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Asia-Pacific Forum on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 13, Issue 1, Article 5 (Jun., 2012) |
A study on analogies presented in high school physics textbooks
Dundar YENER
Abant Izzet BaysalUniversity, Faculty of Education, Bolu, TURKEY
E-mail: dundaryener@ibu.edu.tr; dundaryener@selcuk.edu.tr
Received 14 Jun, 2011
Revised 1 Jun, 2012
This is an important study of analogies of textbooks in high schools. It is important for teaching based on analogies to determine how analogies are structured in physics textbooks. The aim of this study is to scrutinise the types of analogies used in physics textbooks in High Schools, and to study how these analogies are structured and presented. In this study, four physics textbooks are examined using the descriptive analysis method. Analogies detected in textbooks are classified according to criteria such as the Analogical Relationship, Presentational Format, Condition of Subject Matter, Position in Text, Level of Enrichment, Pre-Topic Orientation and Limitations. As a result of the analysis, a total of 50 analogies were detected in four physics textbooks. It was determined that these were mostly configured as functional, verbal, concrete-abstract, embedded activator, and simple analogies. The results are compared with science teaching literature and recommendations are developed.
Keywords: Analogy, physics, textbooks, teaching.
