An Analysis of the Activities in Elementary Science and Technology Textbooks according to Science Process Skills and Structural Characteristics

Abstract

The study analyzed the content and structural characteristics of the activities in elementary 6th, 7th and 8th grade Science and Technology textbooks in terms of science process skills. According to the analyses of the results, it was found that some science process skills recommended for each learning domain in the program were not included in some textbooks. The activities were generally given before the text and this organization enables the students to discover the subject analyzed in the activity. However, students mostly dealt with the same task and therefore the learning environments in which they present and discuss the results they obtained were less used. Basic skills were more open ended than integrated skills and as the grade level increased basic skills become more close-ended. It was observed that in all textbooks, experimental design was fully provided for the students. Finally, while the science process skills in problem status and experimental design sections in the activities were close-ended, the skills in conducting the experiment, result-interpretation and presentation sections were open-ended. Therefore, it was concluded that the activities in the textbooks were suitable for guided inquiry approach.