Thinking about math textbooks

As a student, I personally enjoy having textbooks as alternate sources of information to supplement teacher instruction. I also find that I greatly benefit from questions in textbooks to practice my understanding and refer to sample worked out questions if I need clarification. Comparing my answer with the textbook answer helped solidify my understanding of the material. From the teacher-bird view during my two-week practicum experience, all of the teacher I met referred to the textbook for practice questions, but did not know what questions were off the top of the head; when students asked, “I don’t understand question 9” or “Can you help me with question 18” teachers needed students to read out the question or refer to their teacher solution handbook before attempting to help. This changed my perception of how teachers use textbooks. When first developing lessons, they refer to textbook as sources of information and find relevant questions to assign students; then over the years, they may not refer back to the textbook unless they need clarification or a quick review.

I believe that textbooks are extremely valuable resources, however, I do not agree with having students to spend hundreds of dollars for new texts. An example of this is with booklists in post-secondary courses; students are required to purchase specific texts as described by the instructor. The Math department at UBC is doing a fantastic job towards making textbooks electronic and free to access. This would be an excellent idea for secondary schools to try and implement; to make education more accessible, especially if the school is in an area where many students have financial hardships.

In Herbel-Eisenmann & Wagner (2007), the discussion on how the textbook authors use pronouns to address the reader is something I resonate with. I enjoy reading a book where I feel a more personalized connection with the author. Hence, when a math textbook uses first person pronouns such as “I” and “we”, I feel more drawn in and connected to the learning experience. When an author uses third person or phrases like, “one can see that…” I feel more disconnected and almost feel talked down upon. Therefore, although a textbook can be helpful to students to learn by providing supplementary content and practice problems, it may not effectively achieve this if the language within is not welcoming.

 

Reading: Herbel-Eisenmann, B., Wagner, D. (2007). A Framework for Uncovering the Way a Textbook May Position the Mathematics Learner, For the Learning of Mathematics, 27:2, 8-14.