• School Mathematics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.79-98
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to develop the elementary mathematics textbooks as a thematic approach, to suggest meaningful directions to future textbook development and curriculum development. For this study, we suggested mathematics textbooks of the three-themes, 'Healthy Life', 'Sustainable Life', 'Living-together Life', as multi-disciplinary, inter-disciplinary, and extra-disciplinary types. With the problems that employed thematic approaches, the post-achievement scores of experimental groups who used 'Healthy Life' and 'Sustainable Life' textbooks were meaningfully higher than those of control groups. However, the post-achievement scores of experimental groups who used 'Living-together Life' textbook were not meaningfully higher than those of control groups. The attitudes towards mathematics of all three experimental groups were meaningfully higher than those of control groups. After applications of elementary mathematics textbooks as a thematic approach, we need to develop related materials, to consider various grades, levels, regions for developing better mathematics textbooks.