Mathematics Textbook Evaluation - Essay Example

? Mathematics Textbook Evaluation Mathematics Textbook Evaluation In America, there has been increased emphasis recently on improving the American students’ mathematics abilities. This has created an avenue for many textbooks to be developed in order to cater for this market. Many of them assert that their instructional approach towards mathematics is sure to improve and advance the learners’ skills. Many researchers have tried to examine various alternatives when it comes to approaches towards mathematics in the perspective of the teaching and the students’ understanding the subject. Before the 2008 National Mathematics Advisory Panel that was made in order to look at the methodological aspects of mathematics there have been numerous advisories on how mathematics should be taught. Case in point are Carpenter, Fennema, & Peterson in 1984; Steinberg, Haymore, & Marks in 1985: Stephen & Romberg, 1985; Hansen, McCann, & Myers, 1985: Myers, Hansen, Robson, & McCann, 1983. All the authors have at least looked and discussed about math exhaustively with different perceptions from each of them. With all the researchers they used various tags to describe the different outcomes and approaches when it comes to teaching math such as: “Cognitively- guided instruction,” “conceptual change teaching,” “rote teaching strategies,” “rule- based type of teaching,” and “mastery learning.” In most of the research papers and mathematical journals and books they have a brief idea of the approaches when it comes to the teaching of mathematics. The dominant and distinctive aspect of math should be: Learner-centered meaning that the teaching of the subject should basically pay attention and focus on the individual learner’s construction and development of the mathematical skill and idea. Content Centered with emphasis on the conceptual understanding implying that the teaching of the subject should be guided by the content that is in the books and at the same time the emphasis should be on the understanding of the concepts on the topics being taught. Content focused with the priority being on the performance thus clarifying the fact that the teaching of mathematics should emphasize on how the student performs on the subject while at the same the students showing the mastery of the mathematical procedures and rules during calculation. The last perspective is the fact that the teaching of math should be classroom focused and under classroom focus; the teaching of math is entirely driven by the knowledge of how math is effective in classrooms and the whole class is treated as one entity during the delivery of the content. With this in mind the essay will be sampling three different textbooks from different publishing house under which each of them will be subjected to an evaluation and a critique on the different learning approaches that each book has used for the teaching of the mathematics as a subject. In addition all the three books will be analyzed based on the same grade level for each of them. Enriching your math Curriculum Grade 5 The book is written by Schuster, L and is one of the recent published nooks after the National Mathematic Advisory Panel Recommendations. The strength of the book lies in the fact that it adapts the book is classroom centered therefore it is expected the lesson to b effective in the classroom more with the teacher expected to have an overview of the classroom needs and requirements. One of the weaknesses is that since it is based on the classroom perspective, the other elements have been ignored especially the learner centered in the sense that mathematics is mostly an individual work instead of basing the work on the whole class as different learners perform differently in the class. The topics have also been continuously repeated in in the book for the purposes of retention, this is not necessary and it can lead to Rote type of learning where the learners do not understand anything. The main instructional approach for the book is based on the aspect of recreational mathematics; this is done through the numerous mathematic games and puzzles at the end of each and every topic. This helps in the retention of the topic taught while at the same time with the method of classroom concept it implies that the slow students will have less than the normal chances to understand the concepts taught. The other aspect about the book is that it tries to use the conventional approach whereby the topics are arranged in a systematic way such that once on e topic is completed the other seamlessly joins in without any hitches an example is the first topic factors and multiples which goes well with Algebra therefore once the learners learn how to use factors and multiples then the activity is given a further dimension by the introduction of letters in use with numbers for calculation. The fact that the book has a conventional outlook and also the use of recreational mathematics makes it better for the learners in class to understand the mathematical concepts simply as compared to other methods. However the topics should be tackled with different methods to have a broad outlook on the concepts and make them easy and interesting for the learners. Total Math Grade 5 This mathematic book is published by the American