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Selection of content in high school mathematics textbooks: an international comparison

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Abstract

As a component of the ongoing development of the mathematics curriculum in China, we compare the country’s high school mathematics textbooks with those of several other countries. We base our analysis on the assumption that textbooks, as primary printed teaching resources, are key tools for interpreting educational policy. In this paper, we compare what content is selected and how that content is presented in series of high school textbooks from China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States according to four core domains: algebra, geometry, statistics and probability, and calculus. We then discuss the implications of the analysis for the reform of the high school mathematics curriculum in China, particularly as it applies to the development of textbooks within that process of reform. The comparative results provide us with the opportunity to recognise the distinguishing features of the content and presentation of the Chinese mathematics curriculum and lead to some suggestions for future curriculum development.

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Notes

  1. Students’ ages are around 16.

  2. Project no. ADA100009.

  3. “Student-centred” curricular ideas include, for instance cultivating students’ mathematical literacy, increasing their active learning, helping them master basic knowledge and basic skills, and developing students’ critical thinking skills, application, and mathematical modelling skill. Moreover, they also involve integrating information technology within mathematical learning and teaching and strengthening the significance and value of mathematical culture.

  4. Compulsory courses must be taken by all students who want to graduate from high schools, whereas required courses are required only for students who will take the Gaokao, China’s National College Entrance Examination.

  5. This figure may be caused by our selection of the textbooks analysed in this study. For example, we did not take the calculus textbook in the same series into account due to the concern that the books are for only a small number of students to use.

  6. Calculus is designated as an AP course in the mathematics curriculum in the United States, so it was omitted from this section of our analysis.

  7. This definition is marked in the textbook as material that not required for all students.

  8. Matrix is presented in the textbooks for optional courses which are taught only in a few schools in China.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported in part by the Shanghai Municipal Education Administration (no. D1508), the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (no. 18dz2271000), and the National Key Educational Project (no. ADA1000009). We would like to show our gratitude first to the project teams, especially the teams of related subprojects and the principal investigators Jianyue Zhang from People’s Education Press, Lijun Ye from Hangzhou Normal University, Jun Li from Deakin University, as well our colleagues Jiansheng Bao, Yuelan Chen, Jun Li, Binyan Xu, and Xiaoping Zhao for their hard work on the project. We thank Professor Gert Schubring from Instituto de Matemática, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Professor Lianghuo Fan from the University of Southampton, the United Kingdom, as the organizers of the II International Conference on Mathematics Textbook Research and Development (ICMT-II), for their invitation to us to develop this manuscript from a presentation we delivered at that conference, and Dr Jinyu Zhang for his great help in preparing the presentation. We are also immensely grateful to the three anonymous reviewers, and Professor Fan for their comments on the development of the manuscripts, although any errors are our own and should not tarnish the reputations of these esteemed persons.

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  1. School of Mathematical Sciences and Shanghai Key Laboratory of PMMP, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Minhang District, Shanghai, 200241, China

    J. Wang & X. Lu

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Wang, J., Lu, X. Selection of content in high school mathematics textbooks: an international comparison. ZDM Mathematics Education 50, 813–826 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11858-018-0977-6

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Keywords

Mathematics Subject Classification

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