The aim of the study is to investigate the possibility for fourth grade students to use the adapted Fangcheng method as a tool for solving word problems. In the first part of the paper we give an overview of the Ancient Chinese Fangcheng method for solving systems of linear equations. The second part consists of the research methodology, results and discussion. We used the quasiexperimental one-group design with post-test only. The sample included 48 fourth grade students. The research had two phases, and at the end of each phase post-tests were conducted. In the first phase, all students participated in the intervention program, while the second phase included only those students who performed well on the first post-test. The study results indicate that students who show greater interest in mathematics successfully adopt procedures necessary for the performance of the Fangcheng method. The findings of the study cannot be applied to all students considering the fact that there are certain limitations, such as a small sample size and quasi-experimental design. Therefore, some further research should be performed with a larger sample of students. However, since there are not many empirical researches which explore the effects of applying the history of mathematics in math teaching, we believe that our study contributes to the field.

No abstract

The subject of this paper is to examine to what extent students, future class teachers, are able to determine errors and inaccuracies in the formulation of textual mathematical tasks. The competence of future class teachers on this matter was evaluated based on the criteria which referred to the following: unrealistically given values of data in the tasks, conditions of tasks that cannot be performed, imprecise use of mathematical terminology and content, and linguistic inaccuracy in formulations. The sample consisted of 65 students, future teachers, all of whom attended basic courses in mathematics and methodology of teaching mathematics. The data were processed by using qualitative and standard quantitative analysis procedures. The results indicate that future class teachers are not sufficiently prepared and trained to identify errors in textually given mathematical problems. They do not pay enough attention to the realistic character of the given quantities and the existence of conditions necessary for solving the task. They do not recognize the problems due to the insufficient knowledge of mathematical terminology and the precision that the language of mathematics requires. The results indicate that students, as future most direct participants in forming children’s mathematical literacy, need to be better trained for linguistically correct formulation of mathematical tasks.

Mathematics competitions represent a very important segment of educational support to gifted students and play a significant role in identifying, motivating and working with those mathematically gifted. The COVID-19 pandemic had a strong impact on all seg- ments of the educational process, including the implementation of mathematics classes, regular and additional, as well as the organization and implementation of mathematics competitions. In this paper we wanted to examine whether the changed conditions in which regular and ad- ditional mathematics classes were implemented had an impact on the achievement of the best- performing math students. The aim of the research is to examine the adoption of advanced level mathematical content that students should have acquired at school in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research sample consisted of 4,064 third-grade students (school year 2020/2021) and 3,824 fourth-grade students (school year 2021/2022). The research results indicate that students who should be able to solve advanced level tasks show insufficient practice in performing the four basic calculation operations, as well as insufficient adoption of different methods of solving advanced level tasks. By looking at the achievements of the same generation of students through two consecutive competition cycles, it can be seen that insufficiently adopted concepts in the third grade during the first year of the pandemic remained unexplained in the transition to a higher grade where they represent a problem for further advancement of students.