Investigation on the structural and cognitive properties of unit evaluation problems of sciences textbooks

In this research, it was aimed to examine the structural and cognitive characteristics of the unit evaluation questions of the science textbooks which were approved by the Ministry of Education in 2016-2017 Academic Year. In the research, the structural characteristics of evaluation questions express the conceptual, operational or graphical aspects of the questions and the techniques used in the questions. The cognitive dimension of the unit evaluation questions constitutes the cognitive dimensions of the TIMSS exams. In the study, the document review was used as a research method and analyzed in terms of structural and cognitive properties of five different Science Classes belonging to 5th - 8th grades. The reliability of the classification was calculated as 92% according to the formula proposed by Miles and Huberman. It was determined that 809 (88,8%) were conceptual, 66 (7,2%) were graphical and 36 (3,9%) were operational questions in the textbooks examined. Open ended question (29,7%) and multiple choice (28,2%) techniques are the most used techniques. There are very few places in the KH, TDA and YG techniques, which are complementary measurement techniques. There were few questions in the cognitive dimension of reasoning (7.5%) while the most cognitive dimensions of knowing (56.2%) were cognitive dimensions. Compared with the findings, it was determined that the textbooks prepared by MEB were more successful than the textbooks prepared by Private Publishing Houses in terms of examination criteria. In the light of findings, it was concluded that the textbooks were not enough to reflect the criteria examined and some suggestions were made to teachers, textbook authors and researchers.