Figure 5: Samples of students’ responses to the question involving literal symbols
There were some clear associations between highly accomplished explanations (Score 4) given to this
question involving literal symbols and accomplished relational thinking used on the number sentences.
For example, among the Japanese Years 5 and 6 students, all the 6 students who scored 4 on the
question involving literal symbols also scored at least one 4 on the number questions. In Japan, where
54 Year 7 students scored 4 on this question, 44 showed very clear relational thinking on the number
sentences, even if this was not always scored as high as a 4. In Australian School 2, the same applied
to all 10 students in Years 5 and 6 who scored 4 on this question. Further, no student in Years 5 and 6
in any of the three countries who scored 0 on all three groups of number sentences scored 4 on the
question involving literal symbols. This pattern was almost perfectly replicated in Year 7 cohorts.
Many students who gave highly accomplished responses (Score 4) to this question showed that they
were able to apply compensation to the pair of terms involving literal symbols and to the two number
terms to show equivalence, whatever the value of n. Is there then a clear connection between relational
thinking on number sentences and success on the question involving literal symbols? One might expect
a strong connection between those students who were classified as Stable Relational (SR) thinkers on
the three groups of number sentences and their success in dealing with the question using literal
symbols. A consequence of this “strong” position, if it were true, is that students who were classified as
Stable Arithmetical (SA) on the three groups of number sentences would be unlikely to deal successfully
with the question involving literal symbols. These two positions will now be analysed by using data from
the three cohorts.
Using relational thinking on number sentences (SR) as a predictor
The following table gives the number of students who were classified as SR and also obtained a score
of ≥ 1 on the question involving literal symbols. Their success rate is then compared to the success of
the particular cohort in dealing with the question involving literal symbols.