Analysis of the Quantity and Quality of the Contents of Junior High School Mathematics Curriculum and Textbooks

중학교 수학 교육과정 및 교과서 내용의 양과 난이도 수준 분석

There seems to be a public consensus that the content of Korean mathematics textbooks is extensive and of a high level of difficulty. However, such judgment is the result of a generalization based on individual experience or on the results from comparisons of the international levels of achievement. Therefore, a more objective and stricter approach to the determination of the quantity and level of difficulty of mathematics content is necessary. For this purpose, this study has compared the content of Koreas 6th and 7th junior high school curriculums, and the Korean mathematics curriculum to textbooks of the United States, which has a considerable influence on the making of Korean mathematics textbooks. First of all, a comparison of Koreas 6th and 7th junior high school mathematics curriculums showed a slight reduction in the total quantity of content, as more content was deleted than was added in the 7th curriculum. However, given the fact that the number of hours of mathematics classes has been reduced, the reduction in content cannot be regarded as anything more than a simple reflection of the reduction in hours, proving that the 7th curriculum has not met its revision objective of reducing the content by 30%. Meanwhile, the comparison of the United States junior high school mathematics textbooks to Korea's 7th curriculum showed that the 7th grade content in the United States was much broader, encompassing content which in Korea ranged from the 2nd grade of elementary school to the 2nd year of junior high school. Therefore, on the surface, it may appear that the overall level of content in the American mathematics textbook is lower than that of the Korean. However, there are several cafes, such as statistics and probability, where certain content was more difficult and introduced at an earlier grade in the United States than in Korea. In fact, it can be said that Korea students tend to find content of the mathematics textbooks to be harder than they actually are because they are delivered as a mere aggregate of algorithms, with little consideration to its application in their everyday lives. In this respect, there is much room for improvement on the mathematics textbooks of Korea.