The initial treatment of the concept of function in the selected secondary school mathematics textbooks in the US and China

Author(s):  
Ji-Won Son ◽  
Qintong Hu
1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 92-99
Author(s):  
Charlene E. Beckmann ◽  
Kara Rozanski

Slope is introduced in various ways in current middle and secondary school mathematics textbooks. In one approach, students graph a line and determine the vertical and horizontal distances from the axes to a point on the line, determining the coordinates of the point. Students then calculate the ratio of vertical distances to horizontal distances for several pairs of points on the line and discover that the ratio is always the same. At this point, this constant ratio is defined as the slope of a line. Students are then asked to determine to what aspect of the graph the slope corresponds and how it relates to the equation of the line (Phillips 1991, 55–57).


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 232
Author(s):  
Uffe Thomas Jankvist ◽  
Morten Misfeldt

This article addresses the didactical effects of CAS assisted proofs in Danish upper secondary mathematics textbooks as a result of the 2005 reform that introduced CAS as a part of the upper secondary level curriculum (and examinations). Based on a reading of 33 upper secondary school mathematics textbooks, 38 instances of CAS assisted proofs are identified in ten different textbooks. The CAS based proofs in these textbooks are of three types: complete outsourcing of the proof to CAS; partial outsourcing of the proof to CAS; and additional verification of the proof’ correctness by CAS. Analyses of examples of each of these types are provided. The analyses draw on theoretical constructs related to both proofs and proving (e.g. proof schemes) and to use of digital technologies in mathematics education (lever potential, blackboxing, instrumental genesis). In particular, the analyses make use of a distinction between epistemic, pragmatic and justificational mediations. Results suggest both potential problems with using CAS as an integrated part of deductive mathematical proofs in textbooks, since it appears to promote undesired proof schemes with the students, and difficulties with understanding these problems using the constructs of epistemic and pragmatic mediations that are often adopted in the literature regarding CAS use in mathematics teaching and learning.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document