A comparative analysis of the intended curriculum and its presentation in 10th grade chemistry textbooks from seven Arabic countries

Abstract

This study investigates the nature of intended secondary chemistry curricula, as they are represented by chemistry textbooks, from seven Arabic countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Syria. The curricula are evaluated through analysis of the officially approved 10th grade chemistry textbooks used nationwide in all of these countries. The textbooks were analysed by qualitative content analysis in three cycles. The cycles focused on technical characteristics, the representation of the content, and an overall rating of the intended curriculum based on the findings from the first two rounds in connection to the ideas of the curriculum emphasis and curriculum orientation. The overall rating focuses on the orientation of the intended curricula, the emphases behind them, and indicators of any student-centred pedagogy. Our findings show that the textbooks differ widely. Some textbooks from this sample proved to be very traditional and purely organized in terms of the chemistry content with very limited connections of the content to modern aspects or applications of chemistry. The curricula in Algeria, Kuwait and Palestine were found to be of this kind. The textbooks from these countries basically operate a fundamental chemistry and structure-of-the-discipline approach. Other textbooks actually represent more modern approaches in chemistry teaching by providing a recognizable degree of contextualisation or even societal orientation. This is the case for Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia and, to a lesser degree, for Jordan. In the case of Palestine, the textbook focuses almost exclusively on content in technical and engineering contexts. Our analysis shows that there is no clear relationship between the intended chemistry curricula and certain characteristics in the corresponding countries, namely the regional background, the level of economic strength, and the degree of traditionalism.

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Introduction

In many countries of the world, e.g. Western countries, traditional secondary science and chemistry curricula in the 1960s and 1970s have been previously described as following the primary goal of giving a limited portion of students a solid foundation in science in order to recruit them for future careers in science and engineering (Bybee and DeBoer, 1993; van den Akker, 1998; Eilks et al., 2013). The resulting secondary chemistry curricula focused mainly on the learning of pure chemistry facts and theories. Corresponding school chemistry textbooks were structured parallel to general chemistry books used at the university level. Ever since the 1980s, however, new goals and standards for secondary chemistry education have emerged in many countries of the Western hemisphere or, e.g., in China (Wei and Thomas, 2005). The focus has shifted towards providing every future citizen with a basic understanding of chemistry, so that people can better cope with life, both individually and as a society. The curricula proposed for secondary chemistry education accordingly changed. They suggested that chemistry should be taught from everyday life perspectives, or in environmental or societal contexts (Eilks et al., 2013). However, the depth of implementation of such an approach is still insufficiently developed in many cases (Hofstein et al., 2011). Also for the Arabic countries it was suggested that ways should be sought to better engage the younger generation in scientific and engineering studies (Abd-El-Khalik et al., 2015).

The shift in school chemistry and science curricula since the 1980s is supported by a whole set of educational theories. Activity Theory as discussed by Holbrook and Rannikmae (2007) and Allgemeinbildung as recently reflected upon by Sjöström and Eilks (2017) are two examples. These theories suggest that current curricula for secondary school chemistry education need to not only emphasize the learning of scientific theories and knowledge, but must also support the development of science-related and general educational skills. Additionally, the theory of “situated cognition” (Greeno, 1998) suggests that effective chemistry learning needs to be contextualized, if the goal is to develop skills in learners, who are supposed to apply the knowledge gained. Meaningful contexts need to be used in order to introduce necessary chemistry knowledge and to promote the corresponding skills (Gilbert, 2006). Chemistry education needs to focus on better understanding the science-related questions taken from everyday life, relating to future career choices, and for decisions which pupils currently have to make about personal and societal issues (Hofstein et al., 2011; Eilks et al., 2013). They also should understand science as a way of thinking and seeing the world (Mansour, 2010). Such a view was also proposed by Stuckey et al. (2013) with the help of an organizer for reflecting the relevance of science education. This theory suggests that there are three different dimensions of relevance in science education: individual, societal and vocational. The preparation of future scientists is immanent in all three dimensions but constitutes only a small part of them. All the above-mentioned points-of-view should be taken into consideration when structuring the secondary chemistry curriculum as represented (at least in the intended form) by the corresponding chemistry school textbook in use in a given country (Devetak and Vogrinc, 2013). This study focuses on the extent to which these viewpoints are expressed in current chemistry textbooks taken from a sample of Arabic countries.

Our study examines the nature of the intended secondary chemistry curriculum in Arabic countries. The seven selected nations represent a spread from a large region with more than 300 million inhabitants, who identify themselves through a lot of commonalities in culture, language and religious beliefs (Dagher and Boujaoude, 2011). Seven school textbooks were selected, one each from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Syria. This selection is suggested to represent the whole of the entire Arabic world from North Africa to the Near East and the Gulf countries. It also includes countries with higher and lower levels of economic strength, as well as countries with more traditional as compared to more secular societies. The intended chemistry curricula examined here are analysed with the help of the official, government-approved 10th grade chemistry textbooks used nationwide in all seven Arabic countries studied. The analysis concentrates on the orientation of the curriculum (De Jong, 2006), the existence of any indicators of student-centred pedagogy (Devetak and Vogrinc, 2013), and curriculum emphasis as introduced by Roberts (1982) in an interpretation for chemistry curricula found in the study by Van Berkel (2005). The analysis identifies whether current chemistry textbooks from the seven Arabic states are in line with modern theories of chemistry curricula. It also attempts to localize any relationships of the nature of the chemistry curriculum with regional, cultural or socioeconomic differences among the seven countries.

