Abstract

ABSTRACT This study analyzed the inquiry activities in the ‘matter’ units from each science textbook for the fifth and the sixth graders developed by the 2007 revised national curriculum, using Practical Activity Analysis Inventory proposed by Millar(2009) to examine types of learning objectives, hands-on contents(what students have to do with objects and materials), minds-on contents(what students have to ‘do’ with ideas), and logical structure each activity had. The results of this study are as follows: First, most learning objectives of the inquiry activities seems to be suitable for the standards of 2007 revised national curriculum. Second, the standards of 2007 revised national curriculum are properly reflected in hands-on contents of inquiry activities. Third, minds-on contents of inquiry activities are well developed to meet the standards of 2007 revised national curriculum as a whole. Fourth, the logical structures of inquiry activities are mostly adequate for achieving the goals of the 2007 revised national curriculum. In the textbook for the fifth graders, however, all the activities are focusing too much on using students' current ideas to generate a prediction and collecting data to explore or test it. Based on these findings, this research has concluded that learning objectives, minds-on contents and logical structures of inquiry activities need to be designed carefully for students to be exposed to various activities when developing following textbooks.Key words : elementary science textbook, matter unit, inquiry activity, 2007 revised national curriculum

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