The comparison of secondary education biology textbooks with regards to the experiment and activities: Turkey and the state of California examples

The main aim of the study is to investigate the experiments and activities which are used in the secondary education biology textbooks in Turkey in comparison to the experiments and activities which are used in the secondary education biology textbook in the State of California of the United Sates of America and to provide support for the improvement of the experiment-activity chapter.In this quantitive study, a scanning model is used. Secondary education biology textbooks are the main source of the study. Given that fact, the study is carried out by using a written document investigation technique which is one type of scanning model. For Turkey, the books, Biology 9, 10 and 11 printed in 2010 by Ministry of Education and Biology 12 printed in 2011 for California, the course book named as Biology printed by publisher Pearson Prentice Hall is the book whose experiment and activity chapters are the subject of the investigation of this study.Experiment and activity chapters existing in the secondary education biology textbooks in both countries are investigated regarding the shape, content and distinguishing concepts. As a result of the investigation, it is concluded that unit headers, experiment-activity page layout, existing security symbols and commonly usedmaterials in the activities are similar. Moreover, the author determines the following problems in the Turkish biology textbooks: naming and presenting the activities, lack of activities in some topics in which the students have difficulty to comprehend, misusage of security symbols.Key Words: Secondary school, biology, textbook, experiment, activity, Turkey, U.S.A.