Research On Learning Stage Divided In Compulsory Education Mathematics Curriculum

Every curriculum in the period of compulsory education has been made the new standard. In 2001, six subjects among them are divided into different stages of learning. Courses of Chinese, Fine Art, and Physical education are divided into four stages of learning(grades 1-2, grades 3-4, grades 5-6, and grades 7-9) according to the new curriculum standards. Courses of Art and Music are divided into three stages of learning(grades 1-2, grades 3-6, and grades 7-9). New mathematics curriculum standard divides the course into three stages of learning(grades 1-3, grades 4-6, and grades 7-9) based on the physiological and psychological characteristics of children’s development. So divided, the group to set mathematics curriculum standard refer to a report “Research on the Development Law of Primary and Secondary Students and Its Relation with Mathematics Curriculum” by the research team of “Prospect in 21 st Mathematics Education of China”. The report points out that the development of primary and secondary students involves different stages, but it does not mention the specific reasons to divide in this way. So the course design and textbook arrangement based on the stages of learning have become the focus of controversy in the process of implementation of the new curriculum standard.In the revision process of mathematics curriculum standard, the team leader, Professor Shi Ningzhong points out that partition of the learning stages is the foundation to set the curriculum standard, which is related to the practical problem how to design the mathematics course, compile the textbook, and choose the teaching methods. After some discussion, there are still some different opinions about partition of learning stages. Lacking of the changing basis, the method to divide the learning stages will not be changed which is remained to do further research. Therefore “Mathematics Curriculum Standard in the period of Compulsory Education(2011)” continues previous method to divide the learning stages. The better method can be found by studying further which is the primary contents of this thesis.“Learning stage” is related to the concept of time which refers to specific stages of learning, or some smaller specific learning interval or time range. “Division of learning stages” refers to dividing the learning process of a certain period into some segment of time according to certain criterion. “Learning stage” is widely used in education and psychology. “Period of education system” is divided into preschool, primary education, secondary education, and high education. “Learning stages of curriculum” refers to setting the course aim and arranging the course content to different grades. “Learning stages” in psychology refers to the steps of studying and teaching. In the thesis, the major research is on the division of learning stages of the mathematics curriculum in the period of compulsory education. It is significant to the design of curriculum standard, the choice of course content, the arrangement of the textbook, and the teaching practice of teachers in primary and secondary schools.It is an interdisciplinary research to try to give some suggestions of division of learning stages of the mathematics curriculum in the period of compulsory education, reformation of education system, the choice of course content, and teaching practice by synthetical study in four respects which are to compare the different method to divide the learning stages in different countries and areas, collect the literature about the development features of schooling children’s physiology and psychology, use questionnaire survey to obtain the attitudes of teachers in the primary and secondary schools, and test the mathematical literacy of students.It is suggested that the mathematics curriculum in the period of compulsory education can be divided into three stages(grades 1-2, grades 3-5, and grades 6-9) and schooling system of compulsory education takes the nine-year system, while five and four system can be kept continually or transformed into the nine-year system step by step, and six and three system can take the sixth grade as transitional stage at the turn of the primary and secondary schools or be transformed into the nine-year system gradually.The content of mathematics curriculum in the period of compulsory education can be chosen based on the following three stages, the first learning stage(grades 1-2) named the stage of perception to mathematics, the second learning stage(grades 3-5) named the stage of concrete and the abstract, and the third learning stage(grades 6-9) named the stage of abstract model. Students of grades 1-2 are in the stage of learning language, unfit for learning and being taught the abstract mathematics, so their tasks should be put on the perception and imitation rather than mathematical operations. The course content in the second learning stage can involve abstract knowledge and operation principles and avoid teaching the knowledge of mathematics model. In the third learning stage the course content should embody thought of mathematics application and model.Primary mathematics teaching in the first learning stage should not adopt the method of discipline-based teaching. The integrated teaching method can be chosen and one teacher can teach both Chinese and mathematics courses to students in grades 1-2. The teaching content of mathematics should be related to the daily life as far as possible to make the students understand the mathematics. Grades 3-4 teaching in the second learning stage can adopt the method of discipline-based teaching or not, which mainly make the students learn the mathematics operation and its basic principle, and understand how the knowledge of mathematics is applied in the daily life. In the third learning stage, discipline-based teaching should be chosen to embody abstraction, visualization, and modeling and make students deep understand the wilder applicability of mathematics.