Mathematics Book as an artifact

I makes use of Wartofsky’s idea of artifact (1979) as a general perspective. As an education tool, a textbook can be regarded as an artifact (Johansson, 2006). Artifacts are tools made by human beings in actions and are applied by (or function as) humans according to different needs. Artifacts are the production or reproduction of human beings’ social activities (Wartofsky, 1979). The essential character of the artifact is that “its production, its use, and the attainment of skill in these, can be transmitted, and thus preserved in a social group, and through time, from one generation to the next” (Wartofsky, 1979, p. 201).

Artifacts according to Wartofsky (1979), have characteristics of representations and reflexive sense in human perception. Human actions for survival and development in social activities throughout history were transmitted and preserved in the forms of symbols and images reflecting these actions. Wartofsky categorized artifacts into three kinds. The first of these three kinds are primary artifacts, which are directly used in the production of human activities (e.g. tools like axes, needles, bowls; modes of social organization; bodily skills and technical skills in the use of tools). Secondary artifacts are representations of the modes and skills that human beings have used in the production. Tertiary artifacts are “abstracted from their direct representational function” (Wartofsky, 1979, p. 209). They constitute free constructions in the forms of rules and operations from the actual physical world. They are derived from human perceptions of the historical actions but no longer bound to them, but at the same time they embody the objectification of human knowledge and intention, according to Wartofsky (1979).

Science theories, books, texts and so on can be regarded as tertiary artifacts since they can mediate and transform the embedded meanings and influence the world (Säljö, 2007). So, mathematics textbooks should be analyzed as tertiary artifacts (Wartofsky, 1979) since the algebra content presented in textbooks are human products and entail mathematical knowledge perceived by human beings. The mathematical knowledge in the textbook is taught and learned in order to make learners prepared for the actual or future use of mathematical tools.