Abstract:
This paper presents some key findings concerning pupils’ processes of thinking in
simplifying algebraic problems. The findings are drawn from an algebra test given to
103 English pupils and 186 Thai pupils. This paper focuses on one of the six themes
explored during the study. The simplification theme has been split into level one:
simplify one variable, level two: simplify two variables, level three: simplify two
variables with brackets, and level four: simplify two variables of second order with
brackets. The pupils’ processes in simplification were categorised from their written
responses. English and Thai pupils used the same processes to simplify the level one
question. The differences were increased when they faced the harder items. The main
difficulties were dealing with negative signs and multiplying out the brackets.
