The Gap Between the Demand for Understanding Introductory Economics Textbooks and the Supply of High School Mathematics– Use Graph Representations as Examples Author:Pei-Chen Wu, Feng-Jui Hsieh
This study employed content analysis on one popular introductory economics textbook to explore whether the graph representations in the textbook match those taught in school mathematics. We analyzed the external and internal representations of coordinate graphs in one of the most math-related chapters. The results showed that neither the various external displays nor the internal imagistic kinesthetic representations used in the economics textbook were sufficiently provided in school mathematics. In economics, the ways of labeling variables, segments, lines, and axes are relatively free and do not match those used in mathematics. Static display representations are often used to express the dynamic/action of objects in graphs, which are usually not emphasized in school mathematics. Students have to construct imagistic kinesthetic representation internally when reading graphs in economics textbooks and this experience is not usually provided in school math classes. This study raised an alert to mathematics educators that the traditional way of using and teaching mathematics representations might be reconsidered in the era of interdisciplinarity.
The Gap Between the Demand for Understanding Introductory Economics Textbooks and the Supply of High School Mathematics– Use Graph Representations as Examples
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