抄録
According to Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) by The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Japanese children's mathematics record is ranked among the tops. However, the mean value in the ratio of the children - who think 'studying mathematics is interesting', 'in the future, I want to work with mathematics' and 'mathematics is important in daily life', is each less than the international average. Therefore, the ratio of the children who think well of mathematics is very small. The Course of Study revised in 1998, 1999, which is based on the above situation, aims at mathematics education which regard children's subjective learning to be important, is related to real life, and develops children's awareness of values of mathematics and the significance of learning it. However, according to recent international studies-TIMSS-2003 and PISA-2003, the situation has not changed. To improve such situation is considered difficult in usual mathematics lessons based on the view of learning which focus on mathematical knowledge. In response to the limitations of the current mathematics lessons, the aim of my research is to design mathematical learning environments based on the theory of situated learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991) - which focuses on mathematical activities - and propose it as a new model of learning mathematics. The purpose of this paper is to examine the practice in the mathematical learning environment - 'Let's share confectioneries'. As a result, the environment points to the possibility for children's subjective mathematical activities relevant to real life, and the awareness of values of mathematics as a product of the activities.
