Examination of Chemical Representations in Turkish High School Chemistry Textbooks

The aim of this research was to examine the chemical representations that are present in Turkish high school chemistry textbooks. Content analysis was the method of analysis. Four chemistry textbooks, which were commonly used in Turkey, for each grade (i.e., from 9th to 12th), were selected. When evaluating the representations, a rubric including five main criteria was used: (1) type of representation, (2) interpretation of representations’ surface features, (3) representations’ relatedness to text, (4) properties of representations’ caption, and (5) degree of correlation between subordinates comprising a multiple representation. The results of the research revealed that the chemical representations used in the textbooks are mainly macroscopic, symbolic, and hybrid. Majority of the representations had explicit surface features and appropriate captions. Moreover, they were completely related to the text. Most of the multiple representations had sufficient links between their subordinates. Recommendations for textbook writers and future research are provided. Keywords: chemistry textbooks, chemical representations, generic qualitative research, content analysis.