Role Of Textbooks Research Articles

Promoting Critical Thinking in Junior High School: Challenges and Practices From EFL Teachers

Critical thinking skills is highly encouraged by educators for their students to challenge their students to achieve critical values, the sense of creativity, and the requirement of high order thinking. The purpose of this study is to explore how English teachers as a foreign language promote critical thinking skills in junior high school and the barriers they face. This study adopts an exploratory, descriptive, and qualitative research design. Barriers included student and parental attitudes, teacher and institutional issues, and cultural constraints. Participants noted a lack of cultural value for critical thinking. Recommendations emerged, such as tailored teacher training programs, a shift towards critical thinking in curricula, pedagogical support emphasizing critical thinking, and enriched textbooks with activities encouraging critical thought. The novelty of this research lies in its focus on English language teaching from the perspective of teachers' perceptions, particularly regarding the role of textbooks and the enhancement of critical thinking skills among students.

The role of textbook in supporting the emotional well-being of students of basic secondary education

The role of textbook in supporting the emotional well-being of students of basic secondary education

Towards a New Understanding of Swedish School Reforms: A Sociological Analysis of Textbooks’ Role in Reforms of School Mathematics, 1919–1970

This article sheds new light on the Swedish comprehensive school reform implemented in the 1960s (the Grundskolan reform) and the four decades preceding the reform. This reform was typical for the Nordic countries. The presented study concerns reforms in mathematics education and how change was initiated and driven before and during the comprehensive school reform. The analysis has a focus on the role of textbooks in educational governance. The analysis is based on Bourdieu’s field theory and concerns how a new way of preparing and driving reforms of school subjects restructured relationships between the state, textbook producers, and teachers. This article is mainly a synthesis of results from several previous studies on governance of Swedish mathematics education. The analysis reveals not only a new characteristic of the comprehensive school reform (swift and radical rather than slow and successive), but also a bottom-up movement in the school system, which has been commonly understood as top-down, very centralised, and slow moving. The results of the analysis help explain why the Swedish comprehensive school reform gained early acceptance and momentum. Another contribution of this article concerns historical textbook research, particularly regarding how fundamental changes in authorship of textbooks (from visible individual authors to anonymous collectives) can be related to educational governance and changes in power structures.

New Narratives and Old Myths: History Textbooks in Kazakhstan

AbstractThis article focuses on the role of textbooks in the construction of national identity by analyzing state-approved versions of national identity and history in Kazakhstan. By doing so, this project seeks to highlight what understanding of identity prevails in the history textbooks of Kazakhstan, what narratives regarding the key historic events are promoted, particularly with respect to the Dzhungar wars, annexation of Kazakh Khanate by the Russian Empire, and the Soviet era. Finally, this article compares the main narratives in the textbooks published in Kazakh and Russian languages to illustrate differences and various understandings of identity in the two linguistic realms of Kazakhstan. The article argues that Kazakhstan’s textbooks combine new, independence-focused narratives with the old approaches and partial reproduction of the Soviet symbolic discourse.

Future Primary Teachers’ Knowledge about the Perimeter and Area of a Rectangle

What is the quality of the mathematics knowledge of our pupils and our students – future teachers? Do they know how to apply such knowledge in real situations? Can they explain the concepts and procedures or do they just practice and automate the procedures without reasoning? These questions are often asked in the context of teaching mathematics and the education of future teachers. Considering the irreplaceable role of elementary (primary) schoolteachers in the process of teaching and learning mathematics, we set the goal of the research: to check the quality of our future primary school teachers’ knowledge of the perimeter and area of a rectangle. Teachers’ mathematical content knowledge must primarily be conceptual knowledge rather than procedural knowledge. The test results showed that the conceptual knowledge of future teachers is weaker than the procedural knowledge. Due to the obtained results and the role of textbooks as a basic learning resource, we have decided to also present the results of an analysis of the types of tasks related to the perimeter and area of a rectangle in elementary school textbooks.

