Korean teachers taking in differences, making notes during month-long visit
For third year, IU School of Education hosting group of secondary math teachers
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Twenty-two secondary math teachers are in the middle of a four week mathematics education training program at the IU School of Education. It’s the third year the School of Education has won a grant from South Korea's Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to host the teachers. It’s part of a program the government in Korea sponsors to send math and science teachers across the United States to learn different methods of teaching.“We want to see what is the difference between Korea and the United States and if there is something to learn from the different system,” said Se Ho Hwang, a high school mathematics teacher in the Seoul metropolitan area. “I heard that in the U.S.A. they are focused on total individual development, and we are focusing on a very definite goal,” he said, adding that the goal is for students to get a high score before entering higher education.
The teachers arrived on July 17 and stay in Bloomington until August 11, spending two days in Chicago before departing for Korea. They are getting a full complement of information in the program which includes academic lectures and workshops, visits to area schools, but also exposure to local culture. Last week the group saw the demolition derby at the Monroe County Fair. They’ve seen Brown County State Park, taken a pontoon boat onto Lake Monroe, and they’ll eat at an Amish restaurant after touring an Amish one-room school house in Southern Indiana.
The teachers say they are impressed with the difference in teaching philosophy they’ve noticed. “In Korea, teachers usually give the knowledge to students,” middle school math teacher Hyungjoo Lee said through a translator. “But here in America, students and teachers share their knowledge with each other. The teacher’s job is more to support the student’s learning.”
Some of the workshops have focused on “project-based learning,” which helps students use math concepts by having them work on a project that uses those concepts. Lee said such methods are less common in the more rigid and centralized curriculum of Korea. “In America, it seems like (the teachers) have more flexibility since authority for making curriculum is held by a local school or district,” Lee said.
One teacher said she has used some interdisciplinary approaches in her classroom before, and looks forward to implementing more. But she said it is a slight departure for Korean teachers. “In Korea, most teaching is approached with teaching some concept first,” said Seoul high school math teacher Eun Joo Kim. “But here, mathematical teaching from the beginning is trying to connect math to real life."
International mathematics test results would indicate teachers in Korea don’t need much help in getting positive results from students. The Program for International Student Assessment found Korea, Finland, and Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong-China outperformed all other countries when it surveyed 15-year old students in 2006. The U.S. came in 24th.
“I think it’s a very healthy attitude,” said Enrique Galindo, associate professor of mathematics education and one of the academic project directors. “They feel that they are doing a good job, but they want to continue learning and see if they can do a better job.” Galindo said learning about the U.S. culture of learning is important to the teachers as well, something he said American instructors could learn from.
Galindo said the participation of many faculty members and graduate students from the School of Education, including the majority of the mathematics education faculty, provides the strength and wide range of academic activities included in the program. He added that project managers Jane Henson and Christi Jones, from the Center for Social Studies and International Education, have been instrumental in planning and implementation of the cultural component and project logistics. The Center is a coordinated effort of the College of Arts and Science and the School of Education.
The visitors say they’ll consider plenty from what they’re picking up, including a different pace to American education. “In America, the process of learning is longer, and there’s more process activity-based teaching,” said Hong Weol Jan, a middle school math teacher in Seoul. Jon Cheol Kim, who teaches in southeastern South Korea added that teachers may benefit from the pace. “One of the most impressive things to learn here is that a lot of American teachers have a good environment to focus more on mathematical teaching,” he said.
Interview Excerpts
Galindo says the program provides an opportunity for an exchange about mathematics education: (Listen to this sound bite)
“Well for us it’s been an opportunity to share what we know about how students learn mathematics and best practices in the US and it’s also been an opportunity to learn how they do things in Korea and try to learn from that as well. We have tried to provide Korean teachers with opportunities to learn firsthand from some of the best approaches that we are aware of. So our sessions combine lecture presentations with workshops where they will be engaged in curriculum activities the way we think students should be engaged in so they can learn mathematics best.”
While Korean secondary students are among the world’s best in mathematics, Galindo says the Korean math teachers still they can learn new things: (Listen to this sound bite)
“I think it’s a very healthy attitude they feel that they are doing a good job but they want to continue to learning and see if they can do a better job. I think it is also about learning from other cultures. They are interested in learning about our society and how we do things here. So I think we can from that healthy attitude. Our teachers I think will also benefit from learning about how they do things in other places.”
Se Ho Hwang, a high school mathematics teacher in the Seoul area, says the group can definitely pick up some new things: (Listen to this sound bite)
“We want to see what is the difference between Korea and the United States and if there is something to learn from the different system and them we can pick up the good. If there is something that we can pickup, we want to pick up so we came here.”
