Values of Mathematics Education In Turkish High School Mathematics Textbooks

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine how mathematics education values are included in Turkish high school mathematics textbooks. Mathematics education values describe the learning and teaching processes of mathematics. Mathematics education values are considered as five complementary pairs: formalistic view-activist view, operational understanding-relational understanding, relevance-theoretical knowledge, accessibility-special, and evaluating-reasoning. Document analysis method was used in the research. The sample of the study was determined examples in the mathematics textbooks used in high schools in the 2019-2020 academic year. A total of 2175 questions were examined within the scope of the research. Content analysis was used in the analysis of qualitative data, and the obtained data were classified as mathematical value pairs. Accordingly, it was found that values of formalistic view, theoretical knowledge, operational understanding, evaluating, and accessibility were emphasized more than complementary values in the studied books. Accordingly, considering the importance of mathematics education values for mathematics textbooks, it may be advisable to pay attention to the balanced distribution of these complementary value pairs in textbooks.