A Survey Of Symbolic Consciousness Of Junior Middle School Students

Entering Secondary school, the first barrier students confront in their transition from arithmetic to algebra is learning to use mathematical symbols. This thesis aimed to divide dimensions based on studying domestic and overseas mathematical symbols and symbolic consciousness. Further more, an appropriate symbolic consciousness test paper is designed to investigate students in seventh grade. The research objects are selected from two junior schools in Beijing and one in Lvliang and an advanced interview is proceeded in order to further understand students’thinking process and their opinions of specific questions.The result of this research shows that:the majority students in junior high school represent a good performance in symbol understanding and representation dimension, whereas in symbol operation there is room for them to be improved. Significant differences exist in schools and different kind of classes.There is a highly linear positive correlation between the symbolic consciousness and the math scores, the correlation of the students with plain or poor performance is stronger than the students with with good grades. There is no gender difference or regional divergence of junior students’symbol consciousness.According to the research result, different questions exist in students’symbolic consciousness are indicated and corresponding teaching recommendations are given.