Analysis of the suitability of secondary school mathematics textbooks to realistic mathematics education

In the last 20 years, Realistic Mathematics Education has been applied in the majority of the countries (Netherlands, England, USA, China, Indonesia, etc.) where successful students in international PISA and TIMSS exams have studied. As realistic mathematics education has gained importance in recent years, developed and developing countries have begun to reflect this understanding of education in their mathematics curriculum. In this study, it was tried to determine the suitability of textbooks, which are an important tool in the implementation of mathematics teaching programs, for realistic mathematics education. From this point of view, the aim of the research is to analyze the suitability of the sample, exercise and unit evaluation questions in the mathematics textbooks taught in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades of secondary school in the 2020-2021 academic year, to realistic mathematics education. The scope of the research consists of 9 mathematics textbooks approved by the Board of Education, two at the 5th grade, three at the 6th grade, one at the 7th grade, and three at the 8th grade. In the study, the data were obtained through "document analysis". The "Realistic Mathematics Education Question Evaluation Form" developed by the researcher was used as a data collection tool. The data obtained from the form, in which arrangements were made in line with expert opinions, were subjected to content analysis. As a result of the research, it was seen that the suitability of the questions for realistic mathematics education decreased when going from the 5th grade to the 8th grade. In other words, as the subject areas move from concrete to abstract in mathematics textbooks, it has been concluded that question types that enable students to associate mathematical situations with real life problems are given less place.