Content Analysis of Saudi third intermediate Science textbook in the light of sustainable development dimensions

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the extent to which the sustainable development dimensions (Social, environmental and economical) are included in third intermediate Science textbook of the first and second terms of the school year 1442-1443 AH. To achieve this goal the descriptive analytical approach was utilized, a list of the sustainable development dimensions and sub-issues was created, and the textbook was analyzed based on these dimensions using idea as an analysis unit and frequency as a counting unit. The study revealed that the third intermediate Science textbook neglected many of the main and sub-issues included in the sustainable development dimensions. Some of the key issues were also missing including the topic of residence and population from the social dimension in the first term textbook, and the topics of lithosphere and Hydrosphere from the environmental dimension in the second term textbook. The study further shed light on the absence of integration, sequence and consistency within the topics of the third intermediate Science textbook. Based on the above mentioned results, the study recommended the following: reconsidering including sustainable development by balancing between its three dimensions social, environmental and economical and focusing more on the sub-issues, reconstructing science textbooks based on the dimensions of sustainable development and the demands of the new era, making use of the current study results to enrich intermediate Science curriculum, training teachers on how to include sustainable development in their instruction and providing supporting educational resources. The study suggested conducting similar analysis study to other school levels and another study focusing on establishing a reference guide on how to employ sustainable development dimensions within school syllabus.