Theoretical framework

Curriculum emphases and orientations of chemistry curricula as a basis for the analysis of intended chemistry curricula as represented by textbooks

Roughly thirty years ago Roberts (1982) reviewed science curricula from North America covering almost one hundred years of science education. He suggested that every curriculum contains a set of hidden messages about the nature of science. He dubbed this set of messages the “curriculum emphasis” and described it as “… a coherent set of messages about science (rather than within science). Such messages constitute objectives which go beyond learning the facts, principles, laws and theories of the subject matter itself – objectives which provide answers to the student question: Why am I learning this?” (Roberts, 1982, p. 245).

Roberts originally identified seven different curriculum emphases. However, he also stated that these different emphases are not sharply divided from each other, that they might change over time, and that they are often combined to create completely new meanings. This was recently seen in the work of Van Berkel (2005). Van Berkel tried to update the idea of the curriculum emphases with respect to more recent curricula within the domain of chemistry education. He refined the original seven emphases and combined them into three more general ones. He called these three areas: Fundamental Chemistry (FC), Knowledge Development in Chemistry (KDC), and Chemistry, Technology and Society (CTS). Table 1 gives an overview of Van Berkel's curriculum emphases as given in Van Driel et al. (2007). With reference to the analysis of science textbooks, Mansour (2010) used a similar differentiation. However, this work did not make reference to the curriculum emphases concept of either Roberts (1982) or van Berkel (2005) as it reflected upon the nature of scientific literacy in science curricula.

Table 1 Curriculum emphases in chemistry education by Van Berkel (2005) adapted from Van Driel et al. (2007)

Fundamental Chemistry (FC)	Fundamental Chemistry emphasizes the preferential learning of theoretical concepts and facts. Behind this curriculum stands the philosophy that concepts and facts need to be taught first. It is believed that they will provide the best basis for understanding phenomena from the natural world and provide the best starting point for students' further education later on.
Knowledge Development in Chemistry (KDC)	A central orientation on Knowledge Development in Chemistry is connected to the idea that students should learn both how and in which socio-historical context chemistry knowledge is and was developed. Students should learn to see chemistry as a culturally-determined system, in which knowledge is constantly developing.
Chemistry, Technology, and Society (CTS)	Chemistry, Technology and Society focuses explicitly on the relationship between science and technology and the role of science within societal issues. It is believed that students should learn to communicate and make decisions about societal issues that are connected to aspects of chemistry and technology.

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In 2006, De Jong suggested four different domains that can be utilized to offer learners approaches to learning chemistry: the personal domain, the professional practice domain, the professional-technological domain, and the social and society domain. The latter domain aims to prepare students to become responsible citizens in the future. De Jong's domains largely overlap with the dimensions of relevant chemistry education. These were called the individual, societal and vocational dimension by Stuckey et al. (2013). By using De Jong's four focal points, Eilks et al. (2013) recently suggested the idea of general orientation of the chemistry curriculum. These general orientations offer textual approaches from which to start individual lessons, but the orientations can also be used as guiding principles for structuring the whole curriculum:

• Structure of the discipline orientation: the inner structure of academic chemistry is used as an organizer of the chemistry curriculum. These curricula mainly focus on the learning of scientific theories and facts and their relation to one another. The resulting curriculum looks like a ‘lighter’ version of a university textbook on general chemistry.

• History of chemistry orientation: the history of chemistry is used to structure the curriculum. Content should be learned as it emerged in the past, but also allow learning about the nature of chemistry and its historical development. Lesson plans are often planned using actual episodes from the history of chemistry, which refer to the life of real chemists.

• Everyday life orientation: everyday life issues are used to aid entry into the learning of chemistry. Learning should become meaningful for the student. For example, the use of household cleaners is used as a context for approaching acid–base-chemistry.

• Environmental orientation: environmental issues are used to provoke learning of the chemistry behind an issue, including questions of environmental protection. Examples include water treatment, air pollution, and acidic rain.

• Technology and industry orientation: developments from technology and the chemical industry are selected in order to learn about chemistry and its applications. Teaching in a more in-depth application also focuses on the interplay of science and technology within society. For example, crude oil distillation and the industrial production of important metals are used as techno-industrial issues for chemistry lesson plans.

• Socio-scientific issues orientation: socio-scientific issues form the starting point of chemistry learning. This allows students to develop general educational skills to prepare them to be responsible citizens in the future. Examples include the debate about climate change or the effects on the use of bio-fuels for the economy, ecology and society.

Generally, all of the domains suggested by De Jong (2006) and orientations outlined by Eilks et al. (2013) can be used to create both starting points and guidance for structuring chemistry lessons. All of them can be understood as a context of one type or another (Gilbert, 2006). However, contexts which mean something to the student in the sense of the theory of situated cognition (Greeno, 1998) must be connected to students' interests and prior experiences. This is commonly not the case for both the structure of the discipline and history of chemistry approaches. Everyday life and environmental contexts might be closer to secondary school students' lives, since most children in this age group tend to be non-intrinsically science-oriented. But technological and societal issues may offer easier links to contextualize chemistry learning (Eilks et al., 2013), since these issues are more likely to be directly perceived as meaningful and relevant. This idea has also been supported by findings which analyzed and compared representations in historical chemistry textbooks. Such studies have suggested that more numerous and lively illustrations in textbooks are better in terms of raising positive learning attitudes and learner achievement (Milanovic et al., 2015).

