A Comparative Study On School Algebra Curricula

Algebra is one of the most important and systematic strands of school mathematics curricula. In this paper, we first examine the national curriculum standards in China and the United States, we compare these two systems and find that there are two ways to teach Algebra. (1) Linear Structure, that isNumber →Symbolic Expressions → Equations&Inequalities → Functions.(2) Spiral Structure, that is Patterns → Relationships → Functions. Then we compare and characterize several sets of representative algebra textbooks, we propose six questions. Three major content structures emerge after we apply the above six criteria. They are Equation-based structure and Function-based structure and Mixed structure. Because the Function-based structure is so different from our familiar one, we focus on the representative textbook of Function-based structure — CPMP textbook.With these analyses and some interviews, our conclusion is that ,while multiple approaches to organizing algebra teaching are reasonable, we should realize that these approaches have both advantages and disadvantages on the knowledge systems-forming, students' cognition and abilities-developing, class hours-spending and so on. We should make use of the advantages and try to teach the school algebra in better way.