ABSTRACT
Directed scientific literacy is important for learners because it is a basic competence in understanding environmental and economic problems in modern society. One effort to improve scientific literacy can be initiated by the identification of the scientific literacy aspects of textbooks. This study presents an analysis of the aspects of scientific literacy present in a classroom textbook for the fifth grade of elementary school. The aspects of scientific literacy considered in this study included knowledge of science, science as a means of investigation, science as a way of thinking, and the interaction of science, technology and society. The form of this research was descriptive research. The data was collected in the form of documentation analysis. The whole of one book was analyzed, and presented the various aspects of scientific literacy to different extents, namely: 73.5% in terms of aspects of scientific knowledge; 19.5% for aspects of science as a means of investigation; 5.8% for aspects of science as a way of thinking; 1.2% for aspects of the interaction of science, technology and society. Scientific knowledge consistently represented the highest proportion of any scientific literacy aspect in each chapter of the book, while the aspect of science as a means of investigation showed a smaller proportion, varying from 13% to 32% in any given chapter. These findings indicate that this leading textbook put more emphasis on factual content (aspects of scientific knowledge) and only provided low emphasis on mastering scientific process and context (i.e. science as a means of investigation).
