Differentiated tasks in mathematics textbooks : an analysis of the levels of difficulty

The aim of this work is to study differentiation in mathematics textbooks. Based on mathematics textbooks used in Sweden for year 7, the study is performed from the point of view that all students should be challenged and stimulated throughout their learning in compulsory school. Classroom studies and observations have shown textbooks to have a dominant role in mathematics education for both teachers and students. It is therefore important to study how tasks in textbooks are differentiated and how this can affect education in mathematics. The tasks are analysed with respect to their difficulty levels. The results of the study show that differentiation does occur in the textbooks tasks, but on a low difficulty level for all students regardless of their mathematical abilities. Besides this, the study shows the use of pictures to not have any differentiating role in the analysed tasks.Godkänd; 2005; 20070102 (haneit)