Evaluation of Geography Textbooks in Terms of Misconceptions about Climate Topic

Abstract

This descriptive study is centred on the representation of climate concepts in the geography textbook and academic books. The study mainly examined how the concepts, which were determined by considering the misconceptions in our previous studies, were presented in the 9th grade newly[1]published geography textbook and academic books. Also, the study identified, discussed and showed the ways in which the representation of climate concepts in the textbook might corroborate the students’ misconceptions. Secondly, the misconceptions were examined by comparing how they were presented in local and foreign academic books. In addition, appropriate corrections, explanations and visual materials were presented to explain the conceptions. The findings show that the misconceptions or deficiencies mentioned in our previous studies still persist in the newly published textbook and local academic books. It is believed that such a study can help solve the problems related to the misconceptions encountered in geography teaching, and that it can increase the geography teachers’, textbook writers’ and publishers’ awareness of the common misconceptions of the students about climate and thus it can shed light on the definitions and materials that can be used in describing these concepts.