The Mathematics in the Social Studies Textbook: A Critical Content Analysis and Implications for Students’ Reasoning

Abstract

We report on a case study of the mathematical content of a 10 th grade social studies textbook. We develop our case in three analytical steps. First, we identify, describe, and categorize the full range of mathematics in the book. Put simply, we ask: What mathematical forms (e.g., Cartesian graphs and problems) do we find and what kinds of mathematical work do they require? Second, we characterize and critically evaluate the mathematics content in the textbook, focusing in particular on the kinds of mathematics literacy and student reasoning that the book fosters. Third and finally, we operationalize a measure of the "density" of mathematics in the textbook-that is, an estimate of the presence and pervasiveness of mathematical objects and practices relative to other disciplinary contents and track how such "density" has changed over the past three editions of the same volume. Doing so helps us further contextualize and elaborate the prior analyses, but also surfaces shifts in the patterns of mathematics presence in that textbook series, including the growing encroachment of mathematics exercising and visual/representational presence.

Examine the level of environmental, social and governance disclosure in sustainability report – a study of the Indian banking sector

“…The objective of this research relied on the content analysis technique for systematic categorization and examination of data published in bank nonfinancial reports. Content analysis was used to determine the number and type of reports (Azevedo and Mann, 2019). Hossain (1994), Hossain et al (2006) and Ullah and Rahman (2015) proposed a dichotomous technique in which a variable score of "1" if presented and "0" if not presented in the report.…”