Measurement in Primary School Mathematics and Science Textbooks
Metadata
Show full item recordEditorial
MDPI
Materia
Measurement Primary education Textbooks Mathematics education Science education
Date
2021-09-02Referencia bibliográfica
Montoro, A.B.; Aguayo-Arriagada, C.G.; Flores, P. Measurement in Primary School Mathematics and Science Textbooks. Mathematics 2021, 9, 2127. [https://doi.org/10.3390/math9172127]
Sponsorship
Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Spain) PGC2018-095765-B-I00Abstract
The STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) approach to education
has acquired considerable prominence among teachers in recent years. Putting forward integrated
proposals is nonetheless complex and many educators opt to implement the ones set out in textbooks.
We consequently deemed it worthwhile to analyse how content common to mathematics and science
is addressed in primary school textbooks with a view to determining whether the approaches adopted
complement one another and are compatible with STEM education. More specifically, in light of the
importance of measurement in both areas of learning and in everyday life, we describe the meaning
of mass and volume found, in two publishers’ textbooks. Based on the components of the meaning
of measurement and deploying content analysis techniques, we analysed the explanations and tasks
set out in these mathematics and science books to identify the similarities and differences in the
handling of those magnitudes in the two subjects. Our findings showed the proposals for teaching
mass to pursue similar objectives in the earliest grades, addressing matters that could be included
in STEM proposals. On the contrary, inconsistencies were detected in the distribution of volume
measurement-related content, as well as in the strategies, units and tools used in the two areas.