An analysis of science textbooks for grade 6: The electric circuit lesson

Abstract

Textbooks are a major tool in the teaching and learning process. This paper presents the results of an analysis of the Finnish and Thai 6th grade science textbooks: electric circuit lesson. Textual and pictorial information from the textbooks were analyzed under four main categories: 1) introduction of the concepts, 2) type of knowledge, 3) representations, and 4) contexts. The analysis revealed that the Thai textbook emphasized procedural knowledge, while conceptual knowledge was emphasized mostly in Finnish textbook. Physics concepts are introduced typically through describing the relation between the new and earlier introduced concepts. Both textbooks employed rather traditional contexts, such as technical applications, technology in society, and the ideal context. © 2013 by ESER, Eurasian Society of Educational Research.