Evaluation: Math form 2 textbook

Mathematics Form 2 (Volume 1)
Publishers: Penerbitan Pelangi Sdn.Bhd 2003
Authors: Teh Eng Kiat, Ooi Soo Huat, Khoo Cheng, Lee Chia Chien, Chow Chin Mun, Cheong Quai Lan.
Editor: Annie Lim Siew Yuen


The evaluation is made from three different aspect which are organization, content and physical aspects.

ORGANIZATION
This textbook provides a very useful table of contents for the students. It is arranged accordingly based on the developments of the subject. Students will find it easy to refer as all the pages for the chapters in the textbook are highlighted. The subtopic for every chapters are also included. As for the glossary, many mathematical terminology which is used in the book should be included as most of students are not familiar yet with it. Other than that, index in the textbook can be determined as sufficient.

From the aspect of appearance and content layout, this textbook can be perceived as uniform. It does contains references, but only included the author, year, title of the book and publisher. It will be very convenient for the students to refer if more details are provided such as the topic that been referred and if it is available via the net. The introduction chapters do provide interesting material as it tell us the purpose and interesting facts about the topic discuss in the textbook. The length of chapter review should be full and concise. It is more preferable if it serve as the quick review for students and a brief conclusion in math, particularly in the algebraic form. All the pages are numbered accordingly to avoid confusion.

CONTENT
The content of this mathematics textbook does met local and national standards. They can be perceived as accurate and up-to-date. An advantage to students is that they will not need to refer to other textbook as the content is complete. Moreover, the language used in this textbook is appropriate for the intended age group of form 2. It uses simple English and with a good command of grammar. The textbook does not contain age appropriate reading level but still students in the middle high school will not have any problems in comprehending the sentences in this textbook. For the benefits of students, at the end of every subtopics, there are exercises provided. The lesson does not linked to other subject areas and only on some parts of the textbook, it discuss real life problem and its solution by using mathematics.

The downside of this textbook is the activity such as solving mathematics problem does not make students engage in active learning activities. Furthermore, the lesson does not encourage higher level thinking for the students because its merely only solving math problem. The good news is that, it can be used up to several years as it is according to a standard mathematics curriculum of Ministry of Education.

PHYSICAL ASPECTS
The size and weight of this textbook is appropriate and so does the font used. This textbook is not appealing enough for the students as it lacks colour graphics. The illustrations, tables,figures, graphs and charts do provide appropriate representation of age, ethnicity, sex, socioeconomic level and physical/ mental ability. The page layout is uncluttered and balanced while all the illustrations, tables, figures, graphs and charts are relevant and functional.