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Forty subtraction exercises from 17 textbooks for children aged 7–8 are analyzed across modes such as writing, images, mathematical symbols, speech, and moving images. Findings indicate exercises can sometimes be solved without engaging the intended mathematical content, and that printed and digital versions share strong similarities with exceptions.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/potential-for-meaning-making-in-mathematics-textbooks-a-multimodal-analysis-of-subtraction-in-swedish-year-1/601016/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/potential-for-meaning-making-in-mathematics-textbooks-a-multimodal-analysis-of-subtraction-in-swedish-year-1/601016.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"mieayamfan","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-05","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":29},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What does the study investigate about subtraction in Year 1 textbooks?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It analyzes how subtraction in Swedish Year 1 mathematics textbooks can be understood from a multimodal approach, focusing on how different modes are used and interact.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"Which modes are considered in the multimodal analysis?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"The analysis includes writing, images, mathematical symbols, and in digital textbooks, speech and moving images.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What do the results suggest about learners’ work and learning opportunities?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Some exercises can be solved without focusing on the intended mathematical content, which indicates complexity in children’s meaning making and may reduce access to beneficial learning situations.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},601016,1792189221,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":29,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},962090893677,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Norberg, M. (2019). Potential for Meaning Making in Mathematics Textbooks. Designs for Learning, 11(1),52–62. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.16993/dfl.123](https://doi.org/10.16993/dfl.123)  \n\n| RESEARCH\u003Cbr>Potential for Meaning Making in Mathematics Textbooks A Multimodal Analysis of Subtraction in Swedish Year 1\u003Cbr>Malin Norberg |\n| --- |\n| Textbooks are a common teaching tool widely used in children’s mathematical education. Comparative studies of textbooks have focused on different aspects, such as content, mathematical symbols and so on. However, a multimodal approach to textbook research—that is, studying how writing, images, mathematical symbols, etc. interact—is sparse. This study analyses 40 exercises from 17 Swedish Year 1 (children 7–8 years) textbooks using a multimodal approach with a focus on subtraction as an arithmetic operation. The aim was to describe and analyse how subtraction in Swedish Year 1 mathematics textbooks can be understood using a multimodal approach. The results show that it is sometimes possible to solve an exercise without focusing on the mathematical content that the exercise is designed to offer. Writing, images, mathematical symbols, speech and moving images are used differently within the same textbook and between textbooks. The results also show that there are considerable similarities between the exercisesin printed and digital textbooks, with some exceptions. The examples in the study indicate that three different approaches are needed when working with these exercises, which implies great complexity in children’s meaning making in their work with mathematics textbooks. This could negatively impact children’s access to beneficial learning situations. Therefore, this study could contribute to a larger awareness of the complexity in question, which, by extension, may contribute to the development of beneficial learning situations in mathematics education, especially regarding subtraction. |\n| Keywords: meaning potential; modes; designs for learning; multimodality; mathematics textbooks; digital textbooks; printed textbooks; primary school; early years; subtraction |\n\nIntroduction  \nIn today’s society, we constantly encounter information in the form of different sign systems, whether in books or on television, the Internet, billboards or smart phones. Reading not only entails interpreting written text, but also, for example, images and sound (Kress, 2003) . In addition, over the past six decades, expectations related to reading and writing ability have shifted towards visual and multimodal literacy skills (Kress, 2003) . O’Halloran (2005) describes mathematics as multimodal in nature. To learn, understand and use mathematics, one must be able to make meaning from different resources, such as mathematical symbols, writing and images. Individuals interpret these resources and thereby create meaning indifferent ways, forming an overall understanding of the subject. Therefore, multimodal studies like this are important where all different resources for meaning making or modes (Kress, 2011) of textbooks are concerned: writing, images, mathematical symbols and, in digital textbooks, speech and moving images. Meaning making is understood as a process whereby individuals continuously cre-  \nDepartment of Education, Mid Sweden University, SE [malin.norberg@miun.se](malin.norberg@miun.se)  \nate meaning from their environments with the help of different modes (e.g., Kress, 2010; Selander & Kress, 2010) .  \nOver 75 percent of children in compulsory education worldwide are taught mathematics with textbooks. In Sweden, that number increases to over 90 percent (Mullis, Martin, Foy & Arora, 2012) . This indicates that mathematics could be considered a textbook controlled subject (Johansson, 2006; Taflin, 2007) . Research on textbooks and how they are used in general has been conducted (e.g., Fan, Zhu & Miao, 2013), but research from a multimodal perspective is sparse. The mathematical content of this study is s","cbCaitDmGyImD9JG","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitDmGyImD9JG","pdf",1453647,11,"English","# Introduction\n## Multimodal meaning making and literacy\n## Subtraction in Year 1 and research gap\n## Aim and research questions\n## Textbooks as teaching tools for meaning making","[{\"question\":\"What does the study investigate about subtraction in Year 1 textbooks?\",\"answer\":\"It analyzes how subtraction in Swedish Year 1 mathematics textbooks can be understood from a multimodal approach, focusing on how different modes are used and interact.\"},{\"question\":\"Which modes are considered in the multimodal analysis?\",\"answer\":\"The analysis includes writing, images, mathematical symbols, and in digital textbooks, speech and moving images.\"},{\"question\":\"What do the results suggest about learners’ work and learning opportunities?\",\"answer\":\"Some exercises can be solved without focusing on the intended mathematical content, which indicates complexity in children’s meaning making and may reduce access to beneficial learning situations.\"}]","Potential for Meaning Making in Mathematics Textbooks - A Multimodal Analysis of Subtraction in Swedish Year 1 | PDF",1792091813,28]