A Comparative Study On The Exercises In Junior Middle School Mathematics Textbooks In China And Japan

Exercise is an important medium for students to consolidate,apply,and expand their knowledge,as well as an important carrier for developing core literacy.By comparing the exercises in junior high school mathematics textbooks of the People’s Education Edition and the Tokyo Edition,this article seeks the characteristics of their respective exercises,providing some reference for textbook compilation and frontline teachers’ teaching.A comparative framework for junior high school math textbook exercises is constructed from the five dimensions of exercise quantity,type,openness,comprehensive difficulty,and core literacy.A comparative study is conducted on the exercises in junior high school math textbooks in China’s "People’s Education Edition" and Japan’s "Tokyo Edition" from the three major fields of number and algebra,graphics and geometry,and statistics and probability.The specific issues identified for the study are:(1)What are the differences between China’s mathematics curriculum standards,Japan’s guiding principles,and the overall objectives of the curriculum,as well as the concept of problem writing?(2)What are the differences between the two versions of textbooks in the five dimensions of exercise quantity,type,openness,comprehensive difficulty,and core literacy?(3)What are the unique characteristics of the layout and design of exercises in the two editions of textbooks?(4)What is the use of some conclusions and revelations obtained through comparison? The research is divided into four steps for solving research problems.First,review and comb the literature to learn about relevant research,and then build a theoretical framework for the study;Secondly,code the exercises and test the differences of the coded data through statistical analysis;Thirdly,the comparative research method is used to compare the exercises in the two editions of textbooks.Through the analysis of coded data,the following research conclusions are obtained:(1)In the arrangement of exercises,hierarchical exercises are designed;(2)There are small differences in the number,type,and openness of exercises;(3)There are significant differences in the comprehensive difficulty of exercises;(4)The core literacy performance has its own characteristics,and the types of the People’s Education Edition are richer.Based on the research findings,the following suggestions are proposed for textbook exercise writing and teacher exercise teaching:(1)increasing exercise variants and appropriately increasing the difficulty of exercise;(2)Enrich the background of exercises and expand the openness of exercises;(3)Balance the proportion of exercises in each literacy to promote the comprehensive development of students’ literacy;(4)Reasonably select exercises to improve the teaching effect of exercises.