In terms of the curriculum emphases suggested by van Berkel (2005), the structure of the discipline approach is quite closely related to Fundamental Chemistry. A historical orientation can support an emphasis on Knowledge Development in Chemistry. A technology and industrial focus may also do the same, if it is explicitly connected to certain technological developments in the past. The Chemistry, Technology and Society approach demands content and contexts which incorporate issues from both the students' individual lives and from society at large. Understanding the interplay between chemistry, everyday life, the environment, and technology is necessary for pupils to understand and take part in the wider socio-scientific issues related to chemistry (Eilks et al., 2013). This aids learners in the development of corresponding and crucial decision-making skills.

Textbooks as representations of the intended curriculum and pedagogy

To understand which curriculum emphasis dominates a particular educational environment and domain, the textbooks in use can serve as a reference point. Devetak and Vogrinc (2013) suggest that textbooks link any school subject with the students. Much like ambassadors, textbooks represent the subject to the pupils (Devetak and Vogrinc, 2013). They suggest the ideal and formal curriculum (Van Den Akker, 1998) which the teacher is expected to carry out on behalf of the school system and thus how chemistry is presented to the learner.

In many countries textbooks provide variability, which is partly affected by a textbook authors' personal style. They also transmit their own viewpoints into national curricula. However, if there is only one textbook officially approved by educational authorities, they also represent a de facto curriculum emphasis which has been selected by the corresponding ministry of education (Martínez-Gracia et al., 2006). Textbooks may also represent commonly used teaching practices underlying the curriculum, since they are commonly written by educators and experienced teachers within the system. Many teachers explicitly depend on the textbook to guide their teaching efforts (Stern and Roseman, 2004). This can also have consequences, for example whether an FC curriculum is dominant in the textbook, which would represent chemistry to the students mainly as an intellectual and academic challenge. Placing a CTS emphasis in the foreground would have the effect of stressing the importance of the application of chemistry in everyday life, environment and society.

Devetak and Vogrinc (2013) also suggested that textbooks indicate classroom practices. Two questions the authors raise are the use of visualization and the level of language quality. They believe that more richly illustrated textbooks represent a more student-oriented teaching approach. They also state that modern textbooks make broad use of images such as photographs, data-tables, charts, drawings, graphs, and diagrams (Cook, 2008). This means that if textbooks are incomprehensible to or non-qualifiable for students, these texts can actually lead to negative imprints on students and a negative perception of the corresponding school subject. This directly affects student beliefs about how relevant the content to be learned actually is (Irez, 2009).

Chemistry textbooks in Arabic countries

Not very much is known about current chemistry textbooks in Arabic countries in the literature. A general overview of science textbooks was compiled by Dagher and BouJaoude (2011). However, this review mainly discusses cases from general science and biology textbooks. However, part of the findings may parallel the situation also in chemistry education.

One existing comparative study of eleven Arabic science textbooks in the 1990s suggested that the textbooks of that time focused almost exclusively on factual content knowledge. There was very limited focus on either the explicit process of performing science or on developing higher-order cognitive skills such as problem-solving. These textbooks largely ignored the application of science to daily life situations (Nashwan, 1993). At about the same time Badran (1993) described curricula selected from seven Gulf States as behind the times. None of them had apparently benefited from new technologies in teaching science, nor did they exploit science–technology–society interactions in their methods and approaches. Badran also found that the textbooks mainly adopted content taken from international curricula. They neglected local, social and environmental problems, including the application of science on technology and daily life issues. These textbooks also lacked any emphasis on inquiry-based science activities.

A decade later, Arab Human Development (UNDP/RBAS, 2003) and the World Bank (2008) reported similar characteristics in science education in Arabic countries. Their findings were similar to those reported in the studies by Nashwan (1993) and Badran (1993). In 2009, Dagher published a case study examining science education in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Qatar. This study revealed that several dimensions of the nature of science were still absent in corresponding science textbooks. This was particularly the case for the philosophical aspect of science as a pathway to understanding both the methods of science and its historical dimensions. Around the same time, another study by Dagher et al. (2010) looked at four Arabic science textbooks from Jordan, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. It analyzed 9th grade science textbooks and concluded that the nature of science was still a neglected area in science textbooks. Similar results were reported for the Lebanese science curriculum, which also neglects the aspects of the nature of science, while simultaneously making too few connections between science, society and technology (BouJaoude, 2002).

In parallel with the research listed above, one study investigated textbook use in Jordan. It found that both students and teachers viewed textbooks as hard to read, because appropriate levels of comprehensibility and illustration were both missing (Ktait, 2002). Batsh (2006) suggested that most assessment activities used in Arabic textbooks focus almost exclusively on the knowledge domain. Very few look at the nature of science (Al-Ma'aiteah, 2005). The latest Lebanese science textbooks published for the 9th grade level still limit their scope to theoretical facts (Dagher et al., 2010); however, they have started to link science, technology and everyday life somewhat better and increased their efforts in the realm of assessment.

In 2010, Mansour described some textbook improvement in specific cases. In the case of Egypt, he found that the science curriculum now emphasizes both knowledge and the nature of science, which is closely related to the KDC curriculum emphasis. However, he also stated that Egypt still neglects understanding science as a way of thinking. It also neglects the interaction between science, technology and society, which is a key part of the CTS curriculum emphasis. Whether this shift was caused by the teachers is still an unanswered question, just like the effects of many educational reforms in science education in Arabic countries (Dagher and BouJaoude, 2009, 2011).

