Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to develop an effective diagnostic system which asseses individual differences of the learners and give useful suggestions for mathematics teaching. The individual differences are assesed in the following aspects; attitude toward mathematics, studying method, basic competence and achievement score of mathematics. The questionnaire was used to evaluate the attitude and the studying methods of students. Also, the basic competence test which measures how well the students are prepared for high school mathematics was developed. These tests were administered to over 1500 high school students. Next, we extracted three factors from the "attitude" questionnaire, which are "valuation","weakness" and "accomplishment", and also three factors from "studying-method" questionnaire, which are "active attitude", "strategy" and "skills". We found out that basic competence is neccesary and useful to predict progress in mathematics. A diagnostic system should be constructed based on these findings.