Education Publishing. The book is very comprehensive when it comes to the teaching of the mathematic and this is one of the strengths the book has it is mostly work-book with a design that helps the children in grade 5 to have essential math skills and also develop the skills as they are learning the different concepts in the book. The book is made in such a way that the learners do not only learn about math but they get an opportunity to “do” math. The progression of the topics as compared to the ‘Enriching your Math’ is much simpler and also very easy to understand every single topic being taught with addition to real life math puzzles to learners in that age bracket. The weakness in the book is that it is concentrated to the class therefore the curriculum has a broad overview of the performance of each student, this can be looked at averagely as no single class has equal intelligence and same performance in the learners. The major instructional method in this book will be the classroom centered, this implies that it is easy to deliver the content and concepts to the class as a whole instead of looking at the individual work. This does not mean that the learner centered is ignored, in retrospect both skills are developed whereby the discussion of the concept for example on decimals is done in the class as a whole thereafter the learners are given individual assignments to tackle this is to enable the learners develop cognitive thinking and can do research on their own concerning the topic. As compared to the first book, this is very simple to the young learner in the sense that each and every single aspect has been split into small bits and at the end of the achievable daily concepts there is an exercise which can also be done in class or as a homework therefore it is quite easy for the teacher to know which student has a weakness and this can be handled before the topic is further on. Saxon Intermediate Math 5 This a grade 5 mathematics book, published by the Saxon Publishers. The interface of the book is made in such a way that the lessons are covered on a step by step basis daily with a practice and assessment session scheduled to be done on a daily basis too. According to the purpose of the book, this is done in order to build critical foundational concepts and also enable the learners develop critical thinking skills. The achievement of critical thinking skills can be done of the lesson is made in such a way that the focus of the lesson is the learner. It is this approach that the book takes which in turn makes it an asset on the development of the skills. The weakness of this textbook is that this type of pedagogy is that the concepts are meant to be repeated for a period of time and this makes the concept monotonous and thus it is very likely the interest of the learners in this subject to diminish especially if some of the topics taught for example in grade 5 and also the other levels like Grade 6 to 8 they are still taught. The learning approach in the book is mainly subject focus and also learner focus as it tries to make the lessons be as interactive as possible than any other of the book with the engaging daily exercise after every short sub-topic. Furthermore the individual learner has an opportunity to put his or her skills in to practice every day by working out the assignments and exercise therefore the level of retention in the concepts is very high with this method. The book adapts a real world problem solving concept and application and this helps the students to communicate ‘mathematically. Another rationale is that the book has incorporated even the learners with learning difficulties and they can have the opportunity to learn at their own pace and at the same time be at par with the other learners. Conclusion Some of the recommendations by the National Mathematics Advisory Panel is that all the skills should be integrated throughout the teaching of the mathematic concepts and this can only be achieved from the co-operation of the teacher and the learner. Some skills are quite unique and so are the understandings and also the qualities in each student in the learning of mathematics. The aspects of the mathematic understanding by the learner should be put into consideration and how they will influence the outcome of the objectives of the lessons. The instructional approach of the subject is what will entirely improve on the American student’s mathematical abilities. Another major perspective is the publishers and if they are all streamlined to achieve the same purposes every where; they will work towards developing the learner’s cognitive skills instead of the books having different approach towards the same subject. References American Education Publishing. (2004). Total math: Grade 5. Columbus, Ohio: American Education Pub. Carpenter, T. P., Fennema, E., & Peterson, P. (1984). Cognitively guided instruction: Studies of the application of cognitive and instructional science to mathematics curriculum. Unpublished manuscript. Madison: University of Wisconsin. Saxon Publishers. (2010). Saxon Intermediate Math 5. Orlando, Florida: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Pre-K-8 Schuster, L. (2010). Enriching your math curriculum: Grade 5 : a month-to-month resource. Sausalito, Calif: Math Solutions Read More