The Research On Junior High School Students' Recognition Of Absolute Value

Absolute value is an important concept in Math in Junior High School.This research investigates Junior High School students' understanding on absolute value from five aspects: the geometric and algebraic meaning of absolute value,absolute value's nonnegativity,the usage of absolute value in comparison,the usage of absolute value's definition and character.The purpose of the research is to better understand the Junior High School students' recognition of absolute value's character,to find out the reason for difficulty in recognition of absolute value's concept,and to give some advice on improving teaching skills.First,the research investigates the students from Grade 8 and 9,and then according to the results of the investigation,the researcher designed the teaching experiment.After the experiment,a comparison among the students from Grade 7,8 and 9 was made.According to the comparison,the research got conclusions as follows:1.The innovation in Grade 7 is effective,which helps the students to better understand the definition of absolute value.It is practicable to use it in teaching absolute value.2.There are different kinds of understandings of absolute value among the students.3.Junior High School students know quite well about the geometric meaning of absolute value,but not for usage of it in complex questions.4.The understanding of absolute value's nonnegativity among Junior High School students is dim.The understanding of the meaning of 0 and 0's absolute value influences their understanding on absolute value's nonnegativity and the usage of absolute value.5.Junior High School students know the comparative magnitude quite well,but when it comes to the complex questions,which is about arithmetic containing letters,the students will neglect the character of the comparative magnitude.6.There is no significant difference on the understanding of absolute value between boys and girls in Junior High School.