An Investigation Into The Current Situation Of Mathematical Literacy Skills Of Junior Secondary School Students

In the information age,images and tables are found in newspapers,magazines,advertisements and textbooks,etc.Learning to read and use diagrams is a basic skill that we need to adapt to the times,so students’ ability to read and use diagrams is becoming more and more demanding.For junior high school students,mathematical graphs and diagrams also appear frequently in midterm exam questions,and mathematical graph literacy skills play a crucial role in junior high school mathematics graphing and geometry panels and even mathematics learning.Based on comprehensive consideration of relevant factors,the following questions are proposed:(1)What is the development state of junior high school students’ mathematical graphic literacy level?(2)Are there significant differences in mathematical drawing abilities among middle school students due to gender differences?(3)What can both teachers and students do in the subsequent stages of development,based on the level of mathematical mapping that middle school students possess?In order to form a comprehensive understanding of the state of mathematical graphical literacy possessed by middle school students,the definition of mathematical graphical literacy was comprehensively elaborated on the basis of consulting relevant literature and research materials at home and abroad.The so-called mathematical graphic ability refers to the ability to transform words,symbols,and graphic languages into one another,which mainly contains three aspects: drawing,identifying and analyzing diagrams.Firstly,a questionnaire was used to understand 180 students’ inclination toward mathematical graphs,learning styles and difficulties encountered at FD Junior High School in Xi’an;secondly,a test paper was used to investigate the current situation of the mathematical graphing ability of 180 students in six parallel classes of the school in three dimensions: drawing,identifying and analyzing graphs;then,Starting from three dimensions,the differences in the drawing abilities of junior high school students are reflected,including differences in their ability to understand mathematics.Finally,help students and teachers provide certain reference suggestions during the follow-up learning activities.The research conclusions formed by this topic are summarized as follows:(1)Middle school students’ mathematical cartography abilities do not differ significantly due to gender differences;(2)Middle school students’ drawing ability is influenced by gender and mathematical level,while girls’ scores on drawing type topics are slightly better than boys’;(3)The gender difference in middle school students’ cartographic ability is not significant,but the difference in mathematical proficiency is more significant;(4)There are significant differences in middle school students’ cartographic skills in terms of gender and mathematical proficiency,among which boys are more stable than girls in diagramming type topics,and the higher the mathematics level,the higher the students’ scores in diagramming type topics.Based on the above survey,provide valuable reference suggestions for teachers:(1)Painting teaching: During the daily teaching activities,provide effective guidance on painting methods and habit cultivation to cultivate good painting habits;Using methods such as auxiliary line drawing can improve students’ drawing standardization ability.(2)Graphic teaching: Actively cultivate the ability of manual drawing to enable students to have a good graphical thinking mode;Conduct more hands-on exercises to avoid severe limitations on students’ drawing ability training,assembling and measuring;use visual aids,improve students’ diagramming ability in visual demonstration;strengthen the connection between mathematical figures and life,enable students to solve existing problems through drawing methods;Providing effective guidance to relevant problem solving processes is also the best way to play a problem oriented role;use multimedia proficiently to improve students’ diagramming ability.(3)Graph analysis teaching: guide the students to identify the graphs in the course of the study.(3)Graph analysis teaching: guide students to recognize graphs in the way of movement,and improve their graph analysis ability through perceptual cognition;Integrate the teaching ideas of numbers and shapes comprehensively to avoid adverse effects on students’ graphic analysis ability;Through effective observation and information acquisition,avoid serious obstacles to the improvement of students’ graphic analysis ability.The following development suggestions are proposed:(1)standardize the drawing of diagrams to improve their diagramming ability in the development of good diagramming habits;(2)fill in the diagrams appropriately to improve their diagramming ability in the clarification of conditions;(3)analyze the diagrams in an orderly manner to improve their diagramming ability in the formation of logical thinking;(4)take the initiative to reflect and take notes to improve their diagramming ability in the construction of their own knowledge framework.