Analysis of mathematics textbooks on reasoning and proof: a systematic review in tripartite approach

Mathematics textbooks play a crucial role as mediators between theory and practice. Reasoning and proof are core skills in school mathematics, and textbooks may significantly influence students’ development of these skills. This paper presents a systematic literature review of studies that analyse mathematics textbooks in terms of reasoning and proof. Based on a full-text analysis of 45 peer-reviewed studies, the findings revealed that studies in this field began in 2004, with a peak in 2014. Most studies focused on geometry at the K-12 level. The research showed that different definitions and frameworks for reasoning and proof were used, and there is no consensus in the literature on a unified conceptualisation. Therefore, this paper presents a conceptualisation of the theoretical framework for analysing mathematics textbooks and proposes a definition of reasoning and proof. We suggest that future research should focus on the role of textbooks in the classroom.