An analysis and comparison of national standard high school mathematics curriculum for gifted students in Korea and China

Abstract

Objectives The purpose of this study is to find implications for Korean mathematics education by examining how gifted mathematics education is operated in Korea and China through a comparison and analysis of the basic direc-tions of gifted mathematics education in high schools in both countries. Methods We analyzed the contents and composition methods for mathematically gifted students in the education curriculum and textbooks in Korea’s 2022 and 2015 curricula and China’s 2017 revised mathematics and curricu-lum contents and textbooks. Results Korea adheres to standardized processes and contents in each area of algebra, analysis, geometry, proba-bility and statistics, and mathematical history and definitional areas, while China sometimes develops integrated processes that are not restricted to areas by focusing on specific topics. In the geometry area, Korea’s 2015 curric-ulum lacked content for mathematics gifted students compared to China, but this was sufficiently overcome in the advanced geometry newly established in the 2022 curriculum, and the parts that were lacking compared to China, such as mathematical history and definitional areas, were also expanded in mathematics and culture, AI mathe-matics, and other areas of the 2022 curriculum. Conclusions Both countries have advanced courses and textbooks being used in mathematics gifted education, but Korea is divided into general courses and elective courses and specialized courses used in special purpose high schools such as science high schools according to the content composition elements and difficulty, while China is only divided into required courses and elective courses. However, while Korea’s specialized course textbooks are a single book, China allows publishers to create level-based textbooks based on composition elements and difficulty, resulting in diverse content and levels.