Review article

Mathematics Textbook as an Object of Research

Dubravka Glasnović Gracin ; Faculty of Teacher Education, University of Zagreb

Abstract

A mathematics textbook can be described as an officially authorized and pedagogically designed mathematics book written to provide mathematical knowledge to students. This description suggests the authority of the textbook - because it has been authorized by an administrative source and because it deals with authorized knowledge. This paper provides an overview of research on mathematics textbooks. The emphasis is on questions concerning the extent to which and how textbooks are used in mathematics education in Croatia and in the world. 
Research results show that mathematics textbooks are widely used in mathematics education worldwide. This finding points to the need for research on the content and structure of textbooks. Such studies are combined with the associated results on how textbooks are used in the classroom and which methods teachers apply in using textbooks in mathematics education. The results of the empirical studies show that teachers use textbooks for lesson preparation and pupils use mathematics textbooks for exercises to a great extent. These results imply that such an important role of textbooks in mathematics education deserves additional attention, with the goal of understanding and improving mathematics education.
 

Keywords

mathematics education; overview; research on textbook

Hrčak ID:

129523

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/129523

Publication date:

7.10.2014.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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