We cannot say whether all of these findings can be transferred to Arabic chemistry textbooks. Hardly any research information is available, which takes a clear view of the intended chemistry curriculum and any corresponding textbooks. It is also unclear whether any relationships exist between different methodologies for teaching chemistry and any regional, cultural or socio-economic characteristics of the corresponding countries. That is the aim of this study. Our research questions were as follows:

(1) Which curriculum orientations and curriculum emphases are prevalent in 10th grade chemistry textbooks in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Syria?

(2) Are there any connections between the orientations or emphases of the chemistry curriculum and the level of socioeconomic development, culture or regional background in the selected countries?

Sample and methods

Sample

The sample consists of seven 10th grade Arabic chemistry textbooks selected from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Palestine Saudi Arabia, and Syria (Ajloonee et al., 2006; Algneam et al., 2006; Buthelezi et al., 2008; Sadek et al., 2013; Shafea et al., 2013; Shawa et al., 2013; Rimawee et al., 2014). The reason for choosing 10th grade books was that this is the earliest level where chemistry is taught as an (almost) independent subject in all of these countries. It is also the year when most countries begin selective courses in chemistry, so that many students can opt out of chemistry learning. All the textbooks are officially approved by the corresponding political authorities, i.e. the ministries of education. The seven textbooks are the only official grade-10 chemistry textbooks for nationwide use in these countries. Because of the official approval and decision of having only one textbook in use in all public schools in a country the textbooks can be considered to represent the official intended curricula. Appendix 1 of this paper lists some of the characteristics of the seven textbooks.

The sample was chosen to represent the largest possible variety of Arabic countries. The range covers everything from extremely rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to less-developed countries like Egypt and Palestine. The Human Development Index covers a wide range of world rankings: place 39 (HDI 0.837) for Saudi Arabia, place 48 (HDI 0,816) for Kuwait, place 108 (HDI 0.690) for Egypt, place 113 (HDI 0.677) for Palestine, and place 134 (HDI 0.594) for Syria. The current study also covers a broad range of different societies, reaching all the way from quite traditional countries such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to more secular societies like Egypt and Syria. It also covers geographical locations stretching from the Arab Gulf (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait) to the Near East (Syria, Jordan and Palestine) and northern Africa (Egypt and Algeria).

Methods

The textbook analysis followed a cyclical design. This design followed the basic tenets of qualitative content analysis as suggested by Mayring (2000). Altogether three cycles of analysis were performed. The first cycle focused on the technical characteristics of the textbooks, e.g. the number of pages and the inclusion of experiments or figures. The second cycle attempted to identify the embedding of contextual and pedagogical characteristics. The final round of analysis was used for identification of both the curriculum orientation and the dominating curriculum emphases in each of the books, based on the findings from the first two rounds.

The first cycle of analysis followed Devetak and Vogrinc's (2013) criteria for analyzing textbooks. This cycle focused on the general, overall structures of the books. It included analysis of the number of pages and chapters, the length of the chapters, the percentage of textual and pictorial material in each specific chapter, and of the textbook overall. It also looked at whether or not there was any internal analysis of textual material, elements of text discourse, stimulating observations about phenomena, explicit proposals for practical work, problem-solving exercises, or summaries of important concepts at the end of chapters. This cycle also examined whether realistic images such as photographs were used, whether graphs, diagrams, maps, or molecular structures were included, etc. The first cycle of analysis also identified explicit references to the history of chemistry, direct connections to Islam and Arab culture, specific tasks for Internet searches, usage of non-Arabic words and terms, discussion of safety issues, and references to technical applications of chemistry, if any.

The second cycle of analysis identified whether chemistry was embedded in contextual and pedagogical terms. Stress was placed on which contexts had been selected to introduce chemistry content, whether practical work was integrated into the textbook, which (if any) cultural, religious or gender stereotypes had been included, and whether indications could be found that pointed either to more traditional or more modern views of chemistry curricula. Traditional views here are understood as those connected to a structure-of-the-discipline approach to science content, having a low level of applications and everyday life issues, or neglecting modern issues of chemistry, e.g. environmental chemistry, nanotechnology, or modern chemical products.

All coding in the first two rounds was performed by two independent native speakers (R. K. and S. A.-A.). The agreement reached in the first two cycles was generally high, ranging at roughly 80%. Points of disagreement were discussed and a joint rating negotiated based on Swanborn's idea of search of intersubjective agreement (Swanborn, 1996).

In the final round of analysis two independent raters (R. K. and S. A.-A.) wrote memos summarizing the general characteristics of the textbooks based on integrating all the findings from the first two rounds. Additionally, these memos included both a rating in the sense of curriculum orientation within the textbook (De Jong, 2006; Eilks et al., 2013) and a characterization of the curriculum emphasis as discussed by Eilks et al. (2013), based on Roberts (1982) and Van Berkel (2005). Finally, synthesis of the memos was developed using a dialogic process mediated by another author of the paper (I.E.) until a joint characterization for each of the textbooks was reached. This dialogical process was started by the third author writing each synthesis of the considerations from the first two authors for each of the textbooks. These syntheses were sent back to the first two authors to comment and suggest changes. This process was repeated two times until all three authors agreed the joint description.

