• Journal of the Korean Society of Earth Science Education
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.166-181
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• 2023

The purpose of this study is to examine the change and appropriateness of inquiry tendency in elementary science textbooks by national curriculum period by comparing previous researches that reported Romey's Involvement Index in the science textbook and other subject textbooks. The results of the study are as follows: First, for the text index (T), the value of science textbooks by curriculum tends to continue to decline overall. The value of science textbook based on the 3rd curriculum is judged to be extremely inquiry oriented and the value of the textbooks based on the 2007 and 2015 revised curriculum are the values judged as somewhat authoritative textbook and as a textbook at the appropriate level of inquiry, respectively. There is no significant difference compared to the T values of other subject textbooks since the 2007 revised curriculum; Second, the index of figures and diagrams in the text (FD) of science textbooks also continues to decline by curriculum periods. In particular, the FD value of science textbook of the 2015 revised period is judged to be a authoritative textbook, which is lower than the value of other subject textbooks; Third, in the case of the activity index (A), it gradually decreases from the third curriculum to the 2015 revised curriculum, but it is judged as textbooks suitable for inquiry. However, after the 7th curriculum, the value of A is generally lower than those of other subject textbooks; Fourth, for the index of the questions at the ends of chapters (Q), the value of Q is reported to be extremely limited compared to the aforementioned three indices(T, FD and A), which may be mainly due to differences in the composition of science textbooks by curriculum period.