Minister of Education, Culture, Sports,Science and Technology Award (School Education Section)
Hokkaido Society of Practical Mathematics Education, High School
Arithmetic & Mathematics Education Research Group (Hokkaido
Prefecture)
lnformation:
Shinkawa Go-jo 14-1-1,Kita-ku Sapporo,Hokkaido OOl-0925
URL:http://www.nikonet.or.jp/spring/
Abstract
Various
types of interesting learning materials and little ingenuities in
school lessons related to mathematics are to be taken over to many
others and subsequently improved.We aimed at constructing such a
learning material database.The database consists of various topics
related to mathematics,practical records of school
lessons,collaborative researches reports having specific focus,aspects
of the Hokkaido High School Mathematics Competition,and the learning
material series: "Kotewaza (little tricks) of Mathematics," "Meikuru (making) Mathematics," and "Treasure Box of Mathematics."
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1.Aims of the Activity
Hokkaido
Society of Practical Mathematics Education,High School Arithmetic &
Mathematics Education Research Group was established in 1994 by a group
of highschool teachers in Sapporo City.
Today's
education underlines "the wide-ranging needs of mathematics education
in the information society." Teachers are expected not only "to foster
students' systematical ways of thinking in mathematics" but also "to
foster students' willingness to actively use the concepts" and to
promote them to be proactive and highly motivated.
Based
on the expection mentioned above,the Group intents to "analyze high
school mathematics learning materials and the relation between each
material, and to makes students efficiently understand the essential
meaning of the learning material." Therefore,the Society has been
engaged in activities emphasizing consistently on "research and
analysis of the learing materials."
By
making the existing research work online,a network-based learing
material database "Spring of Mathematics" was developed in
1997,planning to accumulate the data of the learning material contents.
The
Group aims at "public disclosure," "collaboration," and "accumulation."
These three are to be the pillar,and the Group not only hopes to make
its website open on the Internet, but also wishes to make it more
mathematics education-based.
2.Special Features / Methods / Points of Emphasis
The
biggest feature of the website is that it includes daily researches on
learning materials and practical records of teaching procedure, written
by a number of authors. By digitalizing daily contents and making the
website available to the public, we plan to collect more opinions from
the public and to reflect it to the teaching activity.
The
most important content of the online database is "Collaborative Studies
on specific topics." Each topic may develop further on to a better
learning material through examining and deepenlng from a different
perspective.
The website
basically contains contents on the Group's activities; however,
features of the Web have enabled offers from out of Hokkaido too.
3.Contents of the Aclivity
Wide range of topics is covered in the contents.
"Topics
of Mathematics" : collecting various topics beyond the classroom walls
and school textbooks. "Practical Records of teaching procedure /
Remarks / Reports" : containing various ideas of daily school lessons
in mathematics education. "Topic-specific Collaborative Studies" :
examinlng specific topic from various angles. The "Hokkaido High School
Mathematics Competition" : aiming to improve high school students'
mathematical skills in Hokkaido as well as finding students with unique
ideas. Furthemore, it contains "Kotewaza of Mathematics," "Treasure Box of Mathematics" : which are hints of teaching practical research over the years in series.
In addition, an e-mail list is distributed to promote an exchange of opinions on a daily basis.
4.Results of the Activity
It
is important that even a little ingenuities in school lessons or
researches on learning materials are taken over and improved afterwards
by others. These worthy contents and practical reports should not be
wasted. Accumulating previous works and research contents is one of the
most diplomatic ways of utilizing the advantages of computer network
such as "infomation collection and storage" and "elimination of
regional characteristics."
The
Group's off-line activities and the publicized contents on the website
are closely related and played a critical role in gathering more
teachers and bringing their power together. The Group plays a central
role in grass-roots research organizing and distributing infomation in
the large Hokkaido region.
In
recent years, it is said that research organizations' activities are
declining, but our Group has developed the cooperation with teachers in
and out of Hokkaido. Cooperation on the Web as well as online
communication has provided us a great deal of experience and energy. We
learned that, even in the computer network communication era, human
network is the most important thing.
In
addition, we received opinions and questions from people engaged in
mathematics education as well as from a wide range of individuals who
are purely interested in mathematics.
5.Prospects and Future Issues
To
maintain the Group's activities in daily basis, cooperation among
member teachers are essential. We must contrive ways in order to manage
the website by refrecting what the member teachers think and require.
The improvement of the Group activities itself is the necessary
requirement for further improvement in contents.
Moreover,
considering the website contents as the base for information
transmission, listed below are future issues for improvement of the
Group website:
- Constructing a system that enables users to search necessary infomation from the huge volumes of contents.
- Providing contents to the public in an easy-to-understand and user-friendly format.
- Gathering opinions and questions from high school students to develop a website which students can also participate.
- Developing a system for self-learning on the Internet which is now under development.
Potentials
over the Internet are widely expanding. However, while the number of
personal web pages is increasing, the number of organizational web
pages is rather limited. Thinking of such situations, releasing the
website contents in order to enhance mathematics education for the wide
users continues to be required.
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