A mixed method study on Chinese primary school EFL teachers' preparation, affecting factors and support needed to implement intercultural foreign language teaching.

Cultivating intercultural competence is a long-term and staged process requiring the efforts of all counterparts in the education field from primary school up to university. Currently, most research on intercultural education in China focuses on the tertiary education context, and little attention has been paid to elementary education as well as primary school EFL teachers. Against this background, this study intends to investigate Chinese primary school EFL teachers' preparedness for intercultural foreign language teaching (IFLT), its influencing factors, and the support teachers need to implement IFLT. A convergent mixed method was used in this study. Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews, SPSS and the thematic analysis method were used to analyze the data. Via both quantitative and qualitative methods, this empirical study found that: 1. Primary school EFL teachers are not well prepared for IFLT; 2. Textbooks, the current evaluation system, teachers' lack of literacy in intercultural competence, insufficient teacher training on intercultural competence, and teachers' lack of time and energy are five major factors that constrain the implementation of IFLT; 3. Support from school administration, the construction of intercultural-related materials and resources, and practice-oriented teacher training are the three main support teachers need. Based on these findings, the role of textbooks, experience abroad and general materials on culture in promoting IFLT were discussed. At last, implications and future research directions were proposed.

Analysis of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) Content on Students’ Textbook of Natural and Social Sciences Subject for grade V Elementary School

One of the learning outcomes in the merdeka curriculum is that students have higher order thinking skills (HOTS) according to their respective phases, including phase C (for grades V and VI Elementary School). To achieve learning outcomes, it is necessary to have the role of textbooks as learning resources and media. This study aims to analyze the content of higher order thinking skills in the students’ textbooks of Natural and Social Sciences for grade V. This type of research is a descriptive quantitative study. Research data was collected through literature and documentation. The instrument used in this study is a checklist. The results of the research showed that the students' textbooks of Natural and Social Sciences for grade V is contained higher order thinking skills content in context and questions component.

Editors’ Introduction

Editors’ Introduction

Textbooks and Teaching Materials in Rural Schools: A Systematic Review

This paper presents the results of a research project whose main purpose is to analyse the concept of multigrade teaching resources and the teaching materials used by teachers in rural schools, in particular the role of textbooks. The use and dimensions of teaching materials are studied in order to promote inclusion and learning in multigrade classrooms with children of different ages mixed together. The present systematic review aims to identify and analyse all of the research papers published internationally on teaching resources in rural schools for the Web of Science and Scopus databases (from 1992 to 2021) and Google Scholar (between 2010 and February 2021). Due to the dearth of publications focused on the topic of study, the reviewed articles have broad inclusion and exclusion criteria. This gives relevance and an innovative character to the research, allowing us to objectify the state of the question on multigrade didactic materials and their relation to teaching-learning processes. From a total of 332 research papers in the field of rural multigrade teaching identified for further analysis, only papers that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and passed all phases of the PRISMA flow diagram were used (N = 33). Some research publications contributed to identifying opportunities and needs, and to suggesting criteria to be taken into account for the selection and creation of materials to promote inclusion and active learning methodologies. The first results show the need to create one’s own materials that analyse the reality of these schools, as well as the need to personalise and adapt printed or digital textbooks and other teaching materials in order to involve the students actively in the learning process and to respond to the needs of rural students in multigrade classrooms.

The Role of Textbooks in Teaching and Learning Processes

The Role of Textbooks in Teaching and Learning Processes

Research on problems of engineering textbooks construction for applied undergraduates

Textbooks are the carriers of knowledge, and superior textbooks are the key factors for universities and colleges to carry out high-quality teaching activities. There are significant differences between applied undergraduate and traditional undergraduate in engineering education. From the aspects of content and system, engineering application, novelty, and textbook resources, the problems and their causes of the current engineering textbooks for applied colleges are analyzed in this paper. Only by fully recognizing the defects of existing textbooks in the use process, can we contrapuntally adjust their construction path, innovate the writing style and form, and the role of textbooks can be better played in talent training.