At a later stage, and to better illustrate the findings, a rating was done by each of the authors concerning the prevailing curriculum emphasis and preferred curriculum orientation in each of the books. There was also a rating on the degrees of contextualization/societal orientation as well as suggested student involvement. In the last two ratings, we decided to use a three-step scale from low (elements and indicators of the corresponding issue are not present in the book or only marginal), via medium (elements and indicators of the corresponding issue are present, but are not used throughout and/or as prominent characteristics), to high (elements and indicators of the corresponding issue are prominent features of the textbook). The ratings were given independently by the authors based on all three cycles of analysis, and then compared. A comparison gave an overall clear agreement with only a few points that were later finally rated based on a joint negotiation.

Findings

All of the Arabic textbooks in this sample were published in the last ten years and are still in use today. Viewed chronologically the books were issued in 2006 (Kuwait and Jordan), 2008 (Saudi Arabia), 2010 (Algeria), 2013 (Egypt and Syria), and 2014–2015 (Palestine). The variety seen in the use of contexts to frame the learning of chemistry is quite wide. This indicates several different curriculum orientations and helps us to identify part of the curriculum emphases such as illustrations and activities.

In the case of Algeria, we see a textbook with a low level of contextualization and societal orientation. The chemistry textbook is part of a physical sciences book. The book focuses almost exclusively on chemistry content knowledge as represented by chemical structures and other purely pictorial items. Very few day-to-day issues are mentioned (e.g. at one point molar calculations are related to some clinical laboratory tests). These references are hardly sufficient to classify the book as a contextualization of chemistry within everyday life or society. The structure of the curriculum is composed of the following topics: materials, chemical and physical changes, the periodic table, various geometric shapes of atoms and/or molecules, chemical calculations, and chemical changes via chemical reactions. More recent topics such as nanomaterials and environmental chemistry cannot be found. Much of the content is presented in the form of data tables. Safety procedures are, however, mentioned and represented by small symbols. The images in the text are limited to pictures of a few test tubes, a litmus scale and the flame test color scale for the elements. Very few of the pictures relate to everyday life phenomena like volcanoes. No pictures of people are offered, with the exception of one photo of a woman supervising a lab as a teacher. There are also very few photos of historical scientific figures, only one of whom has an Arabic Muslim background. This was Jabir ibn Hayyan, who is also mentioned in the Jordanian textbook. Almost no languages other than Arabic are ever used. The Algerian textbook provides no suggestions for inquiry-based activities or recommendations for Internet searches, except for one activity focusing on pH values.

The broadest use of contexts was found in the Egyptian textbook, which more strongly employs modern, everyday contexts for the learning of chemistry than its competitors. The contextual orientation of the Egyptian book was easy to identify, since it mentions the impact of technology and industry on both everyday life and society. The textbook focuses on modern technological issues like nanotechnology and green chemistry. Current applications of chemistry are mentioned, including the use of carbon nanotubes, water treatment systems, and paper recycling. This textbook includes many issues taken from both daily life and environmental issues. It connects them to chemistry learning, e.g. cosmetic products and the global warming debate. The curriculum behind the book is structured by chapters on the following topics: chemistry as the centre of the sciences (the topic of nanotechnology is discussed in addition to chemistry and measurement), quantitative chemistry, acid–base solutions, thermal chemistry, nuclear chemistry, and chemistry and the environment (where issues of environmental pollution are targeted). The content in both the Egyptian text and corresponding activity books is clearly illustrated through colorful, high-resolution pictures showing lab equipment, daily life scenarios (e.g. a person filling up his car with gasoline), nature (e.g. a polar bear in its natural environment), as well as images of male and female human beings, among them some historical figures. However, only one modern Arabic scientist is mentioned (Mustafa Alsyed), while all others are non-Arabic. However, all titles, subtitles and keywords are given in both the Arabic and English language. The main ideas and keywords for each chapter are condensed on one page as a chapter suffix and then organized via concept mapping. References in the book are directed to both Arabic and non-Arabic sources, a list of web pages are included, and the students are requested to perform six individual Internet search exercises. There is one religious sign in the text book (concerning the students' appreciation for God's great ability). Safety procedures and safety rules have also been carefully taken into account, either in written form or as images. The experiments are clearly described and guide students step-by-step towards the experimental results. The book suggests tasks to guide pupils to both inquiry-based and analytical thinking activities.

In the Jordanian textbook the curriculum is also contextualized and centers around the idea of energy and the possibility that the future may be affected by more limited resources. The main focus concerns the conservation of petroleum and natural gas. At several places, the curriculum contains science-to-society relations, for example the topics of biofuel usage and biogas production, including how families can build their own biogas generators. Everyday events and phenomena of life like photosynthesis are used as contexts for chemistry learning. Other units are more overtly aligned with the content structure approach (e.g. by the law of definite proportions, chemical bonds, Lewis structures, valence, ionic groups, etc.). These chapters focus more on science facts and the learning of theories, rather than on promoting thinking in context or learning about science-to-society links. Modern chemistry topics are mentioned only briefly and are located within units which sometimes could have been better introduced with the help of daily life examples. Scientific terms are encountered in the English language and can also be found within the text. This textbook also mentions only one Arabic Muslim historical figure, Jabier ibn Hayyan. All other people mentioned are non-Arabic figures. Modern chemistry is slightly mentioned in very few locations. Contextualization with the aid of images is weaker than in the Egyptian textbook. There are a few simple pictures showing medicine tablets and bread pieces, but images of persons do not appear with the exception of a picture of one 12- to 15-year-old boy. A few chemical apparatuses are provided in sketch form. Any suggestions for Internet searches focus primarily on looking up extra content material like atomic structures, the periodic table and its elements, chemical bonding structures, reactions, formulas, chemical calculations, energy via chemical reaction, and organic chemistry.

