An investigation of 6th - 8th grade mathematics textbooks according to PISA 2003 Uncertainty Scale

The purpose of this study was to determine to what extent the probability and statistics topics in 6 to 8 grade textbooks were covered in accordance with PISA 2003 Uncertainty Scale, how the level of the tasks in the texbooks differed according to the different publications and grade levels.The textbooks studied in this study were analyzed by document analysis technique. Analysis was carried out with respect to the the PISA 2003 Uncertainty Scale.According to PISA 2003 Uncertainty Scale, there are six different levels. According to the results, neither probability nor statistics questions were observed on the sixth level ?which is the top level- in mathematics textbooks. The fifth level tasks were too rare. Most of the tasks in mathematics textbooks were the second and third level questions. This stuation shows that mathematics textbooks are insufficient in developing adequate achievement in mathematics. It was also observed that in textbooks the levels of statistics tasks were higher than that of probability questions. In addition, as the grade level increased, the difficulty level of the tasks increased. However, the tasks weren?t qualified enough to gain higher level proficiency. As the publications differed, the number of the tasks in 6th, 7 th and 8th grade mathematics textbooks differed. Nonethless, there were no significant difference among the publications in terms of the levels of the tasks.Key Words: Probabilistic Thinking, Statistical Thinking, PISA, Textbook.