Zbornik radova (Univerzitet u Kragujevcu. Pedagoški fakultet u Užicu) (Jan 2023)

Different types of knowledge about length measurement in mathematics textbooks for the first cycle of primary education

  • Đokić Olivera J.,
  • Spasić Kristina D.

DOI
https://doi.org/10.5937/ZRPFU2325095D
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2023, no. 25
pp. 97 – 128

Abstract

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Textbook content strongly shapes instructionand what teachers do during educationand instruction. Research shows that measurement tasks in textbooks are procedural in the first cycle of primary education and that little attention is paid to conceptual understanding of measurement, which can limit measurement procedures. Therefore, we analyzed the current mathematics textbooks that have been approved and are used in schools in Serbia in order to observe tendencies in them as opportunities for learning about measuring length, since the biggest changes in the curricula for the first cycle of primary education occurred in the domain of measuring. The goal of the research is to examine the extent to which requirements/tasks orientated to two types of knowledge  conceptual and procedural  are represented in mathematics textbooks for the domain of measurement and the concept of length. The descriptive method and content analysis technique were applied in the paper. Based on the research of students" achievement for conceptual understanding and procedural knowledge of measuring length, area and volume (Tan Şişman, 2010), we formed a list of indicators that indicate learning opportunities in mathematics textbooks for the aforementioned different types of knowledge about measuring length that are presented to students of the first three grades of primary school. The basic results of the research show that in textbooks for the first grade, length measurement tasks orientated to conceptual understanding dominate, while in the textbooks for the second and third grades, there is a significantly greater presence of those tasks orientated to procedural knowledge. We highlight an interesting research result for textbooks for the third grade from different textbook publishers with smaller differences in the frequency of the presence of tasks focused on conceptual understanding and procedural knowledge compared to the larger difference between the two types of knowledge in the first two grades.

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