scholarly journals Examining the Content of Mathematics History in Secondary School Mathematics Textbooks

Author(s):  
Dr. Satı CEYLAN
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.


Author(s):  
Satı Ceylan

This study investigates the use of the history of mathematics in secondary school mathematics coursebooks designed according to the new curriculum prepared in 2018 and to make alternative suggestions in which mathematics history can be used. For this purpose, four mathematics coursebooks, which were decided to be taught in schools affiliated to the Turkish Ministry of National Education for four years as of 2018, were analyzed by document analysis method, and this research attempted to determine to what extent the history of mathematics was used in these coursebooks. While making this analysis and analyzing the data, the categories proposed by Erdoğan et al. (2015) were used, including “historical notes,” “notes on usage areas of mathematics,” “applications with historical notes,” and “historical elements in students‟ extracurricular activities.” As a result of the study, it was found out that the 27 elements of the history of mathematics used in the coursebooks were mostly included at the fifth grade, in thelead-in stage, in the area of learning numbers and operations, in the form of small historical snippets about the historical development of situations other than mathematics. In light of these findings, it can be suggested that the history of mathematics is not used sufficiently in secondary school mathematics coursebooks.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document