Research studies

AN OVERVIEW REFLECTION ON THE IMPACT OF SCHOOL BOOK TOWARDS ACHIEVING SKILLS AND COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT TO LEARNERS

 

Prepared by the researche : Ahmad Garba, Federal University of  Kashere, Gombe State Nigeria, Department of Arts and Social Science Education

Democratic Arabic Center

Journal of Human Resources Development for Studies and Research : Twenty-seventh Issue – January 2025

A Periodical International Journal published by the “Democratic Arab Center” Germany – Berlin

Nationales ISSN-Zentrum für Deutschland
  ISSN 2625-5596
Journal of Human Resources Development for Studies and Research

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Abstract

Text book is one of the most important primary tools for learning and is called the silent teacher for students, it is considered one of the basic pillars of the educational and teaching process, a good text book is a precious gem from which the student learns how to face life with its various atrocities and how to contribute to building his society and his country. It is a friend that he can never do without and a treasure of knowledge, as its value is priceless, as it is the source from which sciences are drawn and paves the way for building a bright future. a good and standard Text book receives attention of many researchers and educators as the basic pillar on which education and teaching are based, despite the differences in opinions about its role in the educational and pedagogical process and their multiplicity in the past and present, as it is the source that contributes to a large extent to providing the learner with the experiences, skills, values ​​and trends that contribute to preparing him in an integrated manner for life. On this regards, this paper tends to highlight the significance of text book or school book towards responding to students needs concerning acquisition of skills and cognitive development.

INTRODUCTION

The school book has great importance in the student’s life and is his companion throughout the school year. It is considered the first source of information and the shortest way to reach it in an easy, organized and detailed way. It represents a great value for every student, not only because it is used during the educational situation, but it also increases the student’s cultural wealth. It is a source from which the student draws knowledge and a source for research, scientific needs, information balance and the life curriculum through which the student can face the difficulty of the life we ​​live at this time, as life only recognizes the educated learner.

Based on this, Rahim, A. S. (2017) stated that the University Agency for Scientific Institutes Affairs launched the campaign (Take Care of My Book) to raise awareness among its students about preserving the school book and the capabilities of our beloved country in this regard and to instill this concept in their souls. For all this, the student must preserve it, its cleanliness and take care of it, as it is a mirror that reflects the student’s personality and academic level. A clean, tidy book reflects the personality of its holder, and we can judge a person as a clean and tidy student. As for a torn book, it indicates that its owner is an untidy person. The ideal student who excels in his studies always takes care of the cleanliness of his book because it is like a title for him, and this is clearly reflected in the student’s psychology and the extent of his acceptance and love for knowledge. A clean book can be circulated by many students to acquire scientific information in the coming years.

CONCEPT OF TEXT BOOK (SCHOOL BOOK)

In its narrow sense, a textbook means the traditional form of a book distributed to students, which includes the content of one of the curricula.  Meanwhile According to Majid, I. D. & Muhammad, M. M. (1982). The school book is defined as the basic foundation of education, and the organized educational and pedagogical means that consists of the sum of cultural, social and artistic experiences targeting a specific educational category in a way that is compatible with their abilities. The information within this book ranges from easy to difficult, and aims to raise the level of students’ efficiency and experiences. Also Rahim, A. S. (2017) added to the concept of the textbook that it should include recording tapes, dictations, and printed materials distributed to students in some classes, exercise books, and objective examination books. This concept even extends to include the teacher’s guide within the boundaries of the textbook. However, reality indicates that there is a difference between the textbook and the accompanying tools.

The textbook differs from the non-textbook in that it is a planned, purposeful and specific educational book that does not only contain information and data, but rather contains this information arranged from easy to difficult, from simple to complex, from tangible to abstract, in addition to classroom and extracurricular activities and necessary exercises that constitute an immediate and interim assessment that is essential in the educational process.

 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEXT BOOK

Scholars indicated that the discovery of writing is an important event in the development of humanity in general and in the educational process in particular. Therefore, Scholars like Mohsen, A. A. (2014) Identified that educational writings were initially on tablets, tablets, and stones in order to convey the intellectual heritage to subsequent generations, especially the young ones, as the transfer of knowledge and experiences was done orally. The first writing in human history dates back to the Chinese and Egyptians who wrote on plant leaves. In the beginning, the ancients put their knowledge and experiences in handwritten manuscripts that were handed down to the clergy and early teachers. As for the learner’s copy, it remained difficult and rare, but it was seen after the invention of printing, starting with seals and clichés and ending with the Gutenberg press, which facilitated the delivery of copies of school books to learners, knowing that these books did not meet the basic requirements of a school book.

