Kako su matematičari kao deo istorije matematike predstavljeni u savremenim kineskim udžbenicima matematike?

Lianghuo Fan,Na Li

doi:10.5937/inovacije2001107l

Abstract

As part of our efforts to understand how history and culture are manifested in mathematics textbooks, we investigated particularly in this study how mathematicians are represented across three different series of contemporary school mathematics textbooks used in primary and junior secondary schools in China. The study intends to document the ways of representation of mathematicians in the three series of textbooks, compare the similarities and differences, and explore the reasons and implications of the findings concerning mathematics textbook research and development. Our findings show that each series of mathematics textbooks introduced both Chinese and non-Chinese mathematicians in a commendable way, though most of the mathematicians introduced were ancient mathematicians, and all the three series introduced mathematicians each year from Grade 2 to Grade 9. There is also a high level of consistency in the distribution of the introduction of mathematicians in the three series in terms of mathematics contents and the structures of the chapters. In comparison, we found the mathematics textbook series by the PEP presented a more balanced distribution of the introductions of mathematicians in terms of grade levels, ethnic origins and the history timeline. The explanations and implications of the findings are discussed at the end of the paper.

Highlights

Introduction andBackground3As is well known, mathematics textbooks play an important role in the teaching and learning of mathematics in many countries
As part of our efforts to understand how history and culture are manifested in mathematics textbooks, we aim to investigate how mathematicians are represented across three different series of contemporary school mathematics textbooks used in primary and junior secondary schools in China
The pages where mathematicians were mentioned in the textbooks published by Beijing Normal University Press (BNUP) are more than the Shanghai textbooks, these pages take up 1.37% and 1.34% of the total number of pages in the two series respectively

Summary

Introduction

Mathematics textbooks play an important role in the teaching and learning of mathematics in many countries. Related to this fact, mathematics textbook research has received a rapidly increasing attention from researchers over the last two decades or so in different parts of the world (e.g., see Fan et al, 2013; Schubring & Fan, 2018). There have been very few studies so far directly looking into the issue about how mathematicians are represented in school mathematics textbooks (e.g., see Castaneda et al, 2019), even though some researchers have argued that introducing mathematicians was a way to use history in mathematics education (cf. Fauvel, 1991)

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Conclusion