I detta arbete granskas och jämförs svenska och japanska läroböcker genom hela grundskolan med avseende på bråk- och proportionsbegrepp. Syftet är att skapa insikter om vilka skillnader det finns mellan läroböckerna som är viktiga för elevers möjligheter att bättre förstå dessa begrepp, och att ge förslag till förbättrad begreppsbildning i matematikundervisningen. Det finns skillnader mellan svenska och japanska läroböcker angående på vilka sätt ett objekt presenteras och behandlas. I svenska läroböcker sker begreppsbildning i början av ett kapitel som en sammanfattning, och genom att eleverna själva löser uppgifterna. I Japan framförs ett objekt med ett problem, och diskussioner om lösningar visas invävda med begreppsdefinitioner. Generalisering och koppling till vad som behandlats tidigare är viktiga element i japanska läroböcker. / This study analyzes and compares Swedish and Japanese mathematics textbooks through the whole compulsory schools in respect of rational numbers and proportion. The purpose is to give an insight of what important differences there are between the textbooks in order to offer pupils opportunities to acquire better conceptual understanding, and to give some suggestions for the improved conceptual understanding in the mathematics education. Various differences are found in how the textbooks treat an object between Sweden and Japan. In the Swedish textbooks, concepts of an object are presented and summarized in the beginning of a chapter, and tasks in the books play an important role in students’ conceptual understanding. In Japan an object is introduced with a problem, and discussions of the solutions are interwoven with definitions of the concepts. Generalization of the concepts and making connections are essential elements in the Japanese textbooks.

In this study the teaching of mathematics has been developed in relation to rational numbers and towards a learning activity. At the same time topic-specific mediated tools have been studied. The iterative model for learning study has been used as research approach. The purpose of the study was to explore what in an algebraic learning activity enables knowledge of rational numbers to develop. The specific questions answered by the study are how an algebraic learning activity can be formed in an otherwise arithmetic teaching tradition, what knowledge is mediated in relation to different mediated tools and what in these tools that enable this knowledge. The result of the study shows how an algebraic learning activity can be developed to support the students to understand rational numbers even in an arithmetic teaching tradition. The important details that developed the algebraic learning activity were to identify the problem to create learning tasks and the opportunity for the students to reflect that are characteristic of a learning activity. The result also shows that the mediating tools, the algebraic symbols and the general model for fractional numbers, have had significant importance for the students' possibilities to explore rational numbers. The conditions for the algebraic symbols seem to be the possibilities for these symbols to include clues to the meaning of the symbol and that the same symbol can be used in relation to several of other mediated tools. The conditions in the general model consisted of that the integer numbers and the rational numbers in the model could be distinguished and that the students could reflect on the meaning of the different parts. The general model consists of the algebraic symbols, developed in the learning activity. The algebraic symbols make the structure of the numbers visible and the general model mediates the structure of additive and multiplicative conditions that are contained in a rational number. The result of the study contributes in part to the field of mathematics education research by examining Elkonin's and Davydov's Mathematical Curriculum in a western teaching practice and in part to a development of the model of Learning study as a didactical research approach by using an activity-theoretical perspective on design and analysis.

Abstrakt Svensk titel: Delar av det hela. En fallstudie om hur multisensoriskt material påverkar SUM-elevers grundläggande förståelse för bråkräkning.   English title: Part of the whole. A case study on how multisensory material affects SEN-students' basic understanding of fractions.   Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur elevers förståelse för rationella tal i matematiken påverkades i en interventionsstudie med fokus på arbete med multisensoriskt material. Syftet med studien var dels att pröva en intensivundervisning med multisensorisk träning för några elever i matematiksvårigheter, samt att undersöka om denna intensivundervisning bidrog till ökad förståelse av rationella tal.   Studien har genomförts med fyra elever i årskurs 5 likt en fallstudie med ambitionen att fånga in och analysera undervisningssituationerna samt hur elevernas inre bilder kan komma till uttryck. I analysen har Vygotskijs sociokulturella perspektiv och Bruners teori kring representationer använts, eftersom de kompletterar varandra vad gäller att synliggöra lärandet som sker och den förståelse som utvecklas hos elever vid en intensivundervisning med ett multisensoriskt material. Vygotskijs teori används i analysen av elevernas resultat med fokus på det stöttande lärandet i intensivundervisningen och Bruners teori synliggör hur elevernas grundläggande förståelse och deras inre representationer för rationella tal har påverkats.   Studiens resultat visar att intensivundervisning med multisensoriskt material inverkar positivt på elevers förståelse för rationella tal. En utveckling av elevernas inre bilder var också synlig i studien. / Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate students’ understanding of rational numbers and how it could be influenced in an intervention study with multisensory material. The aim of the study was to study intensive teaching with multisensory training for some students in mathematical difficulties, as well as to study whether this intensive teaching contributed to increased understanding of rational numbers.   The study has been conducted with four students in grade five as a case study with  ambition to capture and analyze the teaching situations and how the students’ inner images can be expressed. In the analysis, Vygotsky's sociocultural perspective and Bruner's theory of representations have been used, as they complement each other in making the learning that occurs visible and the understanding developed by students in intensive teaching with a multisensory material. Vygotsky's theory is used in the analysis of the students outcomes, focusing on the supportive learning in intensive teaching, and Bruner's theory shows how the students' basic understanding and their inner representations for rational numbers have been influenced.   The study’s findings show that intensive teaching with multisensory material had a positive impact on the students’ understanding of rational numbers. A development of the students’ inner images was also visible in this study.

Research has shown mathematics education is highly dependent on teaching materials. Here mathematics textbooks have a dominant role in Swedish schools. When curriculum determines the content of textbooks, it promotes confidence in both schools and teachers. The purpose of this study is to analyze and compare textbooks using Basil Bernstein’s theoretical concepts of classification, frames and sequencing to investigate how content and structure are connected to the calculation methods of addition and subtraction. The following questions are posed: In what way have the calculation methods of addition and subtraction of the natural and rational numbers been presented in four selected textbooks for grade 4 in Swedish public schools? What are the similarities and differences in content and structure in these teaching materials? The study finds a variety and selection of material presented in the selected textbooks. Consequently, it is important for teachers to take in to consideration the content and structure of a textbook in mathematics to realize its potential in the classroom.