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Mathematics Education Research Journal

, Volume 30, Issue 3, pp 325–354 | Cite as

Do textbooks address known learning challenges in area measurement? A comparative analysis

  • Dae S. Hong
  • Kyong Mi Choi
  • Cristina Runnalls
  • Jihyun Hwang
Original Article
First Online:
  • 358 Downloads

Abstract

This study compared area lessons from Korean textbooks and US standard-based textbooks to understand differences and similarities among these textbooks, as well as how these textbooks address known learning challenges in area measurement. Several well-known challenges have been identified in previous studies, such as covering, array structure, and linking array structure to area formula. We were interested in knowing if textbooks addressed these issues in their treatments of area measurement and, in doing so, provided students with opportunities to overcome or become familiar with known challenges. The results show that both countries’ textbooks demonstrated similar limitations; only few area and area-related lessons are covered and three important learning challenges in area measurement are not covered well, which need to be informed to practicing teachers.

Keywords

Area measurement Textbooks Curriculum 
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Copyright information

© Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia, Inc. 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • Dae S. Hong
    • 1
  • Kyong Mi Choi
    • 2
  • Cristina Runnalls
    • 3
  • Jihyun Hwang
    • 3
  1. 1.College of EducationUniversity of IowaIowa CityUSA
  2. 2.University of VirginiaCharlottesvilleUSA
  3. 3.University of IowaIowa CityUSA

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