ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE TEXTBOOKS: A FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSIS

The present paper is an attempt to look at the present status of school science textbooks at elementary stage with respect to the content they cover, their focus with respect to achieving the basic objectives of science teaching and to understand how the content drives the pedagogy employed by the teachers. It also throws light on the relevance of a science textbook to emphasise critical areas of scientific literacy along-with the need to understand science as a process. The paper further identifies the categories on the basis of which Science Textbooks should be analysed to understand the weaknesses and strengths of the current science textbooks at Elementary stage.