A Comparative Study On The Content Of Functions In Chinese And English High School Mathematics Textbooks Under The Core Literacy

As the research on the reform of basic courses continues to deepen,people put more emphasis on fostering students’ lifelong development and ability to fit into social needs,thus emerged the mathematical literacy core literacy.The mathematics textbook is a vital resource for teachers to teach and students to learn.Therefore,it is necessary to fully explore the correlation between textbooks and core literacy,discover their respective characteristics by comparing different versions of textbooks,and further implement core literacy in teaching based on the law of students’ cognitive development.This paper compares the A-edition high school mathematics textbook published by People’s Education Publishing House in 2019 with the A-level mathematics textbook published by Hodder Education Publishing House in 2016,taking “function”(including the concept and properties of function,exponential and logarithmic function and trigonometric function)as the research object.Focusing on the similarities and differences in the order of chapter arrangement,curriculum standards(General High School Mathematics Curriculum Standards(2017 Edition)and Cambridge International AS & A Level Mathematics(9709)Curriculum Outline(2017 Edition)),column presentation and the core mathematical literacy and knowledge structure they imply in the Chinese and British textbooks,the author aims to explore the characteristics of two countries in the compilation of mathematics textbooks and to offer some suggestions for the compilation of Chinese textbooks.The results show that:1.There are significant differences in the arrangement order of chapters of function between the two editions of textbooks.In the choice of knowledge content,exponential function is quite similar to logarithmic function and trigonometric function,while is less similar to the concept and properties of function.As for the column setting,the two editions of textbooks possess their own distinguishing characteristics.People’s Education A version has a variety of columns,focusing on the connection with real life,while A-level version has fewer columns.As far as curriculum standards are concerned,China’s curriculum standards are detailed and specific,and each chapter is accompanied by relevant teaching suggestions.The British curriculum standards stipulate the most basic knowledge requirements,and the rest are taught by teachers themselves according to the actual situation,which makes teachers’ teaching selective and innovative.2.Comparing the mathematical core literacy contained in the function content of the two editions of textbooks,we can find that both editions of textbooks pay attention to cultivating students’ logical reasoning literacy and mathematical operation literacy,but the mathematical modeling literacy is insufficient in the two editions of textbooks;The difference lies in that the A-version textbook emphasizes mathematical abstract literacy,while the A-level textbook attaches importance to intuitive imagination literacy.In terms of the three levels of mathematics core literacy,the columns of the two editions of textbooks account for the largest proportion,the columns of the second level account for less,and the columns of the third level account for the smallest proportion.In addition,in the A version of the textbook for People’s Education,the proportion of level 2 of mathematics core literacy is less than that of level 1,while in the A-level textbooks,the proportion of visual imagination literacy level 2 is higher than that of level 1.On the basis of the research results,the following conclusions are drawn:1.In terms of textbook compilation,textbook compilation should integrate into real life problems and penetrate mathematical modeling literacy;In terms of textbook exercises setting,the number of exercises at the core literacy level 2 of mathematics subject should be appropriately increased;Highlight the application guidance of modern information technology,improve the visual imagination quality;Increase the example solution method guidance,improve the mathematical operation literacy.2.In the aspect of teachers’ teaching,we need to seize the textbook on the whole and establish the knowledge framework of function units;Attaching importance to the constructive process of the concept of function,cultivating students’ mathematical abstract literacy;Emphasizing the application of functions,Cultivating students’ mathematical modeling ability and logical reasoning ability.To integrate into mathematics culture,stimulate students’ enthusiasm for learning mathematics and cultivate students’ exploration spirit.