A Study Of Features And Current Use Of Illustrations From The Middle School Mathematics Textbooks Of Zhejiang Education Edition

As an important textbook resource,illustrations are an essential part of the textbook and an important vehicle for achieving the requirements of the curriculum.The quality of illustrations affects the use of textbooks by teachers and students.It is worthwhile to study the characteristics of current textbook illustrations and the use of illustrations by front-line teachers and students.This study takes the illustrations of mathematics textbooks in the ZTE edition as the object of study and constructs a framework for the study of illustrations in mathematics textbooks.Quantitative and qualitative analyses are conducted on the number,location,graphic presentation,form of organization,function and physical characteristics of illustrations.The study also selected front-line teachers and students to conduct a questionnaire survey to investigate their knowledge and use of textbook illustrations.The study found that: in terms of quantity,the illustrations in the textbook are rich in number and uniform in density,with different emphasis in the three areas of "Number and Algebra","Graphs and Geometry" and "Probability and Statistics".In terms of position,the design of the illustrations reflects the clear structure of the textbook and the emphasis on using the material to lead students’ learning;in terms of graphic presentation,the content of the illustrations is closely linked to the text and the structure is diversified;in terms of organization,independent diagrams are the main focus and other forms are supplementary;in terms of content,the importance attached to the presentation of mathematical information in the form of illustrations,with contextual,mathematical and cultural and scientific illustrations to be improved;in terms of function,the textbook illustrations also focus on students’ understanding of knowledge,and organizational illustrations need to be increased;in terms of physical features,the illustrations are clear and colorful,but the sense of picture design needs to be strengthened.The results of the teacher questionnaire show that: most teachers were satisfied with the clarity,placement and overall design of the illustrations,while a few teachers thought there was room for improvement in terms of quantity and color scheme.In terms of the use of illustrations,the teachers’ use of illustrations varies,and the utilization of illustrations in various teaching sessions needs to be improved;The teachers suggested that the types and numbers of illustrations could be enriched and the novelty of illustrations also could be improved.The results of the student questionnaire show that students recognize the importance of the illustrations in the textbook,but there is still room for improvement in their active use.Suggestions for illustrations: the students suggested increasing the number of illustrations,enhancing the sense of design and beauty of the images,and improving the interest of the illustrations.Based on the above research and analysis of the textbooks,the following strategies are proposed for the preparation of the teaching materials: firstly,the number and density of illustrations should be appropriately increased and the types of illustrations should be balanced;secondly,the selection of illustrations should be made more contemporary and novel;thirdly,the quality of illustrations should be improved and unnecessary illustrations should be replaced;fourthly,the design of illustrations should be in line with students’ cognition and aesthetics and the overall design style should be kept consistent;fifthly,the communication between the editors and front-line teachers and students should be enhanced and relevant supporting materials should be improved.Strategies are suggested for the use of textbook illustrations: at the teacher level,teachers need to pay attention to illustrations,study them and make full use of them.They can be used to introduce new and innovative illustrations,to develop students’ reading skills,and to use information technology to turn illustrations into movement.At the student level,students need to change their perception of illustrations,learn to read them and use them to solve problems,and develop the ability to learn independently.