A Survey on Mathematical Problem-Solving Skills and Mathematical Core Literacy among Middle School Students in Sichuan, China

Abstract

With the transformation of China's economic structure, there is a growing demand for high quality talents in the society. Cultivating students' Mathematical problem-solving skills and Mathematical core literacy has become an important mission of mathematics education. This study aimed to investigate Mathematical problem-solving skills and Mathematical core literacy among Middle school students in Sichuan Province. A cross-sectional survey research design was used to randomly select a sample of 57 students from a Eighth-grade class in Sichuan Province M High School. And it was measured by Mathematical problem-solving skills scale and Mathematical core literacy test. The study found that in Mathematical problem-solving skills, students ‘performance in the four dimensions of“Understand the Problem”，“Devise a Plan” and“Carry Out the Plan”，“Look Back and Reflect”were low; Regarding Mathematical core literacy, students demonstrated excellent performance in Arithmetic Ability, good performance in Geometric Intuition, Spatial Conception, Data Conception, and Creativity, moderate performance in Abstraction Ability and Reasoning Ability, while their performance in Modeling Conception and in Application Awareness were low. This study will provide concrete support for regional educational development and optimization of teaching strategies.