The Reflections of Mathematical Modeling in Teaching Tools: Textbook Analysis

Abstract

In this study, we investigate to what extent mathematical modelling, which has been included extensively in many countries' curriculum in recent years, is included in middle school textbooks in Turkey and how the concept of modeling in textbooks reflects mathematical modeling. By conducting the document review, model and modeling concepts in all middle school (5, 6, 7, 8) mathematics textbooks in the 2016-2017 academic year were determined and evaluated, by means of content analysis method, in terms of the learning area, the class level, the section that model used, and the type of model used. The results show that the concept of modeling in middle school mathematics textbooks is used as a “modeling mathematics" rather than as means of mathematical modelling. Also, the concept of modelling is used intensively in some topics, but not mentioned in some topics and class levels at all. The concept of modelling used in the textbooks was limited only to concrete and visual structures. Thus, the purpose of modelling in the textbooks was to model mathematical concepts into the concrete and visual forms rather than mathematizing the problem. Considering the emphasis on mathematical modeling in the current mathematics standards, we suggest that this limited and problematic understanding of modeling should be revised to reflect purpose of mathematical modelling in order to have better learning opportunities for both teachers and students.