Whether textbooks faithfully reflect the curriculum contents is an important educational issue. The previous studies on the textbooks did not analyze the relationship described in the textbooks or the structure. In this regard, this study aims to analyze how the concept of life science area in the elementary school science textbooks developed on the basis of the 2009 revised curriculum is linked. In addition, it seeks to analyze how the concept presented in the learning content achievement standards of the curriculum is connected to other concepts. Towards this end, the conceptual linkage of eight units in the life science domain of elementary school science textbooks based on the 2009 revised curriculum was analyzed. The contents of the life science domain in the science textbooks were analyzed through a semantic network analysis, and the semantic network on the concept linked to the one described in curriculum's learning objectives was also analyzed. The results are as follows:1) It will be difficult for students to understand the concept due to the complexity of the semantic network resulting from a number of concepts. 2) The curriculum's learning objectives presented in the curriculum are not faithfully reflected in the textbooks. 3) The textbooks are described on the basis of specific curriculum's learning objectives. Based on the findings of this study, the number of concepts described in the elementary school science textbooks needs to be significantly reduced so that the concepts can be meaningfully linked to each other.

No abstract