Examining basic geometric concepts in primary and middle school mathematic textbooks

The aim of this study is to determine the features that come to the fore in the definitions of basic geometric concepts (point, line, line segment, ray and plane) in the 3rd, 4th and 5th grade mathematics textbooks used in the 2020-2021 academic year and to examine these concepts from the epistemological and cognitive features. A total of 7 books included in the analysis were examined in the context of mathematical working space theory (Kuzniak, 2011). For this purpose, data were analyzed using document analysis that is one of the qualitative research techniques. According to the findings of the research, it was seen that basic geometric concepts at the 3rd and 4th grade levels are expressed intuitively by using concrete object images, while at the 5th grade, geometric and symbolic representations of these concepts are foregrounded by emphasizing their mathematical properties. The Semiyotic-Discursive plane is the plane in which the concepts examined within the scope of the mathematical working space have the most place in textbooks. In addition, it was found that the examined textbooks did not include any examples aligned with instrumental genesis, discursive genesis, and the Enstrumental-Discursive plane.