Kastamonu Eğitim Dergisi (Jan 2019)
Evaluation of the Activities in the Turkish Coursebooks (Student’s Books and Workbooks) Used at the 2nd, 3rd, And 4th Classes of State Primary Schools According to Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy
Abstract
In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the activities in the Turkish course books (student’s books and workbooks) used at the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th classes of state primary schools according to revised bloom taxonomy, with respect to categorising and evaluating these course books in the dimensions of knowledge accumulation and cognitive facet, and also with regard to identifying whether the activities in these course books contribute to the development of high level order cognitive skills and contain data suitable for the development of students’ cognitive skills . In the study, based on a qualitative research design, document (text) analysis was put into practice. The data of the study were gathered from the activities in the Turkish course books used at the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th classes of state primary schools in 2016-2017 education year. The activities in the course books were categorised based on the chart of revised Bloom’s taxonomy and key tables related to the knowledge and cognitive skills dimensions formed by the researcher by means of various sources. The data of the study were analysed by means of SPSS 24 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) and the frequency, percentage and chi-square test were tabulated. Accordingly, the data of the study is based on descriptive analysis. The findings of the study; the activities in the Turkish course books used at the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th classes of state primary schools of Turkish Republic in 2016-2017 education year disperse at different rates in all the levels of cognitive dimension and in all dimensions of knowledge level. The findings of the study represents that the activities in the Turkish course books used at the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th classes of state primary schools assess mostly low level cognitive skills rather than high level cognitive. Furthermore, there is no significant relationship between classes and the potential of assessing high/low order cognitive skills in the activities in the Turkish course books used at the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th classes. Some suggestions based on the findings of the research are as follows: Teaching programs prepared by Ministry of National Education should take the basic principles of developmental psychology and current changes in the field of education into account, as well as the data obtained from scientific studies. The textbooks will be based on their goals within this context. As course books are being prepared, specialists in the related field should work without ignoring the needs of society and the time period, keeping the globally adopted principles of preparing textbooks. The results of this research and the similar ones showed that the activities in the textbooks did not show a balanced distribution regarding the dimensions of RBT. Besides, the results of these inquiries should be considered by Ministry of National Education and reports should be collected for the evaluation of the book preparation committee.
Keywords
