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The author examined the potential influence of learning opportunities provided in 1 U.S. and 1 Chinese mathematics textbook series on students' problem-solving performance. Also, the author studied learning opportunities provided in the textbooks by analyzing word problem distribution across various problem types, as well as the potential influence of learning opportunities on students' ability to solve arithmetic word problems, by determining student success rate (i.e., item difficulty measure) in relation to word problem distribution in adopted textbooks. Results indicated a different pattern with respect to word problem distribution in U.S. and Chinese textbooks. The relation between adopted textbook word problem task presentation and student success in solving problems suggests that the ability of U.S. participants to solve certain problem types better than other problem types may be related directly to the design of U.S. textbooks (e.g., unbalanced word problem distribution). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports on the statistical content of five U.S. textbook series written for elementary students in grades 1-5. The researchers examined 17,688 pages and coded 7445 statistical tasks to determine (1) the distribution of statistical topics within textbooks, and (2) the relative emphasis on the phases of the statistical problem solving process (Formulate Questions, Collect Data, Analyze Data, and Interpret Results). Different series contained markedly different distributions of statistical content: two series located most statistical content near the end of the text, whereas two other series located statistical tasks more uniformly throughout the textbook. A large majority of statistical tasks required students to Analyze Data, with a heavy emphasis on the activities of reading displays and performing mathematical calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The newAustralian Senior Secondary Curriculum: Mathematicscontains more statistics than the existing Australian Curricula. This case study examines how a group of Queensland mathematics teachers define the word “statistics” and five statistical terms from the new curricula. These definitions are compared to those used in some commonly-used Queensland mathematics textbooks and in the glossaries of newAustralian Senior Secondary Curriculum: Mathematics.The findings of this study suggest that many teachers do not have a good understanding of statistical concepts and that they rely on procedural definitions (instrumental understanding). This is reflected in the presentation of statistics in Queensland senior secondary mathematics textbooks. Definitions in the glossaries of the new curricula are generally better but perhaps other simpler concepts could be introduced first to develop relational understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]