A Comparative Study Of Primary School Mathematics Textbooks Of China And Kazakhstan

In the reform of new subject course, the reform of textbooks occupies an leading position. An important question in the textbooks reform along the line of absorbing what is the best from others is what are the features and trends of mathematical textbooks of the main countries in the world. Hence it is necessary not only to study merits and shortcomings of various versions of textbooks of China, but also understand differences between textbooks of foreign countries and our country so as to emulate their advantages to make up for our inadequacies.Kazakhstan is a neighboring country of China and mainly consists of the Kazakh people. The Kazakh people of China and Kazakhstan, as a border-crossing people,possesses commonalities in ethnic origin, language and culture while also having differences in culture and education. The development of mathematical education in Kazakhstan is worth our attention and study and this reflects that the advantages in the compilation of its textbooks are worth our referencing and studying. Through comparing the primary school mathematical education and the textbook compilation of China and Kazakhstan and researching whether the educational thinking and the idea of mathematical education of the two countries influence each other, and comparing the education of the same people under different geographic, social-political, economic, and cultural backgrounds, it is expected to discover those most fundamental and decisive factors hiding behind educational phenomena which influence education and do not alter due to differences of the external environment so as to facilitate innovations of educational theories and practices.This thesis chooses the popularized version Mathematics designated by theMinistry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan as the primary school mathematical textbook and the Mathematics as the textbook of bi-linguistic compulsory education of the ethnic minority students of China to be the subjects for comparative study, and employs methods such as text analyzing and referencing to conduct a comparative analysis of the aspects such as content structure, demonstrating pattern,textbook compiling layout, materials used for textbook compilation, illustrations etc.. It is intended to clarify the similarities and differences of the textbooks of two different versions, discern their respective merits and inadequacies so as to provide an analytic reference to the usefulness of Kazakh textbooks on our country’s ethnic education and textbooks development.Through researching, the author finds both of the textbooks emphasize consistency with syllabus standards, their frameworks are similar, the layout patterns both are rich and colorful, the ways of knowledge demonstration and narration are diversified. They both give importance to the creative design of the context for study, and both focus on the development of knowledge and skills of the students upon learning experience. The ways of their demonstrating knowledge can leave space for thinking and exploring on learners. On the other hand, there are also differences in between the two versions concerning column and section arrangement and compilation structures of learning content. The Kazakh version has distinctive features, the most prominent ones being an excellent integration of mathematical knowledge and the cognitive ability, receptive ability and already acquired knowledge and experience, which enables the compilation structure of the textbook to have completeness and internal logicality and motivates the interest of students in learning effectively. Furthermore, the Kazakh version stresses the inheritance and dissemination of the ethnic culture. Thus the compilation of the Kazakh textbook is worth our study and reference.On the basis of the research, and in light of the merits of the primary school mathematics textbook of Kazakhstan, recommendations for optimizing the primary school mathematics textbook of our country are made as follows: A. The way of knowledge demonstration in mathematics textbook take into consideration the following factors i.e. age of students, mathematical knowledge, interestingness, solution to questions, permeation of ethnic culture. B. Properly emphasizing the abstract demonstration of knowledge points. C. Enhancing the integration of leaning materials and illustrations and the native ethnic culture and carrying on innovations.