PUPILS’ PROCESSES OF THINKING: LEARNING TO SOLVE ALGEBRAIC PROBLEMS IN ENGLAND AND THAILAND

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.