Types and Frequency of Visual Representations in Lebanese National Science Textbooks

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the different types of visual representation in the Lebanese national science textbooks at elementary grade levels, in addition to the frequency of each visual representation, and their distributions in accordance with the grade levels. The study's sample consists of eight textbooks established by Lebanon's Ministry of Education (CRDP) for elementary science classes (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th parts 1 & 2, 5th parts 1 & 2, and 6th Grade). This thesis employs a document analysis style, which is one of the qualitative research methods. The data was analyzed using the descriptive analysis approach and the “Visual Representation Classification Model” proposed by Moline (2012). In this research, three results were deduced with accordance to the three research questions. The first result indicated that the analyzed science textbooks included all the types and almost all the subtypes except for personal maps, timelines, and Venn diagrams that Moline (2012) explained. The second result of this paper showed that the most frequent visuals among all grade levels were the photographs and realistic illustrations. The third result of this study revealed that the number and types of visual representations in the analyzed textbooks varied according to the grade level.