MOTIVATIONAL COMPONENT OF MATHEMATICS TEXTBOOKS FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL (THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY)

Abstract

The article analyzes the motivational component of mathematics textbooks for students of grades 2–4 at the beginning of the 21st century, the author of which is the well-known Ukrainian researcher and methodologist M. Bohdanovych. It is significant that these textbooks were used as alternative textbooks by most primary school teachers in Ukraine during the specified period. The analysis was carried out according to our elaborated methodology for studying the motivational component of textbooks designed for younger schoolchildren, which includes the following components: emotionality of the content of the educational material; ways of its didactic organization; textbook design. Ways to implement the motivational function of mathematics textbooks at the beginning of the 21st century for primary school have been described. It was done according to the first component which is the most productive and gives a general idea of the motivational component of the textbook. In particular, mathematics textbooks of the beginning of the 21st century were analyzed according to the criterion of “selection of information taking into account students’ cognitive interests”, which is detailed in the corresponding indicators. In the process of analysis, the positive characteristics of these educational books were established (the presence of characters in the plots of mathematical problems, things and activities that are valuable and close to children’s sensory experience, interesting tasks and mathematical problems with fairy-tale plots, etc.). Also, the shortcomings were indicated. These include insufficient number of the previously mentioned tasks, elements of humor, historical information, “curiosity” sections, etc.). On the basis of the obtained results, scientific and methodological recommendations were formulated regarding the strengthening of the motivational component of textbooks designed for younger schoolchildren. The specified recommendations offer specific instructions on improving the content of the mathematical problems plots to strengthen their motivational orientation, in particular on increasing the number of characters that are attractive to children, objects that children often use in everyday life and which are valueable for them, and types of personally meaningful activities, performed by the protagonists of the tasks, as well as mathematical problems with original and fairy-tale plots; approximate examples of mathematical problems with a natural plot and information on interesting statistics and agriculture are given. It is also proposed to include material in the “curiosity” rubrics in mathematics textbooks, the author provides the tips on the effective use of other means of motivational influence: elements of humor, historical information, prominent people’s quotes, information on comparative linguistics and etymology, local history material, folk traditions and customs, written and oral folklore. The expediency of using the mentioned recommendations in the process of creating modern mathematics textbooks and books on other educational subjects is substantiated.