Abstract

Korean and American mathematics textbooks for grade 1 to 3 were compared. Textbooks for two countries are similar to each other in three aspects. First, frequencies of addition problems decreases progressively with grade in both countries. Second, numerical problems are presented more frequently than other kinds of problems such as story problems and missing addend problems. Third, small facts bias are observed in both countries, i.e., simple problems are presented more frequently than complex ones. On the other hand, following dissimilarities are also observed. Korean textbooks show less addition problems than American textbooks. Second, American textbooks review simple problems whose sums are less than 10 repeatedly over three grades, while Korean textbooks do not provide reviews. Third, complex problems are presented more in Korean textbooks than in American textbooks at each grade level.