The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

The design of textbooks and their influence on students’ understanding of ‘proof’ in lower secondary school

The design of textbooks and their influence on students’ understanding of ‘proof’ in lower secondary school
The design of textbooks and their influence on students’ understanding of ‘proof’ in lower secondary school
In this paper we report on our analysis of textbooks commonly used for teaching students about proof in geometry in lower secondary school in Japan. From our analysis we found that, as expected from the curriculum specification, deductive reasoning is prominent in Japanese textbooks. Yet the way that proof and proving is presented in these textbooks shows geometry as a very formal subject for study, one that omits to illustrate convincingly for students the difference between formal proof and experimental verification. As such, we argue that an improvement in textbook design is likely to involve providing students with more effective instructional activities so that they appreciate more fully the notion of ‘generality of proof’.
jones, keith, southampton, textbook, instruction, pedagogy, strategies, proof, secondary school, students, icmi, conference, proving, mathematics education
9789860182101
172-177
National Taiwan Normal University
Fujita, Taro
8a05b8fc-a1ce-4a7b-9399-3fb00639a3cc
Jones, Keith
ea790452-883e-419b-87c1-cffad17f868f
Kunimune, Susumu
c1255c4f-6293-4a26-a8b6-ff02013e3192
Fujita, Taro
8a05b8fc-a1ce-4a7b-9399-3fb00639a3cc
Jones, Keith
ea790452-883e-419b-87c1-cffad17f868f
Kunimune, Susumu
c1255c4f-6293-4a26-a8b6-ff02013e3192

Fujita, Taro, Jones, Keith and Kunimune, Susumu (2009) The design of textbooks and their influence on students’ understanding of ‘proof’ in lower secondary school. In Proceedings of the ICMI Study 19 Conference: Proof and Proving in Mathematics Education. National Taiwan Normal University. pp. 172-177 .

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

In this paper we report on our analysis of textbooks commonly used for teaching students about proof in geometry in lower secondary school in Japan. From our analysis we found that, as expected from the curriculum specification, deductive reasoning is prominent in Japanese textbooks. Yet the way that proof and proving is presented in these textbooks shows geometry as a very formal subject for study, one that omits to illustrate convincingly for students the difference between formal proof and experimental verification. As such, we argue that an improvement in textbook design is likely to involve providing students with more effective instructional activities so that they appreciate more fully the notion of ‘generality of proof’.

Text
Fujita_Jones_Kunimune_ICMI_proof&proving_2009.pdf - Version of Record
Download (352kB)

More information

Published date: May 2009
Venue - Dates: conference; 2009-05-10; 2009-05-15, Taipei, Taiwan, 2009-05-10 - 2009-05-15
Keywords: jones, keith, southampton, textbook, instruction, pedagogy, strategies, proof, secondary school, students, icmi, conference, proving, mathematics education
Organisations: Mathematics, Science & Health Education

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 72264
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/72264
ISBN: 9789860182101
PURE UUID: 8ece8177-43c7-41d6-8633-9d4c4ec0121c
ORCID for Keith Jones: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-3677-8802

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 04 Feb 2010
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 21:22

Export record

Contributors

Author: Taro Fujita
Author: Keith Jones ORCID iD
Author: Susumu Kunimune

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×