Lecture about the role of physics textbook in classroom and the students prefered themes

1. The role of the textbook
Ph.D. Alysson Ramos Artuso

2. Textbooks
• Present in almost
every classroom
• Part of scholar
culture
• Main resource
• Kaleidoscope
• Editorial terms

3. Textbooks
• Themes/Context
• How are the
textbooks used by
teachers and
students in High
School?
• What do they expect
from the textbooks?

4. Goals
• Identify the qualities
of a textbook
according to students
• Identify the students’
favorite themes and
focus
• Recognize differences
among subsets

5. International researches
Textbook should be (according US
HS students)
Easier to understand/less
confusing 23.2%
More interesting 22.6%
Not be used as the main resource 18.9%
Contain more examples 14.0%
Have color coded main ideas 4.9%
More complicated 3.7%
Updated 3.7%
Contain shorter chapters 3.0%
Contain more pictures 2.4%
Lighter/softback 1.8%
Allowed to highlight books 1.2%
They are fine the way they are 0.6%
(SCHUMM, VAUGHN, SAUMELL; 1992, p. 494)
Important qualities (according
European HS students)
Discret/iconic text 83.9
Structured texts with highlighted
key concepts >50
Images 50
Recap exercises 38.3
Electronic textbooks 25
(NOGOVA; 2009, p. 561-2)

6. International researches
Student selection of the Textbook for an Introductory Physics Course
• Price
• Size
• Weight
• Many examples
• Small problems that
illustrateda single concept
• “Real-world” examples
• Casual, conversational
writing style
• Do not like the use of many
different fonts, too much
color,or overly busy formats
(like two-column format)
• Onlyessential pictures
• Highlighted equations andkey
points
• Ancillary materials(such as
CDs, websites, and study
guides) are generally notused
or valued
(DAKE, 2007, p. 148)

7. Methodology
• Survey with 352 Brazilian high school students

8. Variables
Qualities of a textbook (14)
• Without misconceptions
• Abstracts and diagrams
• Short texts focused on content
• Enjoyable text
• Advanced content
• Many images
• Digital multimedia content
• Group discussions and tasks
• Not heavy…
Themes and focus (23)
• Admission test exercises
• Easy experiments
• Demonstrations
• Nature and environment
• Human body and health
• Daily situations
• Cartoons and comics
• Mathematical focus
• Sports
• Biographies…

9. Results – Qualities of a textbook

10. Results – Themes and focus I

11. Results – Themes and focus II

12. Results – Subset differences
• There is almost no difference about region
• There are statistical differences in age, type of
school and genre.
– Age:
• Older students are more interesting in themes that
could be useful in their lives
– Type of school:
• Exercises are more important in private school
• Images, links, digital content and group discussions and
tasks are more important in public school

13. Genre differences

14. Conclusions
• Brazilian results are similar to international
results
• Less important qualities:
– Not heavy
– Group discussions and tasks
– Digital content
• Most important qualities:
– Without misconceptions
– Abstracts and diagrams

15. Conclusions
• Less important themes:
– Biographies and historical context
– Newspaper and magazine articles
– Group activities
• Most important themes:
– Enem and admission test exercises
• Main differences:
– Genre, type of school and age

16. References
• DAKE, L. S. Student selection of the Textbook for an
Introductory Physics Course. The Pyshics Teacher, v.
45, p. 416-419, oct. 2007.
• NOVOGA, M. Which learning media do students
prefer?. In: RODRÍGUEZ, J. R.; HORSLEY, M.; KNUDSEN,
Susanne V. (Org.). Local, national and transnational
identities in textbooks and educational media. Santiago
de Compostela (ES): IARTEM, 2011, p. 557-563.
• SCHUMM, J.; VAUGHN, S.; SAUMELL, L. What teachers
do when the textbook is tough: students speak out.
Journal of Reading Behavior, v. 24, n. 4, p. 481-503,
1992.

17. Thank you!