A comparison of the instructional content on division of fractions in Turkish and Singaporean textbooks

ABSTRACT

This study has compared Turkish and Singaporean textbooks with respect to the instructional content of the unit on division in fractions, which is a challenging topic for many students. Two Turkish textbooks were compared against two Singaporean books, My Pals Are Here and Targeting Mathematics. In Turkish and Singaporean mathematics books, the contents of the unit on division in fractions are based on students’ conceptual understanding and the development of operational fluency. When compared to Singaporean textbooks, Turkish books included more solution methods. However, the solutions in Turkish books displayed no relationship between visual and symbolic representation. Both Turkish and Singaporean books used only area models (circle, rectangle) in teaching the topic of division in fractions, and included measurement and equal sharing problems with step by step solution explanations. In sum, it may be claimed that Singaporean books caused students to use fewer solution strategies but offered more opportunities for grasping the relationship between division and multiplication in fractions.

KEYWORDS:

• Division of fractions
• mathematics textbook
• instructional content

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCID

Suphi Önder Bütüner http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7083-6549