Semiotic Representations of Multiplication and Division in Elementary School Textbooks

Abstract

In this report, we present a proposal to explore the meanings related to multiplication and division that are built in Elementary School mathematics textbooks. We carried out a multimodal analysis of the tasks focused on multiplication and division in two textbooks widely distributed in Spain. This analysis allows us to develop a characterisation of the introduction of multiplicative thinking in textbooks based on the potential meanings of multiplication and division derived from the use and coexistence of the different types of symbolic, graphic, and verbal representations that are presented and demanded in the tasks. The results point to a dominance of symbolic representations and a low use of verbal representations in the multiplication and division tasks of the two textbooks analysed.

Keywords:
Multiplication; Division; Textbooks; Semiotic representations; Meaning making