Descriptive Analysis of the Graphic Representations of Science Textbooks

Abstract

Textbooks are primary teaching aids, sources from which students obtain knowledge of science domain. Due to this fact, curriculum developers in the field emphasize the crucial role of analysing the contents of science textbooks in improving science education. Scientific domain knowledge relies on graphical representations for the manifestation of itself. Content analysis of the representations therefore entails the necessity of the systematic reading and categorizing of a body of visual representations, including diagrams, drawings, photos, and text that appeared in these science teaching and learning materials. This paper examined ten UAE primary science textbooks and practical books using an author-improved graphical analysis grid. From the descriptive analysis, it was found that general science was the illustrated topic area for fundamental level of science. The most frequently used graphical type is the iconic. Female images outnumber the male images. Results also showed that indigenous graphics were dominant over foreign graphics. The study also found the majority of visual representations in the textbooks were designed to convey static information and they are in close relationship with the textual representations. Yet most of the graphical images were indexed and captioned that served specific cognitive functions. The results also suggest graphic representations need to be treated as an important visual tool that textbook authors should use them wisely to have the domain knowledge conveyed in various topic areas.

Analysis of the Representations in Turkish Middle School Science Textbooks from 2002 to 2017

“…This finding means that the topics in the middle school science textbooks are mainly taught by concrete images. Iconic representations are effective for students to know the structures and visual appearances of the concepts which can be seen by a naked eye (Khine & Liu, 2017). They can be also used to attract students' attention (Harrison & Treagust, 2003) for teaching a new concept (Johnstone, 2007).…”

“…The representations in the middle school science textbooks were analyzed concerning the combination of two main diagram coding schemes. The first one was developed by Khine and Liu (2017) according to the Graphical Analysis Protocol designed by Slough, McTigue, Kim, and Jennings (2010). Four categories from the scheme, which are graphical types, gender, indexing and captioning involved in the scheme used for the current research.…”

Analysis of Korean Middle School Students’ Scientific Interpretation Differences With or Without Arrows in the Energy Pyramid

“…In this way, the use of a mixed diagram of visual representation and written text is the most common method used in modern science textbooks. In other words, science textbooks include strategies that help learners understand key science concepts through diagrams (Khine & Liu, 2017).…”

Investigating Students’ Attitudes Toward Arabic and English Textbooks in Communication and Media

“…Prior researches have been conducted on textbooks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE; Abosalem, 2016;Al-Qatawneh et al, 2019;Khine & Yang, 2017). However, most of these studies reported different issues related to school textbooks and not to the textbooks used by higher education institutions.…”