The Mathematics Content of a High School Social Sciences Textbook

• In Event: Framing Instructional Design in Humanities and Social Science Classrooms

Abstract

We analyze the mathematical content of a 10th grade social sciences textbook. We pursue three interrelated goals. First, we identify and characterize the full range of mathematics manifested in the book. E.g., what kinds of mathematical representations (e.g., graphs) and tutorials/lessons do we find?

Second, we assess the “density” of mathematics content in the textbook—i.e., its relative presence and pervasiveness—and whether math is more or less prominent than other disciplinary content (e.g., science).

Finally, we compare and contrast the current edition of the volume to its two prior editions and identify shifts in the patterns of mathematics presence in that textbook series, including growing encroachment and normalizing of mathematics exercising within the curricular space of the social sciences.

Authors

• Flavio S. Azevedo, Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction

• Michele Johnson Mann, The University of Texas - Austin