An analysis of the content and questions of the physics textbooks of the basic education level (ages 13-15) in Libya

Abstract

This study aims at determining the extent to which the physics textbooks contribute to the achievement of the stated objectives of physics teaching at the basic educational level (ages 3-15). The cognitive demand of the content of the textbooks of the 7th, 8th and 9th grades and the questions at the end of each chapter are analysed. Chi-square tests are used to compare the distribution of the textbooks' (questions among the levels of Bloom's cognitive domain with a suggested distribution from the literature. The findings show that the contribution of the content to the achievement of the stated objectives is limited to the students' acquisition of facts and basic concepts. Most of the questions (51.6%) require knowledge by simple recall which puts them in the first level of the cognitive domain, while upper levels are only tested by 2.5% of all the questions. There is a significant difference (p<0.001) between the observed and the suggested distribution of questions among levels. These results reflect the importance of the objectives concerning the acquisition of specific scientific knowledge given by the content and questions of the textbooks at the expense of other objectives of physics teaching, such as the development of scientific thinking skills, interests and attitudes. In conclusion, some suggestions are made to promote the acquisition of objectives in the higher levels of the cognitive domain.