An Analysis of Chap. 'The Cell' of High School Biology Textbook by Concept Map

고등학교 생물 '세포' 단원의 개념도에 의한 분석

Analyzing textbook is the first step for enhancing the level of biology education especially in Korea. Prior studies of textbook analysis have mostly dealt with such topics as terminology analysis, content analysis, relationship analysis of chapters, and comparative studies. However, not much attention was paid to concept system to be learned and to relevance of concepts chosen. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to clarify the concept system and to elucidate the relationship among concepts for effective learning. Novak's concept map was utilized as a theoretical framework for the analysis of chapter I of high school biology textbook. Concept map has several distinctive merits in many aspects such as teaching, learning, and evaluation. It not only makes the understanding of key concepts and proposition a lot easier, but also helps to link prior knowledge and new concepts more effectively. This study will be a basic material for improving textbook for effective biology learning. The conclusions of the study are as follows: 1. Concepts in subchapters were arranged unsystematically or they were overlapping. For more effective understanding, those items should be rearranged. 2. Key concepts are not arrayed properly according to their hierarchy. Therefore, it was hard for students to set up concept structure. 3. The concepts emphasized by bold letters were not selected properly in accordance with their importance. Appropriate concepts should be chosen. 4. Key concepts should be explained by using examples in everyday life for easy understanding. 5. Many concepts in molecular biology is too abstract to grasp their meaning. Therefore, many audio-visual materials should be used to aid concept building.