Elementary Education Online, 14(2), 407‐420, 2015. İlköğretim Online, 14(2), 407‐420, 2015. [Online]: http://ilkogretim‐online.org.tr http://dx.doi.org/10.17051/io.2015.31557 An examination of the 7 th grade mathematics teacher’s guidebook in terms of the relationship between mathematics and science Betül YENİTERZİ 1 Mine IŞIKSAL-BOSTAN 2 ABSTRACT. Mathematics curriculum for 6-8 grades (MoNE, 2011) gives importance to make connection between mathematics and other disciplines. This program emphasizes that connection is effective on students for noticing mathematics in real life and understanding other disciplines. When mathematics and science curricula investigated together, common skills such as; critical-creative thinking, questioning, problem solving, etc. attract attention in both curricula. This connection in mathematics is also reflected on the teacher guidebooks. Thus, the purpose of this study is to reveal in which subjects, how, how often, and by which purposes, contents in the 7 th grade mathematics teacher’s books are related to the concepts of science. In the study, document analysis method was used. Consequently, 47 concepts related to science were determined in total. 60% of them include conceptual knowledge for science. Moreover, 40% of them have no conceptual purpose and they only aim to give daily life examples for mathematics. Key Words: mathematics, science, seventh grade mathematics teacher’s guidebook SUMMARY Purpose and Significance: Examination of the mathematics curriculum for 6-8 grades (MoNe, 2011) revealed that mathematics teaching is important in terms of connecting mathematics with real life situations and other disciplines. When mathematics curriculum together with science curriculum examined, it was noticed that critical thinking, creative thinking, inquiry, questioning, problem solving, making decision, and using information technologies are common skills. Basista and Mathews (2002) emphasized that science contributes to reveal mathematical patterns and connections by the help of rich content and concrete situations. Most of the studies on book reviews were investigated in terms of the books’ appearance, contents, activities, and its suitability to the curriculum. However, there are few studies that investigated the connection between mathematics and science. This study may contribute to the need of filling this gap in the literature. Thus, this study can be important in terms of determining the relation between science and mathematics in textbooks. In this sense, the purpose of this study was stated as to understand in which mathematics subject, how often and for what purpose science related concepts are used in the 7 th grade teacher guidebook. Methods: In this study how and to what extent the contents, activities, and questions in the 7 th grade mathematics teacher’s guidebook (2011) were related to the contents and concepts of science course were investigated. Document analysis method was used for data analysis. Additionally, frequency tables were prepared in order to clarify the science related mathematics examples. The aim of using science concepts in mathematics situations were also analyzed by using a frequency table to see whether the aim is conceptual science understanding or just for the purpose of giving daily life examples for mathematics. Results: The findings of the current study revealed that the concepts of ‘force and motion, substance and heat and sun system and beyond: puzzle of space units were used frequently in the 7 th grade mathematics teacher guidebook. In total of 47-science-related concepts were determined in the book. Additionally, it was found that while 60% of these concepts were given by the purpose of giving conceptual science understanding, 40% of them aim to give daily life examples for mathematics. Discussion and Conclusion: As a result, many connections between the two disciplines were determined in the mathematics teacher guidebook. In this regard, mathematics teachers should collaborate with science and technology teachers. Additionally, any statement about the connection with science and technology in ‘intradisciplinary and interdisciplinary connection’ part was not found in the mathematics teacher guidebook’s annual plans. Besides this study’s stated findings, ‘the connection within the course, and between other courses’ parts were examined in the 7th grade mathematics teacher’s guidebook. It was found that there were no statements about connection with the Science course. However, in this study many connections with science and technology courses were determined in the 7th grade mathematics teacher’s guidebook. In this regard, stating this connection in annual plans of the books can provide awareness for the mathematics teachers about these connections. 1 Res. Assist. Betül YENİTERZİ, Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University, Faculty of Education, ybetul42@gmail.com 2 Assoc. Prof. Mine IŞIKSAL-BOSTAN, Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Education, misiksal@metu.edu.tr