refers to solving a given problem by recalling a previous activity of solving another similar problem and finding similarities between the two. Analogical thinking offers a clue about lots of problems including simple daily and complicated problems.
The purpose of this study was to examine the analogy cases of mathematics textbooks and the analogical thinking process of students in problem solving in an attempt to shed light on the utilization of analogy in mathematical problem solving. The following efforts were made to serve the purpose:
1. Analyze the analogy cases of an elementary fourth-grade mathematics textbook according to a selected standard.
2. Analyze the analogical thinking process of school children in their fourth grade during task performance.
3. Analyze the analogical thinking process of fourth graders in mathematics class.
The subjects in this study were 30 students in a fourth-grade class in M elementary school in the city of Incheon, where this researcher worked. Since it's not an easy task to look into every student's analogical thinking process, four students were selected to make a close analysis. Out of the four, two were upper-tiered students, and the other two were in the middle tiers.
After theories and earlier studies were reviewed, the analogy examples in the fourth-grade mathematics textbook were categorized into three. One was analogy for a conceptual enlargement, and another was methodological analogy using basic problems. The third was to analogize out of a model unrelated to mathematics. What level the students should reach in each analogy stage was determined, and then an analogy analysis framework was prepared to see if they reach the level.
As a result of analyzing the analogy segments of the mathematics textbook and the analogical thinking process of the students during problem solving, the following findings were given:
First, the third example to analogize out of a model unrelated to mathematics was most common in the fourth-grade mathematics textbook. Analogy was used mostly to explain the principles and concepts of mathematics. The analogy for a conceptual enlargement was used a lot in the area of number and operation.
Second, the majority of the students had a tendency to look for easily noticeable ostensible similarities between the given problems rather than hidden structural similarities in the stage of similarity awareness.
Third, the model unrelated to mathematics played a crucial role in inferring a new concept or problem-solving method.
Fourth, analogical thinking took place mostly step by step in the order of similarity awareness, application and diagram development. The success or failure of the previous stage affected performance in the next stage, but the success of the previous stage didn't necessarily lead to the success of the next one.
Fifth, it's easier to analogize when the structure of the given problem was accurately grasped. The students in the middle tiers just used the given conditions, whereas the upper-tiered students solved the given problem by analogical inference.
Given the findings of the study, there are some suggestions:
First, this study focused on the analogical thinking process of the fourth graders during problem solving. But analogical thinking faculty may hinge on developmental stage, and the analogical thinking of students in the other grades should be investigated.
Second, the scope of this study was confined to the analysis of analogical thinking process. In the future, research efforts should be channeled into determining how to develop analogical thinking.