An Analysis of School Mathematics Textbooks in Terms of Their Pedagogical Orientation

This study aims to analyse the content of school Mathematics textbooks, based on whether they are cross-thematic in character, or not. In other words, it examines the connection of the mathematics content to knowledges drawn from other school subjects, something that is promoted as much by the curricula of Greek compulsory education, as by the institutional agencies of the European Union, in their attempt to formulate community education policy for the shaping of school knowledge. More specifically, in this research school mathematics textbooks from two consecutive Greek school grades, in which the pupils are between 12 and 13 years old approximately, and which are linked to the transition from primary to secondary education, are examined. The content analysis method was used for the approach to the research material. The results of this study revealed that Greek school textbooks do, to a small extent, achieve the pedagogical goal of a cross-thematic approach to knowledge, linking mathematics to other subjects on the curricula of Greek compulsory education.