Science Process Skills in Class-VI Science Textbook approved by Government of Assam: An Analytical Study

Abstract

Science can be defined from two basic perspectives- process of science and product of science. Science process skills come under process aspect of science. These process skills help in learning science in true sense. So science textbooks should cover the process skills in the contents. The present study aims at analysing the Government of Assam approved class-VI science textbook with respect to science process skills. Descriptive survey method is adopted in this research. The views of the teachers are taken regarding the inclusion of science process skills in the textbook of class-VI. Content analysis is used to analyse the inclusion of process skills in the activities, exercises and suggested projects. The population of teachers in the present study comprises of all the science teachers of upper primary schools under Barbaruah Block of Dibrugarh district in the state of Assam. The teachers having D.El.Ed. or B.Ed. degree are selected as sample using purposive sampling technique. The study revealed that different activities, exercises and suggested projects are included in the science textbook of class-VI approved by Government of Assam that help the students to develop the Basic Process Skills like observation, classification, measurement, etc. However, no such activities are included in the textbook that may help in developing the Integrated Process Skills.