A Comparative Study On The Primary School's Mathematics Textbooks Published By People Education Press And Beijing Normal University Press

Until now, there are 6 editions of mathematics textbooks for primary school use that are written in accordance with "National Standard for mathematics curriculum on full-time compulsory education stage (experimental version)" (hereafter as "Standard"), in which two editions published by People's Education Press and Beijing Normal University Press are widely used. Therefore, many scholars and teachers have made much study on the two editions respectively. But there is not much comprehensive comparative study on the two textbooks.In this article, the author has made a thorough comparative study on the two textbooks, and summed up the differences and similarities. The results could be of great help to hold the development trend of primary school textbooks writing.The author has drawn the following conclusions: The people's press edition stands out for its strong logic and careful writing. It also attaches great importance to basic knowledge, so it suits for a majority of places in China; the second edition has the advantages of full of creative activities that may attract kids' curiosity, but the disadvantages are also obvious: such as weak logical arrangements, big jumps in contents and too much flexibility, which may result in different understanding among teachers. Besides, it does not suit for big-sized classes teaching. As a result, the author suggests that the people's press edition be our first choice, and the second edition could give teachers some references when choosing a textbook.From the comparative study on the two textbooks, the developing trend of textbooks writing could be traced: Firstly, the view that textbooks writing focuses only on society and knowledge should be changed to people-centered; Secondly, the contents should put more stress on basic knowledge and taking into consideration of the overall teaching syllabi on full-time compulsory education stage; Thirdly, textbook structures should be constructed to be more systematic and simple to promote learning efficiency; Finally, textbook presenting forms should be compiled to be more lively and interesting considering the target users age and cognition ability.