ANALYSIS OF GEOGRAPHY TEXTBOOK ACTIVITIES IN THE CONTEXT OF UNITS AND CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the activities in the secondary education geography textbooks in the context of textbook units and critical thinking skills. The study used document analysis, which is qualitative research method. The data consisted of 222 activities in the geography textbooks (9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grades). The data were subjected to content analysis using a form prepared by the researchers. The analysis results showed that the activities in the secondary education geography textbooks are mainly found in the “Natural Systems” and “Human Systems” units. The results also showed that the activities in the geography textbooks predominantly focus on “interpretation” among the key critical thinking skills. This situation indicates that the activities in the geography textbooks generally tend to support students’ intellectual processes such as “understanding and classifying geographic information and discussing arguments”.