A sketch note was prepared on the basis of group discussion at Viva Education in Delhi on December 4, 2014 coordinated by me in which four science book writers and editors took part. The issue of discussion was the features a good science textbook at the middle school level.
Key points of a good science text-book
In the teaching-learning process, the text-book occupies an important place and is one of the many instructional aids.
Since, it the basic content material for students and instructional guide to the teachers, it is often said that "As is the text-book, so is the teaching and learning".
The science text-books at the middle school level and should aim at developing appreciation and understanding of nature, process of science and concepts.
It should be written by the experienced and competent authors. A good text-book is judged, at face, by the author, his qualification and experience since they present the content well.
Besides the physical and mechanical features of the text-book, the decisions about the nature of curriculum, subject matter, and its organisation in terms of sequence of inter-related concepts. Care must be taken of the mental growth and interest of pupils.
Each chapter should begin with a brief introduction and relating it to previous knowledge and end with a summary in the end.
Subject-matter should lead to concept attainment along with the inculcation of scientific temper, attitudes, child psychology, diversity of learners and cultural values.
Each chapter should contain exercises, test items and assignments at the end.
The language of the book should have proper language pitching and should be simple, scientific and precise.
The text-book should contain detailed table of contents, glossary of terms and an index.
Each text-book should be accompanied by a teacher handbook, student support material and activities manual.
There should interesting box items to motivate students to learn
It should guide students to acquire learning and study skills and aid self-assessment
Pay attention to the use of text devices such as headings, italics, bullets, margin notes , structured illustrations, diagrams, visual symbols and pictures.
Take care of integration of presented or additional information and prior knowledge can be fostered by using textbook strategies like advance organisers, graphical summaries and examples
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