SCHOOL TEXTBOOKS AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF A PRE-MODERN NATION IN MOROCCO

This study investigates school textbooks with a focus on a pre-modern nation construction in Morocco. It seeks to detect the cultural symbols via which the pre-modern nation is formed. Using a deductive approach, social studies textbooks of middle school are analyzed.Drawing on the Ethno-Symbolist conceptual framework to nation formation which is developed by Anthony Smith, this study highlights the significant role of textbooks in nation-building.It suggests that the textbooks construct a pre-modern nation of Morocco out of an Arab-Muslim cultural repertoire. The research recommends changes to the content of the textbooks to adopt a multi-cultural approach, which would accommodate cultural funds of Amazigh and Jewish ethnic groups in the national narratives.

“Crossing the borders of own culture, stepping on frontiers”: Textbooks and intercultural communication

The article presents the results of an analysis of English textbooks used in Sweden and Poland and addresses questions related to their intercultural dimension. The textbooks were subject to content analysis performed with a tool created specifically for this study and providing both qualitative and quantitative data. The findings show some significant differences between textbooks used in the two countries, highlighting the ways Swedish textbooks promote issues related to an intercultural perspective and showing the relative drawbacks of the Polish sample in this respect. The comparative character of the analysis allows for reflection on the role of textbooks in crossing intercultural borders with regard to teaching particular values in different cultural contexts as well as improvements that might be made in this field. The conclusions resulting from the comparative analysis may prove both useful and inspirational for textbook authors and teachers and, in many ways, innovative in the context of promoting intercultural values in education.

4차 산업혁명 시대 역사교육의 목표와 방향

There are two new problems in the 2022 Curriculum Revision that did not exist in the previous one. The first is how the older generation of “digital immigrants” can educate the future generation who are “digital natives.” The second is that it is necessary to design a curriculum that responds to the age of AI, where big data has surpassed the “human collective memory,” and AI has overtaken “human collective learning.” In the Fourth Industrial Revolution e ra, changes are taking place so rapidly that we cannot solve future problems using past examples. History education needed for students living in the era of hyper-acceleration should focus not on learning knowledge about the past but on transfer learning based on conceptual knowledge.BR The COVID-19 pandemic has had the effect of achieving the Fourth Industrial Revolution just in one year, which would have taken ten years otherwise. In the Covid-19 situation, where teachers cannot teach students in the classroom, digital transformation has taken place all over the place. Now, we have crossed the “tipping point” where we cannot go back to the past. The 2022 National History Curriculum Revision should seek a “new normal” curriculum, in which AI takes over the roles of textbooks and teachers to a certain extent and converts classroom and online classes into blended learning.

Impacts Of Language Learning On The Development Of Cognition

The basic theoretical goal of cognitive psychology is to describe the information processing mechanism during human action. The driving role of concept and situational role of textbook in language education is the further development of learners' intelligence for the purpose of developing learners' competency in language use. This study discusses cognitive psychology-based foreign language learning and instruction.

Undergraduates\u2019 conceptions of mathematics teaching and learning: an empirical study

Previous research in mathematics education has explored teachers’ conceptions of mathematics and its teaching and learning, and how their instructional tendencies (e.g., “traditional”, “technological”, “spontaneous” and “investigative”) relate to these conceptions. However, empirical evidence on this topic from large samples of pre-service teachers is limited. This study adapts and validates an instrument originally designed for in-service teachers to analyse the conceptions of mathematics and mathematics teaching and learning. This was done in a sample of undergraduate students in several different degree programmes (primary education, mathematics, and the education itinerary in psychology) in a Spanish university. Existing theory about instructional tendencies and conceptions of mathematics teaching and learning that was developed in the context of in-service teachers is then re-examined in the context of empirical evidence from this sample of individuals (all potential future teachers) without teaching experience. Results show that items from the instrument can be separated into four factors focussed on investigative stances, the role of textbooks, the role of teachers and lesson planning. Individual participants are not characterised by single tendencies; rather, they can be described in terms of several combinations of tendencies, grouped into four clusters. In line with the previous literature on in-service teachers, results suggest that conceptions of mathematics and its teaching and learning are not best captured by rigid, sharply delineated profiles. Rather, individuals configure their own conceptions in terms of combinations of different characteristics of prototypical tendencies.

