Junior Secondary School Students’ Conceptions of and Approaches to Learning Mathematics and Their Relationships in Mainland China

Abstract

This study reports the findings of a study which investigated junior secondary school students’ conceptions of and approaches to learning mathematics and their relationships in Mainland China. Two questionnaires, conceptions of learning mathematics (COLM) and approaches to learning mathematics (ALM), were administered to 1590 students. Descriptive analysis results suggest that Chinese junior school students tend to hold (1) higher-level conceptions of learning mathematics rather than lower-level conceptions, and (2) deep approaches to learning mathematics with a rather mixed surface and deep motive in learning mathematics. Correlation and regression analysis results confirm a structural relationship between students’ conceptions of and approaches to learning in the subject of mathematics. Two factors of students’ lower-level conceptions of learning mathematics, “memorizing” and “testing”, were the strongest predictor for the surface approaches to mathematics learning, while students’ higher-level conceptions of learning mathematics, such as “applying” and “understanding and mathematical thinking”, had a noticeable effect on their deep approaches to learning mathematics. However, under the pressure of examination in Mainland China, “understanding and mathematical thinking” was also found to exert quite a strong influence on students’ “surface motive”.