A Comparative Study Of Mathematics Textbooks For Junior High Schools In Shanghai And California

Mathematics education in the United States has received extensive attention from the international mathematics education circle.At present,the development of teaching materials in the United States has achieved remarkable results,which also has important implications for the compilation of mathematics teaching materials for junior high schools in China.Shanghai has been playing a leading role in China’s educational reform,so it is particularly important to compile a set of junior high school mathematics textbooks suitable for Shanghai’s development.In this paper,two kinds of teaching materials of junior high school mathematics compulsory education published by Shanghai education publishing house in 2015 and junior high school mathematics teaching materials published by Glencoe McGraw-Hill publishing house in 2008 are selected as the research objects,and the content of the unary equation in the teaching materials is selected as the main research object.the main research questions are as follows: what is the difference between the content of the junior high school section of the mathematics curriculum standards of the two places? What is the difference in curriculum breadth between the two junior high school mathematics textbooks of " linear equation in one unknown " ? What is the difference in curriculum depth between the two junior high school mathematics textbooks of " linear equation in one unknown " ?Through the methods of literature analysis,comparative research and statistical analysis,this paper analyzes and compares the mathematics curriculum standards of Shanghai and California in the United States in junior high school,compares the advantages and disadvantages of the two mathematics curriculum standards in terms of structure,basic concepts,objectives and curriculum contents of the " linear equation in one unknown",draws lessons from some experiences of California mathematics curriculum standards in junior high school,extracts its essence and discards its dross,provides effective suggestions for the perfection of our mathematics curriculum standards,and recognizes and inherits the advantages of Shanghai mathematics curriculum standards.At the same time,based on the research results of the mathematics curriculum standards of the two places,a qualitative and quantitative comparative study is carried out on the three major aspects of the arrangement and organization of the teaching materials,the overall structure of knowledge,and the comprehensive difficulty of examples and exercises in the juniorhigh school mathematics teaching materials of the two places respectively,and the differences between the two versions of the teaching materials are further analyzed through specific examples and exercises,so as to find out the differences,advantages and disadvantages of the two versions,and then put forward suggestions on the compilation of the Shanghai teaching version of junior high school mathematics teaching materials.Through the comparison of the contents of the two textbooks " linear equation in one unknown",it is found that,first,Shanghai junior high school mathematics textbooks pay attention to the tandem of knowledge points in the arrangement of curriculum contents,while California junior high school mathematics textbooks pay more attention to the coverage and comprehensiveness of knowledge points.Second,Shanghai Education Press attaches importance to the embodiment of the cultural value of mathematics.California textbooks pay attention to the connection between scientific and technological development and mathematics,and attach importance to interdisciplinary comprehensive activities.Third,the content proportion of the linear equation in one unknown in Shanghai teaching edition is larger than that in California teaching materials.Fourth,there are obvious differences in the overall knowledge structure between the two editions.Fifth,in terms of inquiry and calculation,the comprehensive difficulty of examples and exercises in Shanghai teaching edition is higher than that in California teaching materials.In the three aspects of background,reasoning and knowledge content,the problems sets in California textbooks are more difficult than those in Shanghai textbooks.Sixth,the presentation of examples and exercises in California textbooks is intuitive and detailed,and the presentation of examples and exercises in Shanghai teaching edition is more direct and concise.Based on a comparative study of mathematics curriculum standards and teaching materials for junior high schools in Shanghai and California,the author puts forward several suggestions on the compilation of curriculum standards and teaching materials for Shanghai: first,pay attention to the acceptability of primary teachers;Second,add teachers’ goals;Third,strengthen parents’ sense of participation and responsibility;Fourth,strengthen students’ understanding of the essence of mathematical concepts;Fifth,the arrangement of teaching materials should pay attention to the coverage and comprehensiveness of knowledge points;Sixth,Improve the number and types of examples and exercises;Seventh,attachimportance to the provision and generation of learning resources.