The review of "Nature Study and Sanitation" textbooks prepared according to 1924 cirruculum of primary schools in terms of educational and visual design

Despite the new course materials that emerged with technological developments, course books have not lost their importance throughout history and have always managed to be the most important material used in educational activities. In the first years of the Republic, the most used and preferred teaching material in educational activities was again textbooks. Textbooks contain data that may be important about the education understanding of the period, and it is possible to reach a general framework about the education of the period by examining it comprehensively. In this research, it is aimed to reveal how their features are in terms of educational and visual design by examining the Nature Study and Sanitation textbooks prepared according to the 1924 Primary School Curriculum. For this, the Nature Study and Sanitation textbooks written by Naime Halit for the 4th and 5th grades of primary school, which were prepared for primary schools in the first years of the Republic period and are one of the first science textbooks in the history of the Republic, were examined. Since our research is an example of a book review study, it was carried out according to the document review method. For this reason, both books were evaluated in terms of educational and visual design features by making descriptive analysis. As a result of our evaluations, it was seen that both books were prepared in accordance with the objectives of the curriculum in terms of educational design features, and the subject contents were arranged in a way to include examples from daily life according to the principle from simple to complex. Although the content of the subject is mostly text-based, complex information that is not suitable for the level of the student is not included in the content, and abstract topics are tried to be explained with concrete examples. The lectures in the books were arranged according to the type of verbal and visual intelligence in a way to allow teacher-centered teaching, but the summary and repetition sections were not included at the end of the topic. In the books, scientific terms and concepts were used in Arabic and Persian, only western languages were preferred in new concepts. In addition, practical activities such as experiments and collective activities were not included enough in the books, and activities in the form of simple observations were preferred. There are no evaluation activities at the beginning and end of the unit or subject. In terms of visual design features, it was seen that the printing of the books was clear and regular, and no printing errors were found in the text content. Both books are written in Arabic letters according to Ottoman Turkish, and the size of the letters used is appropriate and legible according to the content of the subject. On the cover page of the books, there is information about the name of the author, the name of the course, which grade level it will be taught, the date of publication and printing information. In both textbooks, sections such as table of contents, dictionary and bibliography are not included. Unit and subject headings are written in bold and slightly larger fonts so that they can be distinguished from the text content. The titles are not numbered. It was seen that the visuals in the books consisted of pictures, photographs and figures, but no graphics or tables were found among the visuals. The images in both books were printed in black and white and the print quality was sufficient for the technology of that period. Images have been selected in accordance with the subject content and arranged in a size compatible with the content. Below the images, there is an explanation in small fonts about what the image is, but no numbering has been made.