Examining the Profiles of Scientists in Secondary Science Textbooks in Turkey

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the profiles of scientists in textbooks prepared to be taught in high school science courses in Turkey. The sample of this study consists of 33 high school science textbooks prepared by the Ministry of National Education Publishing House for both general high schools and science high schools and by private publishing houses for the textbooks of biology, physics and chemistry courses at high schools in 2018-2019 academic year. Document analysis design, which is one of the qualitative research methods is used in this study. The data of the study are analyzed in terms of gender, nationalities, physical characteristics, the types of scientific study and working environments of the scientists in the textbooks according to class level, science field and the type of publishing house. According to the results of the study, there is no balanced distribution of gender and nationality in textbooks. In addition, it has been found that scientists are represented as stereotypes and the working environments and forms are largely ambiguous. The results of this study indicate that the descriptions of scientists made in secondary school science textbooks should be rearranged in Turkey.