Trend of Presenting Concept of Fractions in the Mathematics Textbooks of the Second to Fourth Grades of Primary Schools in Iran and Japan

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to compare the trend of presenting concept of fractions in second to fourth grades mathematics textbooks in Iran and Japan, and also to examine what topics of fractions these textbooks present. The method was comparative-qualitative research, the statistical population was the countries of the world, and the selected sample was the two countries of Iran and Japan. The strategy of choosing countries was "different social systems, different educational outputs". The data collection method was done through the examination of primary and secondary sources, such as mathematics textbooks of Grade 2-4 of primary schools, related articles and books, and available documents in official and government databases. Bereday Model was used to analyze the data. The results showed that the concept of fraction has been introduced in two countries from the second grade and using the part-whole subconstruct, and these textbooks have similarities and differences in presenting the concept of fraction. Among these similarities, we can mention the concept of fractions greater than unity and mixed numbers. Among the non-common topics, we can mention the discrete representation of the part-whole subconstruct in Iranian textbooks and the conversion of a fraction larger than a unit to a mixed number and vice versa in Japanese textbooks. The lower performance of Iranian students in the concept of fractions in TIMSS compared to Japan shows that in the common topics, only a greater number of pages and more problems in the textbook will not help, and it is necessary to review and revise Iran's mathematics textbooks in common topics on the subject of fractions.