The textbooks have a very important place in terms of order they follow in transmitting their content, providing  self-development of students by giving the necessary utensils, concepts and generalizations for following future studies up and giving an opportunity   for the students to renew, to reinforce, to arrange their knowledge (DiGisi & Willett, 1995). Also, textbooks are important as they give opportunity for the students to study repetitively (Heyneman, Farrell & Sepulveda-Stuardo, 1978).  However, textbooks have negative effects in addition to their positive effects as well. The conducted research put forward that the main reason for students’ not knowing the scientific concepts and not associating between concepts is textbooks (Pozzer & Roth, 2003; Shiland, 1997). At the beginnings of 1980s, educational research started to reveal important results related to the factors that affect the success of students in their exams and in their learning. Especially using techniques and usability of textbooks have a very important effect on students’ success (Heyneman et al., 1978; Heyneman & Loxley, 1983). In many classrooms, the textbooks are used as the main source of knowledge and teachers are usually too dependent on the content of the textbooks. Considering the fact that textbooks are used as a program by many teachers and the fact that most of the activities and method which will be applied in the teaching process are influenced to a great extent by the textbooks, it is an undisputable reality that textbooks have a very important place in education. Because of this, choosing the most suitable textbooks is an inevitable need for teachers so that education can reach to its own goals and students can learn from textbooks meaningfully. Then, which criteria should teachers consider while choosing the most appropriate textbooks (Köseoğlu, Atasoy, Kavak, Akkuş, Budak, Tümay, Kadayıfçı & Taşdelen, 2003). These criteria can be formed according to the criteria like suitability to teaching program, the language and explanation used scientific content, supplementary materials, design, visual order, and linking. 

It has been pointed out by many researchers that textbooks, which are seen as the main source for student’s learning, cause misconceptions (Abraham, Grzybowski, Renner & Marek, 1992; Hawkes, 1996; Sanger & Greenbowe, 1999). Many researchers emphasize the necessity of examining scientific content of textbooks in the selection process (Baker & Piburn, 1997). The purpose of this study is to examine the 9^th and 10^th grade chemistry textbooks, which are accepted by The Ministry of National Education in terms of scientific content. Another aim of this study is tointroduce students and teachers’ views about 9^th and 10^th grade chemistry course books about the content of textbooks.

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