A comparison of functions in Finnish, Singaporean, and Taiwanese middle-school mathematics textbooks

This study adopted a content-analysis method to examine the differences in how the topic of functions was handled by Finnish, Singaporean, and Taiwanese middle-grade mathematics textbooks for children aged 13–15 (seventh-ninth grade). The results showed that the three countries’ textbooks used different methods to introduce the concept of functions, with the Finnish ones using function machines with input and output tables; the Taiwanese ones, verbal and visual representations; and the Singaporean ones, verbal representations only. In all three countries, most function-related mathematics problems were provided in a purely mathematical form. However, the Finnish textbooks were more balanced in this regard, including some problems presented visually or verbally, whereas the Taiwanese and Singaporean textbooks were inclined to use purely mathematical presentations. The Singaporean textbooks featured more open-ended problems than the Finnish or Taiwanese textbooks did. And, as compared with the textbooks from the two Asian countries, the Finnish ones included both a greater overall number of problems and less difficult problems.