Group Presentation
Group 3
Chair: Ali Hamdani HM Diah & Ibrahim Haji Abdul Rahman
Brunei Darussalam
Members: Shi Bingxing (China)
Ida Karnasih (Indonesia) Rohani Ahmad Tarmizi (Malaysia)
Soledad Ulep (The Philippines), Ivan Vysotsky (Russia)
Yip Hoe Yin (Singapore)
Report: Yeap Ban Har (Singapore)
Is textbook use prevalent in various
countries?
Country
•
•
Primary
Secondary
Brunei Darussalam
Yes
Yes
China
Yes
Yes
Indonesia
Yes
Yes
Malaysia
Yes
Yes
Philippines
Yes
Yes
Russia
Yes
Yes
Singapore
Yes
Yes
How are textbooks used?
How can textbooks be used meaningfully?
How Do You Use Textbooks in Your
Country?
To Implement Curriculum
In many countries where there is a national curriculum,
textbooks are written to ensure schools implement the
curriculum according to the intended scope and sequence.
For example, Malaysian textbooks include the Polya’s Four-Stage
Model to help teachers implement the teaching of problem
solving which is an emphasis of the national curriculum. In
Singapore, the Ministry of Education evaluate textbooks written
by private publishers before the textbooks are approved for use
in schools.
How Do You Use Textbooks in Your
Country?
To Influence Pedagogy
For example, in Brunei, teachers are encouraged to use multiple
representations. The textbooks represent concepts in multiple
representations so that the teachers are influenced to teach using
different representations. In Singapore, teachers are familiar with the
CPA Approach (based on Jerome Bruner) because the primary school
textbooks are written based on this approach.
In China, context problems are used to encourage teachers to make
mathematics learning meaningful. In a lesson study project, Filipino
high school teachers who could not find such context problems looked
elsewhere. However, the absence of context problems in Filipino
textbooks make it inconvenient for teachers to use them in the
classroom on a regular basis.
How Do You Use Textbooks in Your
Country?
To Improve Teachers’ Knowledge
For high school teachers in the Philippines who are engaged in
lesson study, they use textbooks, and other resources when
textbooks are not adequate, to provide students with
meaningful context in the learning of mathematics. Careful
examination of textbooks can lead to professional learning
In Singapore, where primary teachers are not specialists and
many are not university graduates, textbooks in the 1980s were
written in a way that such teachers can learn the mathematics
content that they are teaching.
How Do You Use Textbooks in Your
Country?
To Implement Education Reforms
Malaysia went through a series of reforms in mathematics
education – from traditional approach to modern math to
integrated approach to use of English to reverting back to use of
national language. Each time textbooks were changed to reflect
the reforms.
How Do You Use Textbooks in Your
Country?
To Integrate Technology
There is a clear direction in almost every country that there are attempts to utilize
technology in mathematics learning.
In Indonesia, the acknowledgement that present textbooks are not learnerfriendly (e.g. lack of visuals) is an impetus for projects on using technology to
facilitate learning.
Russia had agencies to identify, evaluate, recommend technology tools for
teachers and provide teacher training in this area.
It is evident from all the country presentations that technology has yet to be
harnessed optimally to help students learn. The integration of textbooks and
technology is not yet seamless. Technology is more an add-on.