In this study, we used problem posing as a measure of the effect of middle-school curriculum on students' learning in high school. Students using a Standards-based curriculum in middle school performed equally well or better than students who used more traditional curricula in high school. The findings from this study not only show evidence of strengths one might expect of students who used the Standards-based reform curriculum, but also bolster the feasibility and validity of problem posing as a measure of curriculum effect on student learning. In addition, the findings of this study demonstrate the usefulness of employing a qualitative rubric to assess different characteristics of students' responses to the posing tasks. Instructional and methodological implications of this study, as well as future directions for research are discussed.

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This paper discusses the approaches to teaching linear equation solving that are embedded in a Standards-based mathematics curriculum (Connected Mathematics Program or CMP) and in a traditional mathematics curriculum (Glencoe Mathematics) in the United States. Overall, the CMP curriculum takes a functional approach to teaching equation solving, while Glencoe Mathematics takes a structural approach. The functional approach emphasizes the important ideas of change and variation in situations and contexts. It also emphasizes the representation of relationships between variables. The structural approach, on the other hand, requires students to work abstractly with symbols and follow procedures in a systematic way. The CMP curriculum may be regarded as a curriculum with a pedagogy that emphasizes predominantly the conceptual aspects of equation solving, while Glencoe Mathematics may be regarded as a curriculum with a pedagogy that emphasizes predominantly the procedural aspects of equation solving. The two curricula may serve as concrete examples of functional and structural approaches, respectively, to the teaching of algebra in general and equation solving in particular.

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