The textbook from Kuwait is introduced with a photo of the country's prince. This book is the only one where the Koran is mentioned in three locations (describing electron paths, comparing electron orbitals with planetary movements, and mentioning the importance of water for life as supported by a quote from the Koran). The curriculum is quite basic and approached mainly by the structure of the discipline route. The content covers atomic structure and models of the atom, the periodic table and its element groups, chemical bonds, and a study of the elements carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. Presentation of the content is weakly supported by daily life applications, and only in very few places. One example uses an emission spectrum in the field of forensic scene investigation. Modern issues and pedagogies including Internet searches and learning about laboratory safety are totally absent. The content is illustrated by only very few images and few experimental issues like Rutherford's experiment, carbon dioxide gas collection in the lab, and nitrogen gas preparation. The book does not refer to historical figures with their biographies or their photos.

The Palestinian textbook seems to focus mainly on the learning of fundamental concepts of chemistry, too. The central focus is on the periodic table of the elements. This approach seems content with providing students with information on specific elements, listing their characteristics, and connecting these elements to some applications selected from daily life. This is the case for nitrogen, silicon, sulphur, calcium, copper, and uranium. Sketches and figures in the textbook show chemical technology and engineering (e.g. the fractional distillation of liquid air, the Haber–Bosch process, and silicone production). The topics are organized via four units: the chemistry of periodic table elements, chemical calculations, chemical reaction energy, and organic chemistry. Images vary between chemistry in daily life, technical systems, natural phenomena, and references to a few experiments. However, there are no figures with images of people. Some encouragement for pupils to use the Internet is provided, but not much. At one place the book suggests that students perform a more social search by asking them to visit a dermatology clinic or a pharmacy website in order to collect information about the daily use of sulphur. End references are divided into three lists: Arabic references, non-Arabic references and electronic websites. The use of the English language is limited in the book. References to safety procedures and modern topics are completely absent from the text.

The textbook from Saudi Arabia is an adoption of the book Chemistry, Matter and Change from the USA. Like Egypt's textbook does, this book includes a student laboratory and activities manual as an additional part of the curriculum. Chemistry is presented in connection with many other scientific domains like zoology and anthropology and with daily life issues and industrial fields such as the nylon industry. Science history is also employed in the Saudi Arabian textbook. Most notably, a female scientist is even mentioned: Lise Meitner. Modern topics of chemistry and environmental issues are mentioned, but only briefly explained (e.g. ozone depletion, nanotechnology). Some topics are somewhat contextualized and related to societal issues (the use of X-rays in medicine). The main themes covered in the Saudi Arabian textbook are chemical materials, atomic structure, chemical reaction, chemical calculations, chemical formula, molecular formula, salt water chemistry, and life. Historical events such as the establishment of CERN in Switzerland in 1954 flow as a template of chronological order, finally reaching the use of nanomaterials after further illustrations are given. The Saudi Arabian book shows people from Arabic society wearing typical Arabian clothing. Experimental work accompanied by safety procedures are strongly presented in the Saudi Arabian book. Technical issues use English words to describe them and the widespread use of historical figures with photos is also present. Keywords are offered at the end of the book with English translations. The great ability of God is mentioned one time in the first chapter of the textbook, as is the case in Egypt's textbook.

The Syrian textbook is structured around some theoretical and societal orientations of chemistry. It connects chemistry learning with other subjects, like math, biology, and the Arabic and Latin languages. These connections are made in order to contextualize the proposed chemical inquiries. The topics are also linked to fields such as industrial environments (mainly the petroleum industry), daily life and environmental aspects. Examples for contexts and science-to-society relations include global warming, air pollution, plastic products in the environment, and the desalination of seawater. In this respect the textbook is quite similar to Egypt's offering described above. However, there is a lower grade of practical activities suggested. Historical figures are introduced, as are Arabic scientists of the modern era like Ahmad Zwail. Historical perspectives are not limited to individual persons. References to history are also connected to earlier civilizations and countries, including Phoenicia, Babylonia, Arabia, China and also the USA in the case of early petroleum exploration in America. The book delivers many images of phenomena, daily life issues, physical effects, experiments and graphic schemes. Daily consumables are presented in the text book in order to support ideas like plastic as an artificial polymer or corn as a biopolymer. Many chemical reactions are shown with the aid of images, for example the decomposition of ammonium chromate and the reaction between sodium chromate and silver nitrate. Pictures of people appear in historical contexts more than they present everyday people. Many historical scientists are also mentioned, but very few pictures of them are provided. Only one picture shows someone in the context of industry work (an employee in the petroleum industry). The Syrian textbook gives references mainly to Arabic publications and university textbooks. English words are rarely used. Images which should accompany experiments or safety procedures are completely absent.

