Content and Problem Analysis in Turkish and Singaporean Mathematics Textbooks: The Case of Multiplying Fractions

Abstract

In this study, Turkish and Singaporean textbooks were compared in terms of teaching content for multiplying fractions, a subject that most students have difficulty in understanding. The study analyzed the 6th-grade mathematics textbook published by the Turkish Ministry of National Education and its Singaporean counterpart. While the Singaporean textbook covered all meanings of multiplying fractions, the Turkish textbook did not include the operator meaning of multiplying fractions. Compared to the Turkish textbook, the Singaporean textbook included more solution strategies. The number line model was not used in the textbooks of either country, and only one representation format was used to model a fraction multiplication problem. The Singaporean textbook included more fraction multiplication problems than did the Turkish textbook. Many problems in both textbooks were of a one-step fashion and required numerical answers.