A comparison of functions in Finnish, Singaporean, and Taiwanese middle-school mathematics textbooks

Bibliographic Data

ID22232872
AuthorsDer-Ching Yang (0000-0002-4685-4824, National Chiayi University), Yung‐Chi Lin (0000-0002-2366-4913, National Tsing Hua University, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume11
Issue1
Publication date2024-11-12
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHumanities and Social Sciences Communications (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2662-9992 • E-ISSN: 2662-9992
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLC (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1057/s41599-024-04081-3
OpenAlexW4404289383
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited35

This study adopted a content-analysis method to examine the differences in how the topic of functions was handled by Finnish, Singaporean, and Taiwanese middle-grade mathematics textbooks for children aged 13–15 (seventh-ninth grade). The results showed that the three countries’ textbooks used different methods to introduce the concept of functions, with the Finnish ones using function machines with input and output tables; the Taiwanese ones, verbal and visual representations; and the Singaporean ones, verbal representations only. In all three countries, most function-related mathematics problems were provided in a purely mathematical form. However, the Finnish textbooks were more balanced in this regard, including some problems presented visually or verbally, whereas the Taiwanese and Singaporean textbooks were inclined to use purely mathematical presentations. The Singaporean textbooks featured more open-ended problems than the Finnish or Taiwanese textbooks did. And, as compared with the textbooks from the two Asian countries, the Finnish ones included both a greater overall number of problems and less difficult problems

Mathematics education · Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills · Educational Assessment and Pedagogy · Mathematics · Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access