An Analysis of Science Textbooks
for Grade 6: The Electric Circuit
Lesson

Pavinee Sothayapetch; Jari Lavonen; Kalle Juuti

doi:10.12973/eurasia.2013.916a

An Analysis of Science Textbooks for Grade 6: The Electric Circuit Lesson

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Pavinee Sothayapetch ¹ ^* , Jari Lavonen ¹, Kalle Juuti ¹

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¹ University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland^* Corresponding Author

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.

Keywords

electric circuit
science textbook
primary level
content analysis

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Research Article

EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed, 2013, Volume 9, Issue 1, 59-72

https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.916a

Publication date: 27 Jan 2013

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Article Downloads: 882

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How to cite this article

APA

Sothayapetch, P., Lavonen, J., & Juuti, K. (2013). An Analysis of Science Textbooks for Grade 6: The Electric Circuit Lesson. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 9(1), 59-72. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.916a

Vancouver

Sothayapetch P, Lavonen J, Juuti K. An Analysis of Science Textbooks for Grade 6: The Electric Circuit Lesson. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2013;9(1):59-72. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.916a

AMA

Sothayapetch P, Lavonen J, Juuti K. An Analysis of Science Textbooks for Grade 6: The Electric Circuit Lesson. EURASIA J Math Sci Tech Ed. 2013;9(1), 59-72. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.916a

Chicago

Sothayapetch, Pavinee, Jari Lavonen, and Kalle Juuti. "An Analysis of Science Textbooks for Grade 6: The Electric Circuit Lesson". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education 2013 9 no. 1 (2013): 59-72. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.916a

Harvard

Sothayapetch, P., Lavonen, J., and Juuti, K. (2013). An Analysis of Science Textbooks for Grade 6: The Electric Circuit Lesson. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 9(1), pp. 59-72. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.916a

MLA

Sothayapetch, Pavinee et al. "An Analysis of Science Textbooks for Grade 6: The Electric Circuit Lesson". Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, vol. 9, no. 1, 2013, pp. 59-72. https://doi.org/10.12973/eurasia.2013.916a