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
May 2009
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.
.
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
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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
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Date deposited: 04 Feb 2010
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 21:22
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Contributors
Author:
Taro Fujita
Author:
Susumu Kunimune
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