Discussion

The sample of seven 10th grade Arabic chemistry textbooks reveals a broad variety of approaches taken towards the chemistry curriculum (Table 2). Some of the curricula suggested in the textbooks (Palestine, Algeria and Kuwait) seem to be quite traditional and focus mainly on fundamental chemistry learning (slightly less so in the case of Palestine). These are typical examples of the structure-of-the-discipline orientation of the chemistry curriculum as described by Eilks et al. (2013). The main driver of the curriculum in these three textbooks is the pure learning of chemistry facts and theories. Accordingly, the structure and textual approaches in these books directly parallel the structure and content of academic chemistry textbooks. The level of contextualization is low and there is hardly any focus on understanding chemistry-to-society links, or on environmental issues and challenges. This has already been described in the 1990s for a sample of eleven Arabic science textbooks analyzed by Nashwan (1993) and for seven textbooks in Gulf countries selected by Badran (1993). This still seems to hold true for a large part of Arabic countries (see also: World Bank, 2008). Dagher and BouJaoude (2011) described these curricula with reference to Nashwan as follows:

Table 2 General characteristics of the different grade-10 chemistry textbooks

	Main curriculum emphasis	Basic orientation(s) of the curriculum	Degree of contextualization and societal orientation	Degree of suggested student involvement
Algeria	Fundamental Chemistry	Structure of the discipline	Low	Low
Egypt	Chemistry, Technology and Society	Everyday life, technology and industry, environment	High	High
Jordan	Chemistry, Technology and Society	Everyday life, environment, socio-scientific issues	Medium	Medium
Kuwait	Fundamental Chemistry	Structure of the discipline	Low	Low
Palestine	Fundamental Chemistry	Structure of the discipline, technology and industry	Medium	Medium
Saudi Arabia	Chemistry, Technology and Society	Everyday life, technology and industry, history of chemistry	High	High
Syria	Chemistry, Technology and Society	Everyday life, technology and industry, environment, socio-scientific issues	High	Medium

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“More specifically, these curricula: (1) did not develop students' abilities to use investigative problem solving and thinking skills, (2) ignored students' interests, backgrounds and environments, (3) paid no attention to creativity and imagination, (4) did not attempt to address students' unacceptable beliefs in myths and superstitions and (5) did not help students to understand their bodies and take care of their health and hygiene.” (pp. 78–79)

Dagher and BouJaoude (2011) view outdated curricula as one major reason for the low average level of achievement in science education in many Arabic countries, although comparative data for the average achievement level of students in science education in Arabic countries in comparison to other countries are hardly available. Additional characteristics of science education in selected countries are issues of traditional pedagogies, a limited access to technology, and current assessment practices (see also Al-Amoush et al., 2014). Dagher and BouJaoude (2011) described lacking teacher support and involvement as the main reasons that reforms in Arabic countries have so often failed in recent decades. This was also corroborated by Al-Amoush et al. (2012) for the case of Jordan. The Palestinian textbook connects chemistry learning with technology and engineering, thus having a technology/industry orientation, but still fails to focus strongly on everyday life science issues and the interplay between science, technology and society.

There also exist other books like the ones from Egypt and Syria. These books use specific contexts and refer to applications and issues of chemistry found in technology, industry and the environment – at least to a certain extent. Everyday life contexts and environmental issues such as global warming are embedded in these countries' suggested curricula. Mansour (2010) has also described the science curriculum in Egypt as one which is on the way towards including more scientific literacy aspects. Contextualization is also present, but to a lower extent, in the Jordanian textbook. This book provides an orientation around everyday life issues and can be seen as combined with an environmental and technology/industry orientation as discussed in Eilks et al. (2013). This textbook has the clearest connections to proposed solutions for environmental challenges. It might be interpreted as one of the few orientations towards societal challenges and socio-scientific issues identified in the current study. The Saudi Arabian textbook represents a special case, because it is a translation and adaptation of a book from a Western country. This book is close (possibly superior) to the group of books from Egypt and Syria. However, it is hard to say to what extent these curricula are carried out in the way intended by the governmental school systems. The analysis by Dagher and Boujaoude (2011) suggested that, even if reforms are intentionally introduced via textbooks, they often fail because of lacking support among teachers.

The different curriculum orientations (De Jong, 2006) are also in line with the issues of textbook illustration and choice of pedagogy. Indicators for this include the use of pictures, activities and end references (Devetak and Vogrinc, 2013). In the textbooks from Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and (to a lesser extent) Jordan we could identify more illustrations taken from everyday life and of human beings in the context of chemistry than in the other textbooks. We could also see more suggestions for practical work and incorporating the Internet into chemistry learning. There were also more references to other scientific domains and explicit discussions of safety issues. This occurs to a much lesser extent in the textbooks from Algeria, Kuwait and Palestine.

The curriculum emphasis in the different textbooks varies widely. Referring to Van Berkel's (2005) three curriculum emphases, we can see that the Chemistry–Technology–Society emphasis is prevalent in textbooks from Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and (to a lesser extent) Jordan. Such textbooks making connections to societal issues generally have proven to be more appealing to both students and teachers (Van Griethuijsen et al., 2014). The books stemming from Palestine and, most especially, from Algeria and Kuwait represent a curriculum emphasis on Fundamental Chemistry. In this case learning chemistry is placed first, so that later learning and comprehension of relevant applications and issues related to chemistry can be realized as a gain of knowledge. The curriculum emphasis of Knowledge Development in Chemistry, which is related to inquiry-based learning, is touched upon in all the textbooks. But a focus on the curriculum emphasis of Knowledge Development in Chemistry remains very limited in all the books (as seems to be generally the case in science education in many Arab science curricula, e.g., Dagher et al., 2010; Mansour, 2010). Elements such as how and in which socio-historical context chemistry knowledge emerged and the overall nature of science somehow get lost in the mix. This is especially true for the case of references to socio-historical reflections on the history of chemistry. In all of the books, reflection upon the history in science in Arabian lands is widely neglected when it concerns both historical and more modern developments.

