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Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) 2088–2091

WCES-2010

Investigation of science and technology textbook in terms of the

factors that may lead to misconceptions
Gülten Kavúuta *
Institute of Natural Sciences , Sakarya University, Sakarya, 54187, Turkey

Received October 16, 2009; revised December 25, 2009; accepted January 8, 2010

Abstract

Science and Technology textbooks are important materials in science and technology teaching process. Therefore, great attention
should be paid to avoid committing conceptual mistakes in these books. The present study aims to carry out a critical
investigation of a unit “Reproduction, Growth and Development in Living Organisms” from Pasifik publications Science and
Technology textbook published in 2008 to be studied in sixth grades. As a result of this investigation, some mistakes in the
shapes, models and contents of sentences, were found. 2009 edition of the book to be studied in 2009-2010 school year was also
evaluated to determine whether similar mistakes still exist and then, the findings obtained were presented with some suggestions.
© 2010 Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.

Keywords: Conceptual mistake; misconception; textbook; science education; textbook investigation.

1. Introduction

Though science and technology is a part of daily life, most of the students think that science and technology
course is difficult. As the objective of science education is to improve the individual’s perception of the nature by
helping him/her to understand the life better (AdÕgüzel, 2006 ) and to help students understand and apply the science
concepts appropriately, importance attached to science teaching is increasing and every nation tries harder to
improve science teaching (Özmen, 2004) .
Importing science culture which is necessary in every stage of life is highly related with effective concept
teaching in science courses (Aydo÷an, Güneú & Gülçiçek, 2003). The most important requirement to reach the upper
stages of science teaching is to internalize the science concepts and the ideas they represent (Eyido÷an & Güneysu,
2002; as cited in AdÕgüzel, 2006). Therefore, for science concepts taught to students to be meaningful and long
lasting, there should be consistency between the previous concepts and the newly acquired ones (Gülçiçek, 2002; as
cited in KÕrÕkkaya & Güllü, 2008). By eliminating conceptual mistakes misconceptions can be prevented. Hence,
according to Cleminson (1990), effective science teaching can be carried out through effective and appropriate
teaching of the concepts which are the cornerstones of the human knowledge.

* Gülten Kavúut.
E-mail address: gultenskavsut@hotmail.com

1877-0428 © 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.03.286
 Gülten Kavşut / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) 2088–2091 2089

1.1. The significance of the study:

Misconceptions’ being structures established in the mind of the students and many difficulties involved in the
direct observation of them prevent the teaching of new concepts (Köse, Coútu & Keser, 2003). Therefore, it is of
great importance to eliminate conceptual mistakes that may lead to misconceptions and hinder learning. Not only the
mistakes and shortcomings in the information presented in textbooks but also the shapes and models used to
illustrate the information may lead to misconceptions (Kikas, 2004; Barrass, 1984; Storey, 1989). Hence, as the
primary material of teaching, the textbooks should be prepared without any mistakes because the textbook is one of
the most important factors leading to misconceptions. The present study wants to make a contribution to the efforts
made on the way of designing Science and Technology textbooks without conceptual mistakes.

1.2. The purpose of the study:

As the natural sciences include many abstract concepts and the high possibility of students’ developing some
alternative explanations to scientific phenomena in their minds, many opinions that are different from the ones
generally accepted by the scientific circles may emerge (Treagust, 1988; Amir & Tamir, 1994; Champagne,
Gunsotone & Klopfer, 1983). As a result, misconceptions that prevent meaningful learning of science can be defined
as explanations that differ from scientific ones (ÇakÕr & Yürük, 1999). One of the reasons that lead to
misconceptions is textbooks which is indispensable in teaching and learning process because of its usability,
economy and appropriateness to both students’ and teachers’ personal pace (Aycan, Kaynar, Türko÷uz & ArÕ, 2002).
In this context, the present study was conducted to investigate the unit “Reproduction, Growth and Development in
Living Organisms” from a Science and Technology textbook published in 2008 to be studied in 2008-2009 school
year and then published in 2009 to be studied in 2009-2010 school year for the sixth grade, and then suggestions
were made to eliminate the detected conceptual mistakes in the book.

2. Method

The present study was conducted in line with the document evaluation approach. In the study, sentences, shapes
and pictures included in the given unit were evaluated one by one in terms of their compliance with the scientific
facts and in this way, conceptual mistakes were detected. These mistakes were classified as the mistakes in the
content and mistakes in visual illustrations, and then suggestions were made.

3. Results (Findings)

In line with the purpose of the study, findings obtained from the critical evaluation of the unit “Reproduction,
Growth and Development in Living Organisms” from the science and technology textbook published in 2008 and
2009 to be studied in the sixth grade, and mistakes detected in the content and visual illustrations with the suggested
solutions are presented below.

