Biography teaching in social studies text books

Considering that textbooks are the main sources of education, textbooks have vital functions in transferring of biography knowledge. However, the existence of biographical knowledge alone in textbooks is not enough. Handling and presenting of this knowledge also forms a determining factor in education. The purpose of the present study is defining the handling and presentation of this knowledge in primary school social studies textbooks. The study employed document analysis technique. Two 5th grade social studies textbook approved by board of education and discipline were analysed comparatively in terms of four variables as; the identity of the personages included related to the topic, the quality of the biography knowledge included, sources and tools used for the presentation of the information about the studied personage and the activities. According to the findings obtained in the present study, textbooks provide limited information about the personages studied, except for Ataturk and these personages are mostly studied with questions in knowledge and comprehension step.