This study purposely selected textbooks from Arabic countries which embodied varying characteristics. However, no clear relationship could be found between certain characteristics and the intrinsic nature of the chemistry textbooks. The more modern type textbooks in terms of contextualization and reference to society and the environment come from countries which consider themselves as being relatively secular (Jordan, Syria and Egypt). However, the same is true for Saudi Arabia where religion and traditionalism play a much more important role in society. We can also see no connection between the socioeconomic conditions and how traditional the chemistry curriculum is, as we do not find a regional impact. This can be seen from comparisons between Egypt and Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and Jordan and Palestine. It seems that none of the clear differences gives any indication in which direction the chemistry curriculum is suggested to be operated.

Conclusions and limitations

One explanation for the finding of the large variety in the intended 10th grade chemistry curricula among the seven Arabic countries is the low influence of society on the development of national curricula, upon which basis textbooks are written. Dagher and BouJaoude (2011) describe the setting of science curriculum goals in many Arabic countries as a centrally-controlled process, which occurs in ministries of education or related administrative bodies. They describe that this process is:

“rarely an outcome of democratic negotiation between various stakeholders. A transparent, public and open process for achieving consensus around curricular goals/standards like that undertaken in the USA […] is not the norm in Arab states. The more pervasive top-down approach to determining and disseminating curriculum mandates precludes a broader base of participation by teachers, teacher educators, and scientists, as well as community members.” (p. 80)

It is recommended that the process of development of the chemistry curricula is reflected especially in those Arabic countries which still operate very traditional approaches of the intended chemistry curriculum in their textbooks. It should be reflected why more modern approaches are not in use, why modern issues and applications of chemistry are absent in the intended curricula, e.g. in Algeria and Kuwait. Maybe countries with more traditional intended curricula can learn from those with more modern approaches.

This is related to what we also can recognize from the study: four of the textbooks represent at least a slight orientation towards modern types of intended chemistry curricula in terms of situated learning theory (Greeno, 1998). These books relate the learning of chemistry to everyday life, societal and environmental issues. The degree of contextualization in these four textbooks from Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia varies, but is considerable. The inclusion of modern chemistry content and suggestions for student-active learning also vary. In any case these four textbooks can be considered to offer learners opportunities to understand the broader picture of chemistry and its impact on life, technology and the environment. These books show that the approach towards more modern chemistry curricula is possible, even in the context of poorer or less secular Arabic countries, like Egypt or Saudi Arabia respectively. However, also these countries might reflect whether the degree of contextualisation and societal orientation in their textbooks corresponds to the state-of-the-art for modern chemistry education and whether there is a chance to better include also the curriculum emphasis of Knowledge Development in Chemistry.

However, this study cannot reveal how the textbooks are used and operated. It cannot say how intensely teachers use the contexts provided in some of the textbooks or whether teachers add contexts and information on applications of chemistry by other media in those cases where the books do not provide them. The same holds true for student activities. The study is also limited since it just provides a rather general view on the intended curricula and pedagogy as represented by the textbooks. More in-depth analysis in the future might also compare more specific details, e.g. specific representations of certain knowledge domains, approaches towards the nature of science, or the use of the different representational levels of chemistry. A final limitation lies in the fact that only the 10th grade chemistry textbooks were analysed. This does not allow us to reveal any information about which picture of chemistry or science is provided in the textbooks of other grades, i.e. on the lower secondary level. Further research is also needed on the alignment of educational policy documents and intended curricula with the curricula which are really taught, learned and assessed in these countries (Dagher and BouJaoude, 2011).

Appdendix 1: Overview about selected formal characteristics of the seven textbooks

Country	Title	Authors	Year of issue	Number of pages	Number of figures/tables	Number of suggested experiments
Algeria	Physical Science	M. Bu Shafea, I. Mazzooz, A. K. Ben Wareth, A. Ben Issa, A. Azzizo	2013	105	3/50	25
Egypt	Chemistry	S. W. Sadek, M. A. Abu Lila, I. M. Sayed, N. M. Shalabee, H. M. Hasanean	2013	153 (text-book), 108 (activities book)	2/17	35
Jordan	Chemistry	A. M. Ajloonee, M. M. M. Alzoubee, A. M. Msaeda, Y. M. Omari	2006	188	1/40	18
Kuwait	Chemistry	M. Y. Algneam, F. Alrweah, S. A. H. Ahfood, A. M. Mansour, F. I. Fihmee, A.A.H Alsadek	2006	180	5/24	7
Palestine	Chemistry	F. Rimawee, S. Shlafaa, F. Yasin, A. Mydanee, F. Yousef, M. A. Asba	2014	100	2/17	24
Saudi Arabia	Chemistry	T. Buthelezi, C. Wistrom, N. Hainen, L. Dingrando, D. Zike and others	2008	213 (textbook) 33 (activities book)	4/38	37
Syria	Chemistry	M. Shawa, B. Mhana, A. Nadaf, Y. Hamad, F. Kandeel, N. Machol, A. Kaadan, Y. Atassee	2013	188	4/19	25

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