Mathematics Education in China: From a Cultural Perspective

Investigation of Junior Secondary Students’ Perceptions of Mathematics Classroom Learning Environments in China

“…This might be due to the fact that Grade 9 students in China are required to take the Senior Secondary School Entrance Examination, which determines the academic quality and nature of the senior secondary schools to which they will be admitted on graduation; as not every junior secondary school graduate is admitted to senior secondary school, this examination is highly competitive in nature. As such, teachers' practices tend to be relatively more knowledge-centered and emphasize the skills needed to solve mathematics problems similar to those found in the examination (Shao et al, 2012;Zheng, 2006). These sorts of classroom practices may lead to Grade 9 students to perceive their mathematics classroom learning environments as offering fewer opportunities for cooperation and mathematics inquiry than they were afforded in earlier grades.…”

“…Chinese mathematics teaching has been widely described as being heavily dominated by the basics in two areas: mastering basic knowledge and mastering basic skills (Zheng, 2006). Chinese mathematics teachers popularly believe that practice and exercise facilitate the formation of mathematics concepts and enhance students' conceptual understanding (Li, 2006).…”

Rural junior secondary school students’ perceptions of classroom learning environments and their attitude and achievement in mathematics in West China

“…Teaching in China has been long described as being dominated by an ''examination culture'' (Cai and Nie 2007;Shao et al 2012;Zheng 2006). Moreover, examination scores determine a student's opportunity for future education and even her/his future career (Cai and Nie 2007).…”

Senior Secondary School Students' Epistemological Conceptions of Mathematics in China: Characteristics and Development Process

“…In the present study, due to the subcultural differences among the three participant provinces, students' epistemological conceptions of mathematics were also found to be different. Even though the Chinese teaching culture has been described as being dominated by examination culture as mentioned above (Zheng, 2006), among the three provinces, it has been generally accepted that the examination pressure in Shandong is relatively higher. Under this pressure, it might be possible that mathematics teaching in Shandong is more examination-oriented.…”

“…However, the research on students' epistemological beliefs during the early stage was conducted under the assumption that they are domain general (Muis, 2004). Until recently, researchers have challenged the theoretical foundation of the past research and started to differentiate beliefs about knowledge and knowing in different academic domains (Buehl & Alexander, 2005, 2006. That is, during the past years, the general focus of research in this field has shifted from domain-general to domain-specific epistemological beliefs.…”