교과서 실생활 문제 분석 - 미국 Precalculus 교과서를 중심으로 -

Abstract

본 논문은 수학 교과서에 사용되는 실생활 관련 문제들에서 '사람의 존재 (Human presence)' 가 얼마만큼 실제적 또는 현실적으로 묘사되는지를 조사한 연구이다. 연구에 사용된 교과서는 미국 동부 지역 고등학교 Precalculus 수업에 많이 이용되는 Addison Wesley에서 출판된 Precalculus: Graphical, Numerical, Algebraic, Seventh Edition (2006) 이다. 본 논문에서는 실생활 관련 문제에서의 '사람의 존재 (Human presence)' 유무와 특성을 분석하기 위해 개발된 분석틀과 이 분석틀을 사용하여 분석한 결과들을 소개하고 시사점을 제언한다. In order to determine the message that is communicated to students about people who use math, this study analyzes contexts, human presence in particular, used in problems presented in a U. S. high school mathematics textbook. A framework was developed to analyze the human presence and was used to determine both the degree to which humans are present in the curriculum as well as characteristics of the present humans. One outcome of this study is the framework itself which can be used to analyze the human presence in any mathematics curriculum. Other outcomes include the determination that the particular mathematics textbook under study contains an overwhelming lack of humans, a surprising lack of named humans, and a disappointing presence of humans in math-related careers. These findings raise concerning questions about the message that is communicated to students about the usefulness of school mathematics and missing a valuable opportunity to inspire students to pursue degrees in mathematics. Additionally, it is hoped that these findings would inform the work of the Korean mathematics education communities on the textbook development.