Exercise Studies In The Primary Grades Mathematics Textbooks

The meanings of broad “exercise” include both exercises and examples in themathematics textbooks, and they are important parts of the textbook. The design andchoreography of examples and exercises have a direct effect on the teaching and learning.Singapore mathematics education has an advantage in the world, and the study ofexercises for elementary school mathematics textbooks in China and Singapore is veryrare, so that the designs of exercises of mathematics textbooks in the elementary schoolare lack of comparison and reference.Based on the compare of Primary mathematics textbooks of Singapore and China,we select the Shaping Math of Singapore and the version of New Century ElementarySchool Mathematics textbooks, by using the methods of the content analysis,comparative law and survey, we study four questions:Firstly, we should know the characteristics of the exercises in Singapore and China’sprimary school mathematics textbooks, and What the similarities and differencesbetween them; Secondly, we should know how the teacher in our country consider theidentity of these typical questions; Thirdly, what are the problems of primary schoolmathematics textbook exercises; and last, what the characteristics which textbookexercises should have are our teachers generally agree with.The paper show the research status of mathematical exercises, textbook exercises,the research status of the development of mathematics education in Singapore, bothdomestic and overseas, and introduce a question. Then, analyze primary low-grade mathtextbook exercises in the number, type, material selection, difficulty, functions, features,modes of presentation, the methods and presentation of ideas from the text level betweenthe two editions, to find the characteristics between two editions of lower primarymathematics textbook exercise and their similarities and differences:1.The exercises of the New century Elementary School Mathematics textbook withthe balance of the number of examples,and class exercises focus on the openness andrichness, exercise selection focus on the penetration of public knowledge and scientificcontext, Problem representation has the tendency of the adult, and the design of exercisestend to the final examination;2.The exercises of Shaping Maths Primary Mathematics textbook of Singaporefocus on the consolidation of training, the exercise selection focus on life, pay attentionto the guidance of the strategies of problem solving, and the level of questions, theintegrity of the exercise design. The exercises of Singapore are very interesting, attach to demonstration, and its design is tend to the formative tests.3.The two editions of primary mathematics textbooks have the following incommon: Firstly, exercises select the daily life as the background; secondly, they stressthe knowledge and practical of the exercises; then they pay attention to the set of openexercises; last, the exercises illustration are very funny.4.But the two versions of textbooks also have differences: the interesting ofexercises; the proportion of examples and class exercises; the name of the exercisecolumn; the view of exercise selection; the educational and development functions ofexercise; the design of exercises illustration; subject requirements and problemstatements, and the concept of exercise design.The study established13exercises judgment dimension from the text analysis,andextract comparable exercises in the two editions of the textbook, conducted a survey ofthe various dimensions of these exercises, come to our teachers on the two editions ofrecognition of the textbook exercises. Research shows that:1.The teachers of China tend to the exercises of Shaping Maths in generally;2.The exercises of Shaping Maths scores in each dimension were higher than theexercises of the new century version of the textbook.3. The gap between the textbook exercises in China and Singapore in turn reflectedin the “physical properties (presentation)”,“effect” and “inherent elements”.After combining the result of text analysis and questionnaire, we can find ourteachers generally agree that the primary low-grade math textbook exercises with thefollowing characteristics:1.The more exercise selection close to the real life world of children, the moreexercise vitality;2.The exercises illustration trigger the attention of the children;3.Eexercise designs are full of interesting;4.The title requires a clear and specific statements;5.Exercises need to be exemplary and typical, and teach children the strategiesmethod of solving a problem;6.The exercises should meet the function of knowledge and education, emphasizingthe function of development, focusing on the new evaluation function.At the same time, the study found that exercises of the elementary schoolmathematics textbooks of China have several problems: the design orientation of theexercise are biased; the development function of exercises is not clear; the selection pointof view of exercise is not enough close to the real life of the child; the fun of exercises isnot enough interesting; lack of demonstration, as well as exercises designed systematic, holistic and typical lack. To solve these problems, the author proposes the improvementsuggestions of exercises design as follows:Firstly, the changes of exercises designed, by the emphasis on "double base" to thecultivate thinking and ability; result to process; selection tests to formative test; Secondly,implementing the problem-solving abilities; Thirdly, adjustment the point of view ofexercises selection, which should be taken in the eyes of children’s life, with authenticityand practical features; Fourthly, enhance the fun and demonstration of the exercises; then,improve the technical level of the exercises prepared; last, enhance the teachers’ ability touse the textbook exercises properly.The elementary school mathematics textbooks should reflect the spirit of "service"and the "learning materials" characteristics better, so that children learn mathematicalknowledge and skills, and at the same time, they can enjoy the joy of learning, appreciatethe wonders of mathematics, improve thinking level, master the ways of thinking, andenhance problem-solving skills, the wisdom of enlightenment.