Research on Mathematics Textbooks and Teachers’ Resources

Book excerpt: This book focuses on issues related to mathematics teaching and learning resources, including mathematics textbooks, teacher guides, student learning and assessment materials, and online resources. The book highlights various theoretical and methodological approaches used to study teaching and learning resources, and addresses the areas of resources, teachers, and students at an international level. As for the resources, the book examines the role textbooks and other curricular or learning resources play in mathematics teaching, learning, and assessment. It asks questions such as: Could we consider different types of textbooks and roles they play in teaching and learning? How does the digitalization of information and communication affect these roles? What are defining features of e-textbooks, and how could we characterize the differences between the traditional textbooks and e-textbooks? As for the teachers, the book discusses the relationships between teachers’ individual and collective resources, and the way in which we could model such relationships. Specific questions addressed are: What is the role of teachers in developing textbooks and other teaching and learning materials? What are the relationships between resource designers and users? What are the consequences of these changing roles and relationships for the teaching of mathematics, and for teacher knowledge and professional development? As for the students, the book explores how students, as well as their teachers, interact through resources. It raises and addresses questions such as: What are the effects of modern ICT (particularly internet) on students’ use and the design of resources? How do changing patterns of use and design affect student behaviour, learning, and relationships to the subject of mathematics?