The Effects Of Mathematical Journal Writing On Mathematics Instruction In The Technical Secondly School

In the Standards for Senior Middle School Mathematics Curriculum, enhancing the students' interests and confidence in mathematics and abilities to express and communicate mathematically is taken to be one of the curriculum objects, and importance is attached to students' learning processes and changes in emotion, attitude and conceptions of mathematics in the evaluation of mathematics learning. From a questionnaire survey administered to students in a technical secondary school in which the author teaches, it is revealed that the students have no interest and confidence in mathematics and their learning habits are unhealthy, and that there is no effective pathway of mutual mathematical communication between students and their teachers. To change this unfavorable phenomenon, the author introduced mathematical journal writing activities into teaching. The students were asked to write about their understanding of mathematical concepts and procedures, their evaluation of and suggestions on the teacher's instruction, their conceptions of mathematics and their experiences, feelings, success, failure, frustration, anxiety, puzzles or difficulties in mathematics learning, and their reflections on a lecture or an examination, etc.Through analysis of the students' journals, their evaluation of the journal writing activities and interviews with three students, it is found that mathematical journals can contribute to mathematics instruction in the technical secondary school where the students generally hold negative attitudes towards mathematics in the following ways:1. Journal writing can have therapeutic effects on students' feelings about mathematics, change students' negative views on mathematics, enhance their interest in mathematics, promote their understanding and increase their learning...