The assessment of the quality of science education textbooks : conceptual framework and instruments for analysis
Year: 2010
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Science and technology are constantly transforming our day-to-day living. Science \neducation has become of vital importance to prepare learners for this everchanging \nworld. Unfortunately, science education in South Africa is hampered \nby under-qualified and inexperienced teachers. Textbooks of good quality can assist \nteachers and learners and facilitate the development of science teachers. For \nthis reason thorough assessment of textbooks is needed to inform the selection of \ngood textbooks. \nAn investigation revealed that the available textbook evaluation instruments are \nnot suitable for the evaluation of the physical science textbooks in the South \nAfrican context. An instrument is needed that focusses on science education textbooks \nand which prescribes the criteria, weights, evaluation procedure and rating \nscheme that can ensure justifiable, transparent, reliable and valid evaluation results. \nThis study utilised elements from the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to \ndevelop such an instrument and verified the reliability and validity of the instrument’s \nevaluation results. \nDevelopment of the Instrument for the Evaluation of Science Education Textbooks \nstarted with the formulation of criteria. Characteristics that influence the \nquality of textbooks were identified from literature, existing evaluation instruments \nand stakeholders’ concerns. In accordance with the AHP, these characteristics \nor criteria were divided into categories or branches to give a hierarchical \nstructure. Subject experts verified the content validity of the hierarchy. \nExpert science teachers compared the importance of different criteria. The data \nwere used to derive weights for the different criteria with the Expert Choice computer \napplication. A rubric was formulated to act as rating-scheme and score \nsheet. During the textbook evaluation process the ratings were transferred to a \nspreadsheet that computed the scores for the quality of a textbook as a whole as \nwell as for the different categories. \nThe instrument was tested on small scale, adjusted and then applied on a larger \nscale. The results of different analysts were compared to verify the reliability of \nthe instrument. Triangulation with the opinions of teachers who have used the \ntextbooks confirmed the validity of the evaluation results obtained with the instrument. \nFuture investigations on the evaluation instrument can include the use \nof different rating scales and limiting of criteria.
Author: Sarita Swanepoel
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1527445691