Mistakes detected in the content;

x In the 2008 edition of the textbook, under the heading “Are the cells same in all the living organisms?”, the
sentence “on the other hand, human body consists of more than ten trillion cells” (page 23) is used to mean all
individuals. The same sentence is also present 2009 edition of the textbook. However, the number of the cells in
human body varies depending on the age. This sentence should be replaced with a sentence such as “the number
of cells in the body of a healthy and normal individual aged 20-40 is nearly fifty trillions
(http://www.biltek.tubitak.gov.tr/merak_ettikleriniz/index.php?kategori_id=2&soru_id=1111, 2009).”
x In the following sentence given in the 2008 edition of the textbook “all must have understood that sperm cell can
move due to its shape, size and having a moving tale” (page 28), the movement of the sperm is associated with its
shape and size. The same sentence is used in the 2009 edition of the textbook. After the student has read this
sentence, he/she may think that the movement of the sperm is associated with its shape and size. Hence, this
2090 Gülten Kavşut / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) 2088–2091

sentence should be replaced with this sentence “sperm cell moves through the moving tail it has. The tail makes
whip-type movements, so it moves the sperm cell (Kiziro÷lu, 1994).”
x There is a wrong term used in the 2008 and 2009 editions of the textbooks, there is a reading passage with the
heading “Universal route from childhood to puberty” and in the first paragraph of this passage, there is a question
“do you remember your childhood?” (page 33) and here the term “childhood” is erroneously used because the
characteristics mentioned in the passage do not belong to childhood but babyhood hence babyhood should be
used instead.

Mistakes detected in the visual illustrations;

x The second picture in the 2008 and 2009 editions of the textbook is a picture of a “paramecium” (page 21). But, it
is not stated that this picture is a picture of paramecium. With a sentence below the picture, this can be stated.
x Again, in the same picture, it says “there are two nuclei in a paramecium, one is responsible for division and the
other for reproduction”, but these nuclei are not shown on the picture. There are many organelles in the picture
and which of them are nuclei is not clear. Hence, the nuclei should be shown on the picture. Moreover, it should
be stated that the big nucleus controls the vital actions and the small one controls the division.
x Cross-section of a plant cell shown in the 2008 edition of the textbook printed in color blue due to a printing
mistake (page 23). In order to avoid any conceptual mistake, when possible, the pictures used should include real
images, and when it is not possible to use real images, and then the correct colors should be used. The same
mistake is not committed in 2009 edition and here it is printed in green.
x Pictures of human body in 2008 edition of the textbook do not reflect the real colors of the human body (page
29). Similar mistake is committed in the 2009 edition. Use of real or real-like pictures will help students to assign
better meanings to the information. Otherwise, the student may think that stomach and intestines are green and
lung is red.
x In the activity called “Let’s compare the cells” in the 2008 edition of the textbook, (page 27); it says “Carefully
examine the cells of sperm and ovum in the picture you see next. Are there differences between the sperm and
ovum cells you have examined in terms of their shape and size? If there are, what are they?”. Now let’s look at
the sentence and the picture associated with it. In the picture, the sizes of sperm cell and ovum cell are nearly the
same. In the 2009 edition of the textbook, same activity and sentences are present. In this activity, students are
required to make comments on the size and shape of the sperm and ovum cells only by looking at the picture
given. But, when a student looks at this picture, he/she may tell that sperm cell and ovum cell have nearly the
same size, and even together with its tail, sperm is bigger than ovum cell.

4. Discussion

The results of the present study show that it is necessary for the materials to be free from the conceptual mistakes
not to lead to the formation of misconceptions on the part of students; yet, there are many conceptual mistakes in the
textbook evaluated here. Some of them are due to erroneous and deficient statements and some due to erroneous
shapes and models. Similar findings are also reported by other studies in the national and international literature.
Coútu, Ayas and Ünal (2007), indicated that in the formation of misconceptions, textbooks have an important
role. Aycan et. al. (2002), in their textbook evaluation study, investigated 6th, 7th, and 8th grade textbooks published
by three different publishers and they found many similar mistakes in the textbooks. In the same way, Barras,
(1984), Storey, (1989) and Kikas, (2004) stated that illustrative figures and models are as powerful as erroneous
statements in terms of leading to misconceptions. Çobano÷lu, ùahin and Karakaya (2009) study also confirm that
there are mistakes in textbooks.

5. Conclusion and Recommendation

The present study reveals that the textbook used as an indispensable part of teaching and learning process to
teach science and technology to the sixth graders may lead to some problems due to erroneous illustrations and
explanations. The present study tried to elicit the problematic situations in the textbook and made some suggestions
to solve these problems.
 Gülten Kavşut / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 2 (2010) 2088–2091 2091

This study will be a model for further studies aiming to reveal the conceptual mistakes in textbooks and
accordingly to create better science and technology textbooks free from conceptual mistakes. In this way, authors
and publishers of such textbooks are expected to be more sensitive towards similar conceptual mistakes. Moreover,
it should be considered that designing of the textbooks free from conceptual mistakes will have great contribution to
the elimination of the possible future conceptual problems (Ya÷basan & Gülçiçek, 2003). The misconceptions that
can be developed by the students at this stage of learning may result in more serious problems emerging in the
further stages of learning.

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