A Developmental Study on Curriculum for Critical Thinking in Mathematics Education: The Teaching Practice of the Period for Integrated Study in Mathematics

Abstract

　　While “literacy = reading/writing ability” has been the basis of the early stages of modern societies as an essential and elementary component, i.e. an entrance, in modern education systems, which was later characterized as the indication of “academic capability,” the author of the present article assumes that “literacy = wisdom” in the contemporary context refers to the basis of the postmodern world and an exit point of education systems, which is standardized as “practical capability.”　The present study discusses the educational practices of Fukuyama Junior And Senior High School Attached To Hiroshima University in the aim of proposing new curriculum with “literacy” positioned as practical capability in secondary education in the age to come. The school was designated as a pilot school for research purposes by MEXT in 2009 and has made efforts in researches for “Development of Secondary Education Curriculum to Cultivate Critical Thinking” for 3 years.　 In this article, efforts in the “Period for Integrated Study” by the math department for the research are reported and specific classroom practices to cultivate critical thinking from the development unit “Random Numbers and Simulation” are discussed. As a result, reality in critical thinking could be seen in reactions of students in the classroom.