Developmental Process of Knowledge in High School Science Textbooks : Analysis of the Growth Process of a Terminological Network in Text

Abstract

The growth process of a terminological network has been analyzed to reveal the developmental process of knowledge in four high school science textbooks (Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Earth Science). Knowledge is considered a conceptual structure, and we construct terminological networks that reflect the conceptual structure of science, with vertices representing terms and edges representing co-occurrence of terms in a paragraph. Our primary results are some sections. (2) New concepts are connected to other concepts consistently, and they are integrated into the largest part of the conceptual structure. (3) The average number of concepts that are directly connected to a concept is increasing. Concepts are indirectly connected through two or three concepts on average, and are strongly connected in partial conceptual groups. (4) The degree of centralization (i.e., few concepts are connected to many concepts directly or facilitate indirect connection between concepts) is deteriorating. These results differ from the results obtained when terms appear randomly in the textbooks. Some characteristics of each subject are also observed.