Abstract
The paper begins with a reflective, historical overview of the role and development of textbooks and research into their use. Since much of the writing is based on personal experience, there is an obvious UK bias, although experiences there were not dissimilar to what was happening in many other countries at that time. Particular attention is then paid to comparative studies: the difficulties they pose and what can be usefully gained from them. To help in this latter aspect, an attempt is made to distinguish what would appear to be key features of textbooks (or, indeed, other educational materials) which might be assessed in such a study and, in particular, the vital role of the exercises to be found in them.
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Publication details of the non-Russian textbooks referred to in this paper simply by authors’ names can be found on http://www.copac.ac.uk. The backgrounds for the books by Nikolskii and Pogorelov are described in their Wikipedia biographies and other internet articles.
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Howson, G. The development of mathematics textbooks: historical reflections from a personal perspective. ZDM Mathematics Education 45, 647–658 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-013-0511-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-013-0511-9