On the other hand, the finding that Chinese students performed less well than U.S. students on the process-open, nonroutine
tasks suggests that Chinese teachers may over-emphasize symbolism and abstract thinking in the classroom.
In fact, many Chinese teachers view only symbolic and numerical solutions as “mathematical solutions.” Most of the
Chinese teachers do not regard pictorial solutions of a problem as “mathematical” (Cai, 2004). Although we should
expect students to have an understanding that goes beyond “concreteness” since concrete visual representations may
impose limitations on students’ development of mathematical reasoning abilities, students should also be given the
opportunity to construct their own representations of mathematical concepts, rules, and relationships. Overemphasizing
symbolism may promote rote memorization of procedures.
But what can be made of the finding that Chinese and U.S. teachers differ in the kinds of representations they use
during instruction? It seems reasonable to suggest that Chinese and U.S. students use the same kinds of representations as
their teachers because they have learned to value what their teachers value. But correlation does not imply causation!
Other explanations are possible as well. For example, large differences appear between Asian and U.S. children’s
mathematical abilities before they enter formal schooling (Geary et al., 1996). Thus, it might be the case that Chinese
students, as a result of working with their parents and by interacting with their culture, enter school with fluency in
symbolic reasoning, while U.S. students lack this fluency but can reason with manipulatives. This, in turn, may be why
U.S. and Chinese teachers emphasize different forms of representations.