2021 Volume 73 Issue 4 Pages 55-69
This paper focuses on learning about the association between weather and meteorological disasters in lower secondary science. On “weather and its changes” in Grade 2, a content analysis, which noted words and phrases associated with precipitation in the textbooks, was carried out. Focusing on words and phrases associated with the intensity and amount of precipitation, which is closely related to weather disasters, the usage frequency of words and phrases was found to differ significantly across the textbooks. Among the words and phrases associated with the intensity and amount of precipitation, usage of the phrases “precipitation amounts,” “heavy rains,” and “rainfall amounts” in the main text was limited to certain textbooks. Based on these findings, we inferred that the contents associated with the intensity and amount of precipitation, as well as their variety of expressions and the degree of emphasis, varies greatly depending on the textbook, based on the concept of content analysis. Based on objective and reproducible data, we could clarify points to discuss with respect to content on precipitation in the textbooks and how to deal with them.
