Abstract
Mathematics textbook series largely determine what teachers teach and consequently, what students learn. In the Netherlands, publishers have hardly any restrictions in developing and publishing textbooks. The Dutch government only prescribes the content to be taught very broadly and does not provide guidelines on how content has to be taught. In this study, the consequences of this freedom of design are investigated by carrying out a textbook analysis on the topic of subtraction up to 100. To examine the relationship between the intended curriculum and the potentially implemented curriculum, we analyzed the mathematical content and performance expectations of two Dutch textbook series. In order to get a closer view of the learning opportunities offered, the learning facilitators of the textbook series were also analyzed. The results of the analysis show that the investigated textbook series vary in their agreement with the intended curriculum with respect to content and performance expectations. The textbook series reflect divergent views on subtraction up to 100 as a mathematical topic. Furthermore, they differ in the incorporated ideas about mathematics education, as shown in the learning facilitators they provide. Consequently, the examined textbook series provide very different opportunities to students to learn subtraction up to 100.
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Notes
- 1.
‘De Wereld in Getallen’, ‘Pluspunt’, ‘Rekenrijk’, ‘Alles Telt’, ‘Talrijk’, ‘Wis en Reken’, ‘Wizwijs’, ‘Reken Zeker’, ‘Rekenwonders’ en ‘Het Grote Rekenboek’.
- 2.
‘De Wereld in Getallen’ developed from 1975 on, and Pluspunt, the development of which started in 1985.
- 3.
This underlines the crucial role that mathematics textbooks have in the Netherlands.
- 4.
A folder released for the textbook series ‘De Wereld in Getallen’ (4th edition) and ‘Pluspunt’ (3rd edition) says “Algorithms get more attention and are gradually built up until the classic long division appears.” (All translations of folders and examples from textbooks are done by the authors of this chapter.)
- 5.
A folder released for the textbook series ‘De Wereld in Getallen’ (4th edition) and ‘Pluspunt’ (3rd edition) says: “There is much more room for practice, repetition and automatization.”
- 6.
A folder released for the textbook series ‘Reken Zeker’ says: “Practice, practice and more practice”, “One strategy for all children”. A folder released for the materials of ‘Het Grote Rekenboek’ says: “This textbook series gives an answer to the recent criticism on mathematics education.”
- 7.
A folder released for the textbook series ‘Rekenwonders’ says: “This is the Dutch edition of an extremely successful and internationally praised Singaporean textbook.”
- 8.
This use of contexts should fade away after some time. After all, even though a context can steer a certain calculation method, in term, in the decision what calculation method will be used, not the context, but the numbers involved play a key role.
- 9.
The use of various symbolic representations of subtractions was not included in this count, because by definition every bare number task has some form of symbolic representation.
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van Zanten, M., van den Heuvel-Panhuizen, M. (2014). Freedom of Design: The Multiple Faces of Subtraction in Dutch Primary School Textbooks. In: Li, Y., Lappan, G. (eds) Mathematics Curriculum in School Education. Advances in Mathematics Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7560-2_12
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