Interdisciplinarity in Data Analysis Through the Primary School Textbooks in Greece and Singapore

Abstract

Data analysis is one of the most popular fields of mathematics and includes statistics and probability. These two mathematical domains are some of the most well-known, influencing everyday life and the various sciences. Their teaching lays the foundation for primary education and culminates in secondary education. Probability and statistics are necessary for today and the future of several professions. This research attempts to highlight the multidisciplinary character of these two disciplines through the textbooks of primary education in Greece and Singapore. It aims to highlight the dependence of mathematics teaching on interdisciplinarity through textbooks. The textbook analysis was chosen because books offer varied learning opportunities. The researchers selected the books, partaking in the comparative analysis.  After defining the basic principles dividing lines for the differentiation of the exercises, the analysis was conducted. It included two stages. In the first stage, the activities of the books were examined in their framework application. Then, their interdisciplinary character was accentuated in the scientific field. The results reveal a substantial dependence of data analysis on interdisciplinarity. More interesting is that the distribution of interdisciplinary exercises is prevalent in the scientific milieus.