Comparative Study On Mathematics Culture In Compulsory Textbooks Of High School Mathematics

In 2020,the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China promulgated the General High School Mathematics Curriculum Standards(2017 Edition Revised 2020)(the new curriculum standards),which require the integration of mathematical culture into the content of the high school mathematics curriculum and and clarify the definition of mathematical culture.The importance of the cultural value of mathematics was also mentioned in the 1952 Secondary School Mathematics Syllabus(Draft)and the 2003 General High School Mathematics Curriculum Standards(Experimental Version).Therefore,whether from the perspective of the study of mathematical culture or the development of mathematics textbooks,the study of mathematical culture content in required high school mathematics textbooks has certain reference value for the writing and improvement of high school mathematics textbooks as well as the development of mathematics education and mathematical culture.In the 1980 s,China kicked off the research on mathematical culture.With the continuous development of mathematical culture and the reform of mathematics education,mathematical culture has attracted the attention and attention of more and more experts and scholars,and there are many excellent results on the connotation and characteristics of mathematical culture,how to integrate mathematical culture into the classroom,the educational value of mathematical culture and the research on mathematical culture in mathematics textbooks.Based on the above background,this paper adopts the literature research method,content analysis method and comparative research method to conduct a comparative study on the content of mathematical culture in five areas of Preparatory Knowledge,Functions,Geometry and Algebra,Probability and Statistics,Mathematical Modeling Activities and Mathematical Investigation Activities in the six editions of our current compulsory high school mathematics textbooks under the guidance of the new curriculum(People's Education Press A Edition,People's Education Press B Edition,Beijing Normal University Press,Shanghai Education Press,Hunan Education Press,Jiangsu Education press)under the guidance of the new curriculum standards,respectively,the similarities and differences in the design,number of settings,and content selection of mathematical culture in each edition are studied separately to understand the specific presentation of mathematical and cultural content in textbooks.The following conclusions were obtained: 1.In terms of the amount of mathematical culture content,in general,the textbook editions differed relatively little in terms of the total amount of mathematical culture,but the editions differed considerably in the amount of mathematical culture in the five sections of Preparatory Knowledge,Functions,Geometry and Algebra,Probability and Statistics,Mathematical Modeling Activities and Mathematical Inquiry Activities;2.In terms of layout design,there are significant differences among editions in the layout design of the five parts:Preparatory Knowledge,Functions,Geometry and Algebra,Probability and Statistics,Mathematical Modeling Activities and Mathematical Inquiry Activities;3.In terms of the selection of mathematical culture content,from an overall perspective,the four subcategories in order of weight are mathematics and real-life,history of mathematics,mathematics and science and technology,and mathematics and humanities and arts.All editions of textbooks pay much attention to the close connection between mathematics and real-life,and give adequate representation to the content of the history of mathematics,but not enough attention to this aspect of mathematics and humanities and arts.The following insights were obtained from this paper: 1.Reasonable setting of real-life content to enrich other mathematical and cultural content;2.Reasonable integration of school life content and appropriate integration of complex general life knowledge;3.Connecting mathematical knowledge with rich content from the history of mathematics;4.Introduce high-tech content to broaden students' learning horizons;5.Appreciating the beauty of mathematics through humanities and arts;6.Reasonable arrangement of mathematical and cultural content,taking into account mathematical knowledge and culture.