IMPORTANCE AND ADVANTAGES OF THE SCHOOL TEXT BOOK

The school book is still a major tool in the learning and teaching process today. The teacher uses it to plan his teaching work before starting to implement it, and during the teaching process, to attract the attention of his students and enable them to understand. It is on that regards Khaled M. (2007) indicated that the school book continues to play a major role by being an important tool in implementing the curriculum despite the vast scientific and technical progress in the curriculum materials and methods of implementation. Its importance is focused on the following:

  • Textbook is a successful means of presenting concepts, facts and generalizations in any subject area.
  • Textbook can be integrated with other teaching and learning methods and techniques easily and successfully. It does not conflict with other methods, but may be complementary and integrated with them.
  • Textbook is a flexible tool that can be used inside and outside the classroom, as well as for individual and group learning, and it can be used at any time without restrictions.
  • Textbook enables easy response to rapid changes in knowledge because textbooks can be easily modified in line with these changes.
  • In addition to what was previously presented about the importance of the school book as a tool for implementing the school curriculum, Rahim, A. S. (2017) & Mohammed A. A. (2020) added some advantages which include:
  • Textbook ensures uniformity of content for students of different grades.
  • Textbook enables a quick assessment of the progress made by students in the educational program in light of what has been studied in this book, and it plays an important role in the educational process. It is not only a storehouse or repository of information and facts, but it also performs several functions presented by Merrill, as follows:
  • Textbook serves as a guide that can be followed for the content of the educational material and its presentation sequence.
  • Textbook is a tool that is generally accepted by both the teacher and the learner.
  • it is useful in the process of individualizing education because it enables the learner to use it anywhere at a learning rate that suits his own speed, in addition to the possibility of using it in group education.

In general, the textbook has a fundamental position in the educational process because it helps teachers in their tasks, and it is the basic link between curriculum developers and learners in classrooms.

TEXT BOOK AS A TOOLS TO BOOST EDUCATION AND MORALITY

According to Iman Abdel K. D. (2021) The school book plays a crucial role in education, as it is one of the most important educational tools in the world. Its most important roles include:

 – Presenting educational experiences in a logical manner that is consistent with students’ developmental needs and learning principles.

– Developing students’ ability to read.

– Help review study material at any time.

– Providing multiple and sufficient opportunities for students to develop their interests, abilities, needs and desires.

– Enabling students to integrate, harmonize and adapt to their local environment.

– Contributing to solving community problems in a scientific manner.

– Providing rich and comprehensive information that enables students and teachers to access knowledge in various fields such as: science, history, literature, mathematics, language, and others.

– Directing students towards the basic knowledge and concepts in their academic subjects.

– Providing reliable information, which is carefully reviewed and monitored.

– It promotes critical thinking, as it contains diverse analyses and opinions, and thus encourages critical thinking and the development of the ability to evaluate and make decisions.

– Providing research resources, where researchers and teachers can use books to find reference information and rules for research work.

– Curriculum standardization: It is used to standardize curricula across the national education system, helping to achieve uniformity in the level of education and ensuring that students learn the basic concepts and knowledge related to the subjects.

– Self-enhancement: It encourages self-reading and continuous learning, and enables individuals to increase their knowledge in a variety of subjects.

– Helping teachers: So that they can rely on these books as a basic teaching tool and guidance for their students.

– Allowing notes: This is one of the ways to fix information in the students’ minds.

– Allowing replay and review: This is one of its most important roles, as students and teachers can refer to it at any time to verify or review information.

SIGNIFICANCE OF TEXT BOOK TO SCHOOL

Text book represents one of the main important pillars of the educational process, and it is a main axis of the axes of education, as it affects the quality of education and its effect on the quality of education is no less than the teacher, school building, and administration, but rather it is the core of the educational process followed by the teacher and the student.  Abdul Rahman, A. A. (1987) believed that the role of the book in school was not limited to being a basic reference for information in the curriculum, so that the student would memorize this information and be evaluated by the teacher. This role expanded to include interaction between students to acquire information and skills through classroom activities, and the teacher would guide and advise them.

