An investigation of tasks in terms of mathematical connection skill in primary and elementary mathematics textbooks

The aim of this research is to examine whether the tasks included in Primary and Secondary School Mathematics textbooks have real-life connections and are related to different disciplines. These tasks are named as connected ones. The context types used in connected tasks and whether these tasks create a problem situation were also examined. The data source of the study is eight Primary and Secondary School Mathematics textbooks used in the 2018-2019 academic year. Document analysis method was used to examine the tasks in the textbooks. Tasks are examined in relation to real life connection, different disciplines connections, types of context used in connected tasks, and whether the connected tasks create a problem situation or not. A total of 254 tasks were included in the 8 textbooks examined, 48% of which had real life connection, and 52% did not have. Real-life connection are predominantly made using 'applied representations for mathematical concepts'. The findings also showed that the least used type of real-life connection is 'discussion of mathematics in society' and mathematical modelling of real phenomena'. The analysis revealed that only four of the task in all textbooks were associated with different disciplines. In terms of context, the findings revealed that there were 34 different contexts in the connected tasks and the most frequently context type was 'school resources'. Another finding is that very few of the tasks associated with real life and different disciplines in textbooks create problem situations. This study reveals that the ways in which real-life connections and connections with different disciplines are done in textbooks should be reviewed qualitatively and underlines that the context situations preferred in these tasks and whether these tasks constitute a problem situation should also be given a critical consideration.