the extent to which the fourth grade science book includes future thinking skills

Abstract

The current research aims to identify (the extent to which the fourth grade science book includes future thinking skills), and to achieve this goal, the researcher asked the following questions:

First: What are the future thinking skills that should be included in the science book for the fourth grade of primary school?

Second: What is the extent to which future thinking skills are included in the science book for the fourth grade of primary school?

       In order to achieve the objectives of the research, the researcher used the analytical descriptive approach, which is represented by the method of content analysis, as the research sample is from the science book for the fourth grade of primary school decided by the Iraqi Ministry of Education for the academic year (2022-2023 AD), after excluding (the front of the book, the introduction of the book, the list of contents, index list, main headings, chapter interfaces, and the main idea), from the analysis, and the researcher relied on the research tool represented by the list of future thinking skills according to the classification (Hafez, 2015) for the purpose of using it in analyzing the content of the science textbook for the fourth grade of primary school, and its validity was confirmed after presentation. on a group of arbitrators with specialization, and got an agreement rate (80%). In its final form, the tool consisted of four skills, namely (prediction, which includes four sub-skills under (11) indicators, the visualization skill, which includes five sub-skills under (11) indicators, and the future problem-solving skill, which includes six sub-skills under (16) indicators. (indicator, and the skill of expectation, which includes three sub-skills under which (10) indicators fall under. The book was analyzed according to this tool, and a sample of the analysis sample was presented to a group of arbitrators, and they agreed on the validity of the analysis process, and the stability of the analysis was also confirmed. Where the researcher used the two methods of stability, the first over time, and got an agreement percentage (%92.72), and the second through other analysts, and the agreement ratio was obtained between him and the first analyst (%88.40), and between him and the second analyst (%87.65) using the Holsty equation. The results of the research revealed that: the visualization skill came in the first place with a rate of (%42.67), and the skill of solving future problems came in the second place with a rate of (23.26%), while the prediction skill came in the third place with a rate of (%19.45)and the fourth and last place was the skill of prediction with a rate of (%14.63), and when compared with the reported percentages of future thinking skills agreed upon by the arbitrators and experts, we find that the inclusion of future thinking skills in the science book for the fourth grade of primary school came with a weak inclusion rate.

In light of these results, a number of recommendations and proposals were made, namely:

1- Reconsidering the planning and authoring of the science book for the fourth grade of primary school in order to be compatible with modern trends that call for the development of education in a way that develops future thinking skills for all learners and in the various educational stages.

2- Invite the specialists and those concerned with the preparation of school curricula for science in the General Directorate of Curricula in the Ministry of Education to take advantage of the results reached in working to achieve a balance in including future thinking skills in the content of science books for the primary stage.

3- Enriching textbooks with appropriate activities and exercises in a sequential and integrated format that allows the development of future thinking skills, which contributes to achieving the objectives of teaching science in the primary stage.

4- Benefiting from the research tool, a list of future thinking skills that were prepared in the current research in the analysis of other science books for other educational stages.

5- The interest of the Directorates of Preparation and Training in holding training courses, seminars and workshops for science teachers at the primary level in order to raise their professional levels, introduce them to the skills of future thinking, and train them to employ future thinking strategies in their lessons.

6- Laying foundations and standards for building science curricula at the primary stage so that they intentionally include future thinking skills to ensure integration and continuity of the learning and teaching processes.

7- The recommendation to teachers in general and science teachers in particular is to work on developing themselves by continuing to read modern scientific books for educational curricula so that they can keep pace with scientific development