An Investigation On Current Situation From Grade Five To Grade Eight Students' Mathematical Problem Posing Competency

The students' competency to pose mathematical problems is regarded as the core competency to carry out mathematical activities,it is also an essential quality for innovative talents as well.In view of its important role in the mathematics curriculum,various countries have written “Problems Posing” into the mathematics curriculum standards,and tried to integrate it into mathematical classroom teaching.The teaching of cultivating students' competency to pose problems depends on the understanding and grasp of the status of students' posing,as the basis and prerequisite for improving students' competency to pose problems,it is necessary for us to have a basic understanding of the current situation of students' competency to pose mathematical problems.Based on the related literature in domestic and abroad,this study selected the relevant problem posing competency test items,defined the scoring framework of students' ability to pose mathematical problems,and compiled the corresponding coding tables.We investigated the problem-posing competency of 516 students who came from Grade Five to Grade Eight by testing three dimensions,respectively are the type of the problems,the expression of the problems and the underlying thinking levels of the problems.Through the collection and analysis of data,we made the following conclusions: 1.The types of mathematical problems posed by students are diverse;there are differences in the distribution of the types of problems posed by students in different grades,and they are influenced by different difficulty the test items required.2.The expression of students' mathematical problems is by and large clear,and students' ability to express mathematical problems increases steadily with the growth of grade,but we need to strengthen the normalization and rigor of their language usage.3.The level of thinking while students posing mathematical problems has the characteristics of stage development;students of all grades can basically grasp partial information from a given situation to put forward effective mathematical problems,but lack the whole understanding and reflection of the situation structure.The level of thinking while students posing mathematical problems is affected by different difficulty the test items required,which shows the pattern of progression.Besides,the study revealed that there was no significant difference between girls and boys in terms of their performance on the level of thinking when posing a mathematical problem.