has found
that U.S. students’ less frequent use of generalized, symbolic representations cannot be explained by their lack of
opportunity to learn algebra. Indeed, in his study he found that a considerable number of U.S. students, including
those 8th-grade students who had formerly learned algebraic concepts, still used visual representations. On the other
hand, Chinese students rarely used visual representations whether or not they had formally learned algebraic concepts.
Another hypothesis is that Chinese and U.S. students’ uses of different solution representations may be related to how
Chinese and U.S. teachers view and construct various representations to help students learn mathematics and solve
problems in classroom instruction.