مقايسه‌ي پرورش روحيه‌ي علمي و علم‌گرايي در كتاب‌هاي درسي علوم دوره‌ي ابتدايي كشورهاي ايران و انگلستان‌

A Comparative Study of Training Scientific Spirit and Scientism in the Britainʹs Science Textbooks with Iranian Science Textbooks

Introduction The main purpose of this article wa« to determine the amount of attention paid to the training of scientific spirit and scienuvm in the Iranian and English textbookx. The second purpo,e was to compare these two countriesʹ textbooks with each other in terms of scientific and scientism spirit. m scientific perseverance, train students open-mindness, Research questions The main quest ions of this study were a.s follows. I. To what extent are the value of science and SCIentists determined in the primary science textbooks of Iran and Britain" 2. To what extent do Iranian and English textbooks intercst studeno, toward science and knowledgeʹ 3. To what extent do textbooks indicate the application of science in the real life? 4. To what extent do textbooks characteristicʹs such as creativity. responsibility and cooperation? 5. To what extent is the attention paid to environmental conservation? 6. To what extent is attention paid to the scientific parameters in Iranian textbooks different from the English ones? 9 Methods The population of this research included grade one to five of primary textbooks of Iran and Britain. Despite Iranian education system that is centralized and all schools use the same textbookʹ in Britain there are many publishers who publish school textbooks. Teachers can choose the textbooks from different publishers. For this study, textbooks of Heinemann and Ginnʹs in 2003 were selected. Content analysis was used as research method of this study. Unit of data analysis was a sentence. a question, a graphic (graph, chart and picture). For data analysis, each sentence, title, and graphic of the book was analyzed according to five indicators of scieritisrn items. Results According to the research questions, results were indicated in terms of frequency of each indicator and percentages of them in different tables. Results of the first question were identified in table 2. As this tahle indicates, frequencies of most indicators were zero, except in grade 3 and 4 that have a few sentences about scientific results and how scientists work. The numbers of sentences about this indicator in English textbooks were twice the Persian textbooks. Findings to question were indicated in table 3. As it can be seen in this table, the numbers of sentences for English textbooks were more than Persian textbooks. Major differences were related to the-e indicators: "showing images without explanation for stimulating thinking power" lind "utilization or graphics such as charts, tables and concept maps". In some indicators such as "introduction of the people who work in the job" related to science domains" and "essential skills for getting jobs related to science", frequencies in both countriesʹ textbooks were zcro. With regard to the item 3, the most important differences between Persian and English textbooks belong to "utilization of ICT and new technologies in science related domains". In response to the fourth question, data is indicated in table 7: as the data show, in English textbooks with higher grades, attention to scientific characteristics such as creativity, open mindedness. perseverance, respousibiliry and cooperation are increased. Therefore. most frequencies 10 related to this item in English textbooks belong to grade 5, but in Persian textbooks, belong to grade 3. As the data in table 9 indicate, attention paid to this item in both countriesʹ textbooks is significantly low. fʹnglish textbooks compared with Persian textbooks paid more attention to this item. Most frequencies in English textbooks belong to the indicators such as: "images that show the environment polluted" and "images which indicate the reusing recycles". Discussion and Conclusion Results of this study indicate that in both countriesʹ textbooks, the rnos: attention was paid to item number 3 (to create interest in scientific snbjects) and item number 4 (training scientific chuructcristics). Item number I(importance of science and scientist), and item number 5 (pay attention to the environmental conservation) had the least frequencies. Total number of each item in English science textbooks was more than Persian textbooks. Findings of this study also confirm the results of Zamani and Esfijani research (1385) which indicate that English texthooks have used graphics and images more actively than Persian textbooks. Another difference between these countriesʹ textbooks belongs to the "utilization of new technologies and ICT" which as data indicate. Persian textbooks paid less attention to this item. The results of this study could be useful for curriculum and educational planners and all those involved in education and training.