Diversity and Coherence as Important Aspects of Curriculum: A Content Analysis of the Two Croatian Geometry Curricula for Primary Education/Raznolikost i koherentnost kao važni aspekti kurikula: analiza geometrijskih sadržaja dvaju hrvatskih kurikula u razrednoj nastavi

Abstract

Abstract
For years, school geometry has faced with many issues including losing its strong
position in school mathematics and earning the reputation of being the “problem
child” of mathematics teaching. These issues stem from the problems in the intended
curriculum. The goal of this paper is to shed light on the two intended curricula for
primary mathematics education in Croatia in terms of the diversity and coherence
of geometry topics through the lens of fundamental ideas of geometry. Additionally,
the analysis is associated with previous results on the attained and potentially
implemented curriculum regarding textbook tasks and primary school students’
images of geometry. Even though the new curriculum reflects more diversity regarding
the fundamental ideas of geometry compared to the old curriculum, there is clear
evidence that they still do not offer the learning opportunities in line with modern
geometry education. Based on the data, the results are discussed with regard to their
theoretical and practical implications with the goal of providing suggestions on how
to improve the position of school geometry in mathematics education in Croatia
conducive to modern geometry education, as emphasised in the literature.

Keywords: fundamental ideas; geometry education; primary education; tripartite
model of curriculum.

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Sažetak
Školska geometrija tijekom godina suočavala se s mnogim problemima, u što ulazi
i gubitak nekad snažne pozicije unutar školske matematike te dobivanje reputacije
„problematičnog djeteta” nastave Matematike. Ovi problemi proizlaze iz planiranog
kurikula. Cilj ovoga rada je analiza dvaju planiranih kurikula za razrednu nastavu
Matematike u Hrvatskoj s fokusom na raznolikost i koherentnost geometrijskih
sadržaja i kroz objektiv fundamentalnih ideja geometrije. Uz to, rezultati su povezani
s prethodnim nalazima o postignutom (slike učenika o geometriji) i potencijalno
primijenjenom kurikulu (udžbenički zadatci). Iako novi kurikul odražava više
raznolikosti u pogledu fundamentalnih ideja geometrije u odnosu na stari, rezultati
pokazuju da ti kurikuli još uvijek ne nude značajke suvremene metodike geometrije
u punom potencijalu. Na temelju dobivenih rezultata provedena je rasprava s
prijedlozima kako poboljšati položaj školske geometrije u matematičkom obrazovanju
u Hrvatskoj prema preporukama iz literature.

Ključne riječi: fundamentalne ideje; nastava geometrije; razredna nastava; trodijelni
model kurikula.