The investigation of middle school mathematics textbooks in terms of mathematics' relation to nature and science

In our age, scientific knowledge is increasing very rapidly and technological developments are advancing at a very high speed. Educational policy makers have great responsibilities to raise generations that will keep up with this rapid change. In this context, there are many factors that support an effective and planned education. One of these factors is the courses and the textbooks, which are the main auxiliary source of the teacher in preparing the students for daily life. For this reason, textbooks, which are the most used course tools in education, should be carefully prepared and selected. Within the scope of this research, secondary school mathematics textbooks approved by the Ministry of National Education Board of Education were examined under the theme of science and nature. The method of the research was determined as document review, one of the qualitative research methods. Within the scope of the secondary school mathematics curriculum, all the contents in the units were discussed under separate headings, and the contents related to the theme of science and nature were determined for each topic. The themes were determined by examining the aims of the mathematics curriculum and the studies on "how a good mathematics education and mathematics textbook should be" in the literature. Instead of the imprint information of the examined books, the books were given names in the form of "5KA - 5KB - 6KA ...". As a result of the research, while the content associations in the books were partially sufficient in the fields of science and social sciences, they were found insufficient in the fields of nature and art. In addition to these, the associations with daily life in the books were also examined and it has been observed that the contents of the books about daily life were sufficiently included in a way that would attract the attention of the students and arouse their curiosity. It is suggested that those who want to work in this field should focus on the goal of raising generations more attentive to the preparation of textbooks and who can keep up with the current age.