Investigating the History of Science Content in Turkish Science and Technology Course Textbooks
Author(s):
Hakki Ilker Kostur (presenting / submitting) Fusun Eyidogan
Conference:
ECER 2012
Format:
Paper

Session Information

ERG SES C 14, Scientific knowledge

Parallel Paper Session

Time:
2012-09-17
13:30-15:00
Room:
FCEE - Aula 4.9
Chair:
Meinert Arnd Meyer

Contribution

    After 1980s, there were huge reform efforts in science education in American education and in these reform efforts, the importance of scientific literacy, teaching history of science, nature of science and science-technology-society themes were the main elements (Bybee et al., 1991). Similar concepts can be seen as the former elements of the latest Turkish National Science and Technology Education Curriculum (MONE, 2005). For instance, according to the curriculum, nature of science is an important aspect of science education and it should be taught in science courses.
    History of science is an important subdomain of nature of science; it examines how social, cultural and historical factors affect the development science (McComas, 2002) and its instruction is a way for students to understand the nature of science (Howe, 2009). History of science can not be left out from intellectual education and should be taught in every level of the education and it could be introduced in the form of legends and anecdotes in primary school to promote children’s imagination and in higher levels. Moreover, it should be introduced as story telling, biographies of scientists and as “something that is alive” with the help of historical experiments (Rosell & Vilumara, 2010). According to Brush (1989), when teaching history of science, the role of the teacher is crucial, yet, most science teachers have little or no training in the history of science. Moreover, science deals with important philosophical questions which are often ignored in textbooks and which are best discussed in their historical settings (Brush, 1989).
    It can be concluded that history of science is a way to obtain more understanding of nature of science and it should be a part of science courses. In the light of the information above, the aim of this study is to investigate the history of science content in Turkish science and technology course textbooks which are prepared by the Turkish Ministry of National Education. The goals of this study are: a) What is the amount of the historical content in grade 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 science and technology course textbooks?; b) What is the quality of the historical content in grade 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 science and technology course textbooks?

Method

Aim of this study is to investigate the history of science content in Turkish Science and Technology course textbooks. The method of this study can be described as a content analysis. Content analysis is a research methodolody to make valid inferences from a text (Weber, 1985). Purposive sampling is used and Turkish Ministry of National Education Science and Technology course, grade 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 textbooks are chosen for the study. First, any information that has an historical value in five textbooks will be identified in order to conduct the content analysis. Second, frequencies will be calculated for; a) the amount of historical content, and, b) the quality of the historical information according to its place in historical continuum. Finally, conclusions will be made according to the amount of historical content and the quality of the historical content. Moreover, suggestions will be given for specific topics to increase the use of history of science content in course textbooks.

Expected Outcomes

According to Turkish National Science and Technology Education Curriculum, nature of science is an important aspect of science education and it should be taught in science courses (MONE, 2005). History of science is an important subdomain of nature of science and it examines how social, cultural and historical factors develop science (McComas, 2002). It can be concluded that investigating the history of science content in science and technology textbooks will be useful for teachers, science educators and curriculum developers to establish a relation between the curriculum and the course textbooks. Besides, suggestions for adding history of science content to some specific topics will help science educators to enrich their courses.

References

Brush, S. G. (1989). History of science and science education. Interchange 20(2), 60-70. Bybee, R.W., Powell, J.C., Ellis, J.D., Giese, J.R., Parisi, L. and Singleton, L. (1991). Integrating the history and nature of science and technology in science and social studies curriculum. Science Education, 75(1), 143-155. Howe, E. (2009). Henry david thoreau, forest succession & the nature of science: a method for curriculum development. The American Biology Teacher, 71(7), 397-404. McComas, W. F. (2002). The nature of science in science education rationales and strategies. London: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Ministry Of National Education – Head Council of Education and Morality, (2005). Primary education science and technology curriculum program and guide, Ankara: Management Office of Government Books. Rosell, A.R., Vilumara, P.G. (2010). Antoni quintana-mari (1907-1998): a pioneer of the use of history of science in science education. Science & Education, 19(9), 925-929. Weber, R.P., (1985). Basic content analysis. Sage Publications, USA.

Author Information

Hakki Ilker Kostur (presenting / submitting)
Baskent University
Primary School Education Department
Ankara
Baskent University, Turkey

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