To Develop Students'Symbol Sense in the Process of Problem Solving

The mathematical symbols were the language of mathematics. Symbols were also tools for representation, calculation, reasoning, communication and problem-solving. One of the major purposes of school algebra was to enable students to understand the meaning of symbols and to apply symbols to problem-solving. The Standards of Mathematics Curriculum emphasized that mathematics curriculum should develop students' symbol sense. That was to enable students to recognize quantitative relationships or patterns in the contexts and to represent them in symbols, to understand the relationships or rules represented in symbols, to translate among different modes of representations, to select programs or methods to solve problems. To create contexts and to have students' experience the problem-solving was very important in developing students' symbol sense.