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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. STEM Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1509019
Investigating the quality of mathematical explanation videos -A quantitative cross-topic-study
Provisionally accepted- University of Siegen, Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Mathematical explanation videos have become tremendously popular due to their easy accessibility through online platforms like YouTube. However, little is known about their quality from a mathematics education point of view. This study addresses this gap by developing a theory-based rating scheme for mathematical explanation videos and providing a first comprehensive quantitative analysis of the quality of the n=150 most viewed English explanation videos on YouTube across three key topics ("multiplication of fractions," "Pythagorean theorem," "intersection of linear functions"). The results reveal that while these videos generally maintain mathematical accuracy and employ suitable mathematical language, they often fall short in elaborating on conceptual meaning, linking different mathematical representations, and connecting mathematical concepts to real-world contexts. Notably, the study also uncovers topic-specific variations in video quality. The insights derived from this analysis, along with the developed rating scheme, serve as valuable resources for a wide array of stakeholders, including mathematics education researchers, video content creators, teacher educators, and practicing teachers.
Keywords: Mathematics, Explanation videos, quality, Flipped-classroom, youtube
Received: 10 Oct 2024; Accepted: 17 Mar 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Thurm. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Daniel Thurm, University of Siegen, Siegen, 57076, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
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