Geometriska figurer i läroböcker

Abstract

Abstract Geometric figures can be found everywhere which allows a child to be exposed to it everyday. The continuous exposure develops an early understanding of geometry and its typical examples: a triangle, rectangle and square. A child will begin to identify figures after comparing objects to the typical examples. However, if the figures differs from the typical examples, the identifi- cation will be lost even if the figure’s qualities have been distinguished. This problem will later impact the geometric understanding and affect the future geometry studies in school. Thus, how can the student take their geometric understanding to the next level? This thesis will discuss how many of the different shapes such as the triangle, rectangle and square are represented and vary in the most important educational tool: the textbook. For decades the mathematic textbook has been an important component in teaching and is therefore a part of students knowledge development. The Variation theory will be used to analyze the shapes that represents the tri- angle, rectangle and square. This will provide an understanding about the student’s prerequisi- tes needed in order to identify the geometric figures that differs from the typical examples. A content analysis has been used as research method to produce results regarding what varies, how it varies, the amount of representation forms, and the number of typical examples. The results indicate a significant difference between the six textbooks used in this study. The main resault of the analysis showed that the six different textbooks do not aim to develop the same geometric understanding. While some distinguish characteristics, other textbooks relate only to the ability to identify geometric figures by comparing them to a similar form of representation. What prerequisites does this leave the student with? And what does this say about an equivalent education?