PERIODIC TABLE REPRESENTATIONS IN TURKISH UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL CHEMISTRY TEXTBOOKS AND THE CHEMISTRY TEACHERS’ OPINIONS ON THEM

Abstract

Periodic table is an important tool of chemistry for understanding the structure, function, and properties of the elements. Periodic table representations given in upper-secondary school chemistry textbooks are critical as they introduce chemical concepts. This study aimed to explore the features of periodic table representations given in Turkish upper-secondary school chemistry textbooks and the opinions of chemistry teachers who were using these textbooks in their classes. This qualitative study was composed of two stages. In the first stage, seven different upper-secondary school chemistry textbooks commonly used in Turkey were selected and analyzed by content analysis based on five criteria; type, content, portrayal, periodic trends, and color, emerged from the data. In the second stage, interviews were conducted by seven chemistry teachers who were actively using these textbooks in their classes. The results showed that generally teachers liked the basic, color-coded, recent, accurate periodic table representations to introduce the concepts. While teaching, they mostly preferred to show a complete periodic table first, and then the segmented ones. For the periodic trends, they agreed to include numerical values on the periodic table for letting students make sense of these values instead of having arrows that may cause memorization.