Understanding of percentage among lower secondary school students in Japan and Finland

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine mastery of the percentage concept among Japanese and Finnish lower secondary school students. This research developed from a long-standing collaboration between Japanese and Finnish researchers, reflecting a shared interest in students’ percentage mastery at this educational level. The primary justification for this comparative study design between Finland and Japan is rooted in the curricular differences between the two countries. The questionnaire of the study comprised six problems, based on a theoretical framework that defines the process descriptions required to solve the problems and the various multimodal approaches that students use to present their solutions. The problems were identical for both Japanese and Finnish students. The main findings indicated that students’ proficiency levels increased from grade 7 to grade 9 in both countries. Conversely, significant differences in the proportion of correct answers were observed, reflecting variations in the curricula and treatment of instructional content between the two countries. The typical errors observed in percentage problems common to both countries were primarily attributable to the incorrect identification of the base quantity. In addition, the multimodal skills essential for solving percentage problems were not necessarily sufficient in either country.