Assessing the compliance of multiplication and division in elementary school textbooks with mathematics curriculum

The purpose of this study is to investigate the conformity or non-conformity of the topics related to multiplication and division in elementary school textbooks with the objectives of the mathematics curriculum.

The research method is quantitative content analysis, in which the content of third to sixth-grade math textbooks and the mathematics curriculum are considered. By purposeful sampling, all activities, work in classes, exercises, and pictures in the textbook related to multiplication and division topics have been analyzed. these contents are compared with the goals predicted in the mathematics curriculum by using content goal tables.

The findings of this study show that the priority of attention to the six goals is as follows: calculations (numerical, subjective, and approximately), problem-solving in a real-life, mathematical discourse, problem-solving strategies, structured problems, and semi-structured problems, and finally working with the calculator. The purpose of working with a calculator is to get the least attention in all areas and to lack attention in some areas. Structured and semi-structured problem propositions are also met with little success in content related to multiplication and division.

This study indicates the unequal attention of the textbook to the objectives of the curriculum. But a more precise comment on this requires an analysis of the entire content of the textbook in addition to the topics of multiplication and division. The results of this research can be used by the authors in identifying textbook gaps and removing clutter and redundancies in subsequent editions of the textbook.