An Analysis of Mathematical Concepts in the 4th Grade Social Studies Textbook

Abstract

In Türkiye, it is crucial to link the 4th grade social studies course with mathematical concepts to unveil the interdisciplinary coherence of the curriculum. This study aims to identify mathematical concepts in the social studies textbook for 4th graders and explore how these concepts are presented. To attain this goal, document analysis is employed. The data for this study were sourced from the primary school 4th-grade Social Studies textbook, which was created according to the 2018 Social Studies Curriculum, and the 2018 Mathematics Curriculum. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the data. The results revealed that the social studies textbook included mathematical concepts from various learning areas in the mathematics curriculum. Among these areas, measurement was the most common, followed by concepts related to numbers and operations. Additionally, the social studies curriculum supports mathematics skills by incorporating concepts related to geometry and data processing into its learning areas. This offers primary school teachers an opportunity for interdisciplinary instruction.