2014 Volume 55 Issue 3-4 Pages 119-131
This study intends to develop an algebraic curriculum which includes education of a literal expression and a linear equation in elementary school. This report refers the result of the survey on this curriculum for first graders in elementary school. The result of the recognition survey with regard to a linear equation shows that the difference between mathematical signs (ex. “x , y” , and “□”) to signify an unknown quantity has no influence upon finding a solution. Furthermore, the educational practice also tells us that first graders can find the solution intuitively. They tend to understand that a literal expression signifies the substitution of a number for meaning an unknown quantity.