Textbooks are primary teaching aids, sources from which students obtain knowledge of science domain. Due to this fact, curriculum developers in the field emphasize the crucial role of analysing the contents of science textbooks in improving science education. Scientific domain knowledge relies on graphical representations for the manifestation of itself. Content analysis of the representations therefore entails the necessity of the systematic reading and categorizing of a body of visual representations, including diagrams, drawings, photos, and text that appeared in these science teaching and learning materials. This paper examined ten UAE primary science textbooks and practical books using an author-improved graphical analysis grid. From the descriptive analysis, it was found that general science was the illustrated topic area for fundamental level of science. The most frequently used graphical type is the iconic. Female images outnumber the male images. Results also showed that indigenous graphics were dominant over foreign graphics. The study also found the majority of visual representations in the textbooks were designed to convey static information and they are in close relationship with the textual representations. Yet most of the graphical images were indexed and captioned that served specific cognitive functions. The results also suggest graphic representations need to be treated as an important visual tool that textbook authors should use them wisely to have the domain knowledge conveyed in various topic areas.

Science education research emphasizes the irreplaceable value of textbooks in students' acquisition of scientific knowledge. Illustrations such as diagrams contained in science books are crucial modes of visual representations that facilitate learners' conceptual learning. Through classifying, coding, and analysing diagrams from twenty science textbooks and workbooks used by Bahrain primary science curriculum, the aim of the study is to find out the distributional pattern and illustration characters of different diagrammatic types in the Bahrain's primary science books. Descriptive statistical analysis was carried out. A one-way ANOVA test was performed to check if there are any distributional differences between textbook and workbook categories. Findings of the study summarized the characteristics of diagrammatic usage in the Bahrain primary science books. The textbook analysis method used in the research also provided some insights for researchers interested in analysing the usage of diagrams and other illustrations in science learning contexts.