Assessment of the Content of the Fourth-Grade Mathematics Textbook According to the Indicators of the TIMSS Test

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the content of the elementary school’sfourth-grade mathematics textbook according to the Timss test indicators. Thedescriptive research method and target population included the content of thefourth-grade mathematics textbook. The sample size included all the content ofthe textbook. To collect data, a researcher-made checklist was used to comparethe content of the fourth-grade math textbook with the TIMSS test documentsin both content and cognitive domains. The face validity of the degree ofconformity of the content of the math textbook in the fourth grade with thedegree of content and cognitive growth and the mental capabilities of thelearners of that grade was confirmed with the indicators of the TIMSS test. Thecorrelation coefficient was 0/84, and reliability showed the degree ofcompliance. The collected data was analyzed using percentage and frequencyindicators. Results revealed that there needs to be more concordance betweenthe content of the fourth-grade math textbook in Iran and the content dimensionof the TIMSS test, and all the sub-sections need to be covered. The section ofnumbers and its sub-sections fully present arithmetic computational andnumbers in the textbook. However, the materials in the geometric shapes andmeasurements section, especially the material related to data representation inthe textbook, could be presented better. Moreover, the other findings of thisresearch in the cognitive dimension showed that the content of the mathematicstextbook in the cognitive field is mainly devoted to the topics of knowledge, thento applications, and finally, a small part of it is dedicated to reasoning, and it doesnot fully comply with the contents of the Timss test.