The Evaluation of ESP Textbooks Based on Students’ Perspectives

The recently proven indisputable role of textbooks in English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses has led to a major trend of interest in the value of ESP textbooks. As learners and their learning needs are one of the most significant factors in ESP courses, textbook evaluation from learners’ points of view has become more common in this field. Accordingly, this paper has focused on the opinions and attitudes of the students about their ESP textbooks. Filling a questionnaire designed by Litz (2005) and answering some questions in a semi-structured interview, students of biology and psychology at the University of Tabriz expressed their opinions about different aspects of their ESP books. No significant difference was found between these two groups and they had a generally positive attitude about their textbooks. The shortcomings of the books were mentioned by some of the students in the informal interviews which led to some suggestions for material developers as well as teachers.

Using interactive images in physics teaching

Studyng images in physics textbooks is important because illustrations are considered relevant to understand physics contents. In fact, images have a fundamental role in textbooks, and facilitate students to enhance physics theory visualization. Silva & Martins (2008) assume that images carry information that can be classified as having a motivating, informative, explanatory or redundant function. We found 223 images in the kinematics units’ analysis of three collections recommended by the last edition of the Brazilian Textbook Program (PNLD 2018). The images were classified according to their function, observing, in percentages, that 52% of images have an informative function, 40% an explanatory function, while the redundant and motivating functions total less than 9%. Moving interactive images have been created from informative function figures using the Illustrator software. This program allows us to create an illusion of movement in the image when moving a page with vertical lines, facilitating the student’s visualization and understanding. These images were presented to the students through a questionnaire. We verified a better performance in their answers with the interactive images, that allows us to infer that moving images can facilitate students’ learning.

Making of an Exhibition. Iceland in the World, the World in Iceland

This paper explores the ways in which the 2016 exhibition Iceland in the World, the World in Iceland at the National Museum of Iceland was created in collaboration between museum staff, University of Iceland, academics and migrants. The exhibition dealt with themes such as: migration to and from Iceland, transnational relationships, historical racism, prejudice and the role of textbooks and children’s literature in promoting or maintaining ideas about race and difference. Various challenges the team encountered on the way will be examined, for instance how complex concepts such as racism and transnationalism were transmitted through this medium. The role of the museum in promoting openmindedness and tolerance is also discussed – and questions raised on its capacity to influence society to change or improve through interaction with visitors.

A Meta-Synthesis Study of Research About Mathematic Textbooks

This research aimed to investigate studies examining mathematics textbooks in depth. To this end, specific keywords and criteria were entered into Google’s advanced search engine and the Council of Higher Education national thesis center to obtain articles and theses related to mathematics textbooks. The research investigated a total of 114 studies on mathematics textbooks published between 2005 and 2019. The data obtained were firstly subject to a descriptive analysis. A meta-synthesis method was then used to evaluate the studies included in this research. To analyze the objectives of the studies included in this research, we used the theoretical framework developed by Fan, Zhu and Miao (2013) to create an original classification. Results showed that studies examining opinions on mathematics textbooks (41.00%) were less than studies analyzing mathematics textbook (59.00%). Moreover, surveys were found to be the most frequentlyy used data collection tool in studies collecting opinions on mathematics textbooks, with teachers being the most commonly used participants subject to this data collection method. Additionally, the meta-synthesis analysis indicated that studies analyzing mathematics textbooks generally focused on topics specific to mathematics and on a specific section of a textbook (e.g. activities, problems) whereas those investigating opinions on mathematics textbooks concentrated on studies emphasizing the features of mathematical textbooks and the role of textbooks in learning-teaching.