Major revision in the U.S. mathematics curriculum since the 1960s have led to significant differences between the mathematics curriculum of the United States and those of many other countries. This study explored how eight Chinese immigrant students, with different cultural backgrounds, mathematics knowledge, and learning styles, learned in an Algebra I course. Three research questions were addressed: (1) How did students learn from the teachers and textbook? (2) What were the students' understandings of the algebraic concepts introduced in the class? (3) How did the mathematics they acquired in their home country affect their learning of the U.S. mathematics curriculum? A multiple-case study method was employed which permitted an examination of results across a number of cases (individual students) and generalization of findings. Data were collected by classroom observations, teacher/student interviews, testing, clinical studies of students' heuristic processes in problem-solving, and by other methods. Results are reported and discussed under the following categories: teachers (indicating how teachers can affect curriculum), text, student characteristics, the word association test, the sorting test, understanding versus rules, effect of pre-U.S. mathematics learning, problem-solving characteristics, and graph comprehension. Recommendations related to teacher education, mathematics texts, problem solving, and teaching immigrant students are included. (Author/JN)