How do elementary textbooks address fractions? A review of mathematics textbooks in the USA, Japan, and Kuwait

Textbooks play an important part in the design of instruction. This study analyzed the presentation of fractions in textbooks designed for the elementary grades in Kuwait, Japan, and the USA. The analysis focused on the physical characteristics of the books, the structure of the lessons, and the nature of the mathematical problems presented. Findings showed USA and Kuwaiti mathematics textbooks are larger than Japanese textbooks; this larger size is consistent with a great deal of repetition. The Japanese texts do not address fractions until the third grade; they use linear models and connect fractions with measurement. In the USA and Kuwait, fractions are introduced in the first grade. The Harcourt text uses concrete material to help students learn fraction procedures. For the Kuwaiti series, the lessons depend on using some pictorial representation of the area model to illustrate fraction ideas. All these textbooks focus on standard algorithms as the main computational methods.