Examination of middle school 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th grade science textbooks in terms of domain-specific skills

Since this study aims to examine the science textbooks used in the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades of secondary school in terms of domain-specific skills, it is a qualitative case study and the data were collected by document analysis method. In the analysis of the data, firstly, the sections of the field-specific skills in the Science Curriculum published by the Board of Education in 2018 were examined one by one. The sample of the study consists of four Science Textbooks recommended by the Ministry of National Education, Board of Education to be used in grades 5, 6, 7 and 8 starting from the 2023-2024 academic year. According to the findings obtained in the study, when the books at all grade levels are analyzed in terms of scientific process skills, it has been seen that "changing and controlling variables and experimentation" skills are mostly included in the activities, while measurement skills are included at the lowest level. In addition, hypothesis skills were most frequently encountered in the 5th, 6th and 7th grade textbooks, while the 8th grade textbook included the least hypothesis skills. When the books at all grade levels are analyzed in terms of life skills, it has been seen that "analytical thinking, decision-making and communication" skills are mostly included in the activities, while "teamwork" skills are the least included. Moreover, it was observed that the 6th grade Science textbook included Engineering Design Skills with the highest number of 12 activities in all grade levels, while the 8th grade Science textbook included the least number of 2 activities. Grade 5, Grade 6, Grade 7 and Grade 8 Science Textbooks have been found to include Engineering Design Skills the least among the field-specific skills.