المستخلص: |
This research investigated the elementary (grades 1 to 4) science workbooks in the UAE for the degree to which they promote fundamental scientific inquiry abilities. A content analysis technique was applied to conduct the evaluation. After scrutinizing 108 workbooks investigative logs, the findings revealed that investigative activities did not give students real opportunities to formulating questions, planning for simple investigations, writing conclusions, or communicating investigations. However, there are evidences that these activities provided opportunities for students to use scientific skills such as observing, measuring, and displaying results. Students were sometimes allowed to manipulate tools and instruments such as rulers, watches, beam balances and spring scales, magnifiers, and scaled tubes. At this level of elementary education, students were not provided with real opportunities to use computers or calculators and they were rarely asked to use mathematics. Recommendations for further investigation are presented.
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