The purpose of this study is to enhance teachers' understanding by learning about the meaning and sub-components of creativity and convergence, and to look at the current state of how creative and convergence capabilities are actually reflected in the...
The purpose of this study is to enhance teachers' understanding by learning about the meaning and sub-components of creativity and convergence, and to look at the current state of how creative and convergence capabilities are actually reflected in the second-year middle school textbooks according to the 2015 revised curriculum that will be applied from 2019. This was to provide useful information for the future development of textbooks and class materials.
The results of an analysis of the creative and convergence questions contained in five textbooks for second grade middle school students according to the revised 2015 curriculum are as follows.
First, the number of sub-factorial questions of creative convergence capabilities appearing in five textbooks totaled 132, with the largest number of external connections in mathematics standing at about 36.3 percent. It was followed by flexibility, mathematics inner connection, fluency and refinement, with the least originality at about 8.3 percent. This is the result of the analysis considering overlapping questions with two or three sub-components per question. The reason for the large number of external connections in mathematics is assumed to be to generate interest and interest in mathematics and to foster a positive attitude toward mathematics by making students experience various cases in which mathematics is utilized by utilizing real-life materials.
Second, according to the comparison between textbooks, the textbook with the most number of sub-components of creative convergence capabilities was E textbook with 42 questions. The fewest textbooks had 20 questions as C textbooks, while the five textbooks had about 26 questions on average, with the rest excluding E textbooks showing similar numbers. The five textbooks were presenting a creative convergence section under the names of "creative convergence exploration," "big thinking mathematics," " math ability mugwort," "creative convergence project after crossing the mathematical world," "creative thinking and various solutions," and "focus! adding ability to the curriculum."
Third, comparing the frequency of subcomponents of creative convergence questions by subject area, the geometric area was the most common with 37.9%, and the probability area was the lowest with 12.1%. The most common sub-component in the geometrical area was the external connection of mathematics, and the least visible sub-component was originality. The probability area also had the largest number of external connections in mathematics, and internal connections in mathematics never appeared.
Based on the results of an analysis on the creative and convergence questions contained in math textbooks for the second year of middle school according to the 2015 revised curriculum, the following mathematical implications are to be provided.
First, the results of analysis by sub-component of creative and convergence capabilities showed similar figures, but compared to the creative abilities of which the sub-components were evenly applied, the convergence capacity was more likely to be focused on the external connection of mathematics among the sub-components in all five textbooks. In order to provide students with various opportunities for accident development, even distribution of the subcomponents in creative and convergence questions is needed.
Second, there is no diversity in the form of a question. During the analysis, questions were found using similar materials between textbooks. For example, there were many overlapping questions in the geometric section, such as the weight scale of the pyramid, the triplicate of colored paper, and the negative height of the text and expression sections. This means that there is a lack of diversity in creative and convergence questions.
Third, there is a lack of research on questions and analysis of creative convergence capabilities for textbooks, which are the most frequently used tools in education. With the emergence of creative convergence capabilities in the 2015 revised curriculum, more analysis of creative convergence questions in textbooks should take place.