Comparison of Statistical Charts and Tables in the Textbooks about Three History Subjects in High School

Abstract

This study compares the usage of statistical charts and tables in the textbooks of three history subjects in high school: “Modern and Contemporary History”, “Advanced Japanese History”, and “Advanced World History”. The findings reveal that “Modern and Contemporary History”, a compulsory subject that covers modern and contemporary history of both Japan and the world, employs the most statistical charts and tables, reflecting the frequency with which statistics and graphs are mentioned in the course of study. In “Advanced Japanese History”, the majority of statistical charts and tables are concentrated on modern and contemporary topics that overlap with “Modern and Contemporary History”. Compared to “Advanced Japanese History” and “Advanced World History”, “Modern and Contemporary History” contains fewer overlapping statistical charts and includes more lines per line graph. This suggests that textbooks are designed with the subject-specific objectives in mind. Furthermore, charts and tables related to “monetary figures” show that more than half of them overlap across all three subjects, suggesting that “monetary figures” could serve as a key point in considering curriculum management across history subjects.