A comparative analysis of 5th grade mathematics textbooks from Turkey and Singapore

This study attempts to carry out a vertical and horizontal analysis of 5th grade maths textbooks of Turkey (Ortaokul Matematik 5. Sınıf Ders Kitabı) and of Singapore (My Pals are Here). To this end, document analysis was applied by using a compiled analysis framework based on the relevant literature. The horizontal analysis focuses on structural properties of both textbooks such as the number of pages allotted for topics, structural organization of the topics, titles, and the sequencing of these titles. The vertical analysis compares the percentage, triangles and rectangles topics of the books in terms of their alignment with program outcomes, presentation of the topics (mathematical content and worked examples), expectations from students (potential cognitive demand, types of expected responses and reasoning and proof) and mistakes and ambiguities. The horizontal analysis shows that Turkish book allocates more pages to topics on average, it makes more use of structures (e.g. are we ready?, let us remember!, let us do it together!) and its organization structure is comparably more complex. It also shows that the books differ in terms of the titles of the topic and their sequence. Vertical analysis shows that both books are committed to alignment with the program outcomes, that there is only one mistake in Singapore textbook resulting from repetition of a single word and that Turkish book contains several mistakes and ambiguities. Results regarding worked examples show that Singapore book contains more visual representations, modeling and multiple solution strategies while the Turkish book contains more real-world-related worked examples. Results also show that questions in Singapore book contains a relatively higher level of potential cognitive demand but that most questions in both books are at memorization level. Singapore book contains more reasoning and proof questions while there are no questions that encourage students to evaluate justifications, and to develop generic examples, and empirical arguments in either book. It is also discussed that both structural and content-related differences between the textbooks could stem from traditional philosophical and instructional approaches adopted by countries. Keywords: Mathematics textbook comparison, worked examples, potential cognitive demand, reasoning and proof