To læreverks presentasjon av algebra på 8. trinn En analyse og sammenligning
Abstract
The aim of this study was to analyze how two textbooks and associated material present algebra in eighth grade, and whether they are focusing on facilitating instrumental understanding or relational understanding. Skemp’s (1976) theory on instrumental and relational understanding played an important role in this work. The textbooks I chose to analyze and compare were Grunntall 8 and Faktor 8. Additionally I wanted to study how two teachers used the textbooks. I did this because I wanted to know how they were used in the classroom.
The methods used in this study were content analyses of the textbooks, observations of the two teachers and semistructured interviews of the same teachers. In the analyses of the textbooks, I focused on the textbook and the workbook, and the tasks given in these books.
The results show that both textbooks have a stronger focus on instrumental understanding, than relational understanding. However, Faktor 8 includes more elements that may help the pupils in achieving relational understanding. From the analyses it became clear that the responsibility is very much with the teacher. How the teacher chooses to use the textbook is the single most important factor when it comes to pupils’ potential achievement of instrumental understanding or relational understanding. The two teachers in this study used almost all parts of the textooks, but some essential parts were missing. One of the teachers did not use the workbook, and neither of them had seen the teacher’s manual (lærerveiledning). Nevertheless, both of the teachers reported to use other resources if they meant it was necessary to reach the goals of their teaching.
Description
Masteroppgave matematikkdidaktikk- Universitetet i Agder, 2015