  • Text book is a teaching resource specifically designed to help students understand and comprehend course material in an educational context, and is one of the most widely used teaching tools in many education systems around the world.
  • It is the first means used by man for education and instruction, and it will remain a witness to human civilization. Without it, there would be no science or accumulation of knowledge that leads to development and civilizational advancement. It is the available and possible tool that reaches the student and teacher everywhere.
  • It is also a set of educational, cultural, social, sports and artistic experiences that the school provides for its students with the aim of helping them achieve comprehensive growth and modify their behavior. Therefore, it moves from being a mere means concerned with the cognitive and skill-based aspect to being concerned with educational, cultural, social, sports and artistic experiences in order to bring about behavioral modification.
  • Text book is still a successful means of presenting concepts, facts and generalizations in the field of any academic subject, and it integrates with other teaching and learning methods easily and successfully, and does not conflict with them in any way.
  • It is a flexible tool that can be used inside and outside the classroom, as well as in individual and group learning. It can be used at any time without restrictions, and it can easily respond to rapid changes in knowledge, because it is easy to modify in line with the changes.

CHARACTERISTIC OF A GOOD TEXT BOOK

Some educationist like Majid, I. D. & Muhammad M. M. (1982) agreed that the Requirements for school books differ from one country to another according to the approved educational texts and curricula, the most prominent general requirements and standards are as follows:

 – Accuracy: The information and content provided in the book must be accurate and correct, and free from obvious errors and misleading information.

– Guidance and motivation: The book should be able to guide and motivate students to understand and absorb the material, and encourage them to think critically and independently.

– Compatibility with the curriculum: It is necessary to cover the educational and pedagogical materials and concepts that the institution wants to convey to the students.

– Visual quality: This is represented by drawings and illustrations that are appropriate and attractive to students.

– Provide additional information to teachers: to help them teach the material effectively.

– Updating and follow-up: to be able to be updated and developed based on developments in knowledge and education. It is at the core of the role of publishers to provide new editions periodically.

– Easy to read and understand: This is done by writing it in a language and style appropriate to the target age group, to help facilitate reading and understanding.

– Providing additional resources: It contains illustrative examples, interactive exercises, and educational activities that increase its educational value.

– Logical: It presents information in a logical and organized manner, making it easy to access and understand, and often follows an appropriate order of study materials.

– Be age-appropriate: It should be designed for different levels of education and ages, allowing students to progress gradually from one level to another.

– Diversity of topics: Covering a variety of academic topics that shape the student’s conscience, nourish his mind, increase his culture, and qualify him educationally.

– Evaluation: the evaluation should be in the textbook at the end of each lesson to consolidate the scientific material, and the evaluation questions should be directly linked to the objectives and be characterized by diversity, accuracy, clarity and comprehensiveness, and should take into account the individual differences between learners.

CONCLUSION

Hence, Text book plays an important role in the education process, as it guides students and provides them with accurate and age-appropriate basic knowledge according to a gradual and diverse curriculum presented in attractive ways. At the same time, it helps educators teach subjects effectively and deliver information in the best ways, with the opportunity to review multiple times and take important notes, but its conditions must be adhered to so that it comes out in the best form to encourage students to think critically and analyze. School book or a text book is a component or element of the educational curriculum in its modern systematic concept. The curriculum is no longer limited to the school book, but rather includes objectives and content (including school books), teaching methods, assessment methods, activities and references.

REFERENCES:

Abdul Rahman, A. A. “Educational Curricula and Objectives, Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences”, 1st Ed, 1987, pp: 12.

Iman, A. D. “The reference series in curricula and teaching methods for humanities and scientific specializations”, Al-Najab Publishing House. 2021, pp: 90.

Khaled, M. “Definition of the concept of the school book”, Dar El-Fikr, Lebanon, 2nd Edition, 2007, pp: 64-65.

Majid, I. D. and Muhammad, M. M. “The School Book, Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization”, Tunis. 1982, pp: 126.

Mohammed, A. A. “A new approach to learning and teaching”, Dar Al-Maarifah, Egypt, 1st Ed, 2020, pp: 36.

Mohsen, A. A. “Modern curricula and teaching methods”, Cairo. 2014, pp: 123.

Rahim, A. S. “Curriculum and school book”, Dar El-Fikr, Lebanon, 2nd Edition, 2017, pp: 67.

Rahim, A. S. “Curriculum and school book”, Dar El-Fikr, Lebanon, 2nd Edition, 2017, pp: 89.

Rahim, A. S. “Curriculum and school book”, Dar El-Fikr, Lebanon, 2nd Edition, 2017, pp: 109.

Rushdi, A. T. “Content Analysis in the Humanities”, Dar Al- Fikr Al Arabi, Cairo. 2014, pp: 100.

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