for the learning of mathematics

an international journal of mathematics education

Kai-Lin Yang - Vol. 33 Num. 1 (2013)
 A framework for analysing textbooks based on the notion of abstraction

33-39
 ABSTRACT:

Abstraction is a key adaptive mechanism of human cognition and an essential process in the personal construction of mathematical knowledge. Based on the notion of abstraction, this paper aims to conceptualise a framework for analysing textbooks. First, I search for the meaning of abstraction from a constructive-empirical and a dialectic perspective of abstraction. Next, I extract three key components by integrating the two perspectives of abstraction. Then, I identify the important attributes from each component of abstraction and the relationship between any two components. Finally, I discuss the feasibility and the potential of this innovative framework.