Characteristics of Japanese Mathematics Education by Teachersin Developing Countries: Based on the Papers of Five International Students

Abstract

　　The purpose of this study is to clarify how the five international students viewed Japanese mathematics education through a year of lesson observation at attached elementary school by analyzing the results of their papers submitted to the university’s research bulletin.  The following three points can be cited as the main results of the study.

(1)  The characteristics of Japanese mathematics education have been considered from the viewpoint of a highly heterogeneous “stranger” by practitioners in developing countries.

(2) T he common understanding of what has been mentioned in previous studies, such as the problem-solving lesson process and the quality of Lesson Study, as contents of interest in Japanese mathematics education by  practitioners in developing countries, was confirmed.

(3)  The characteristics of Japanese mathematics education, such as teaching in the mother tongue and mathematics education away from examinations, were clarified as advantages that had not been recognized  before.

　　Thus, using the stranger theory as a background, the characteristics of Japanese mathematics education were identified in terms of points that have been pointed out in previous international comparative studies of mathematics education, as well as characteristics not seen in previous studies.