Insights into the Teaching of Gradient from an Exploratory Study of Mathematics Textbooks from Germany, Singapore, and South Korea

Ban Heng Choy; Mi Yeon Lee; Angel Mizzi

doi:10.29333/iejme/8273

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Ban Heng Choy ¹ ^* , Mi Yeon Lee ², Angel Mizzi ³

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¹ National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, SINGAPORE² Arizona State University, USA³ University of Duisburg-Essen, GERMANY^* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Textbooks, which form the staples of a teacher’s set of resources, play a critical role in deciding what and how mathematics is taught in classrooms. However, textbooks do not always present concepts in ways that enhance understanding by students, nor are they always comprehensive in the treatment of a topic. In this exploratory study, we analyse three mathematics textbooks from Germany, Singapore, and South Korea to examine how gradient, an important but not well-understood concept, is presented. For each of the textbooks, we characterise the introductory chapter on gradient in terms of contextual (educational factors), content, and instructional variables in relation to the curriculum emphases across the three countries. In addition, we represent these findings using visual representations, which we called textbook signatures. We share insights from our analyses, raise questions, and suggest implications for future research in textbook analyses and ways to represent the findings from such analyses.

Keywords

textbook analyses
gradient
representations
task demands

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

INT ELECT J MATH ED, Volume 15, Issue 3, October 2020, Article No: em0592

https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8273

Publication date: 14 May 2020

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How to cite this article

APA

Choy, B. H., Lee, M. Y., & Mizzi, A. (2020). Insights into the Teaching of Gradient from an Exploratory Study of Mathematics Textbooks from Germany, Singapore, and South Korea. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 15(3), em0592. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8273

Vancouver

Choy BH, Lee MY, Mizzi A. Insights into the Teaching of Gradient from an Exploratory Study of Mathematics Textbooks from Germany, Singapore, and South Korea. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2020;15(3):em0592. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8273

AMA

Choy BH, Lee MY, Mizzi A. Insights into the Teaching of Gradient from an Exploratory Study of Mathematics Textbooks from Germany, Singapore, and South Korea. INT ELECT J MATH ED. 2020;15(3), em0592. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8273

Chicago

Choy, Ban Heng, Mi Yeon Lee, and Angel Mizzi. "Insights into the Teaching of Gradient from an Exploratory Study of Mathematics Textbooks from Germany, Singapore, and South Korea". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education 2020 15 no. 3 (2020): em0592. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8273

Harvard

Choy, B. H., Lee, M. Y., and Mizzi, A. (2020). Insights into the Teaching of Gradient from an Exploratory Study of Mathematics Textbooks from Germany, Singapore, and South Korea. International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, 15(3), em0592. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8273

MLA

Choy, Ban Heng et al. "Insights into the Teaching of Gradient from an Exploratory Study of Mathematics Textbooks from Germany, Singapore, and South Korea". International Electronic Journal of Mathematics Education, vol. 15, no. 3, 2020, em0592. https://doi.org/10.29333/iejme/8273