Analysis and evaluation of elementary school textbooks In terms of paying attention to teaching decision-making and problem-solving skills

The purpose of this study is to analyze the content of elementary school textbooks based on decision-making and problem-solving skills. The method is descriptive and content analysis. The research community is all the books of the elementary education course (sixth grade) of the academic year 1399-99. The census sampling method was used and all primary school textbooks (41 volumes, 4947 pages) were reviewed and analyzed. The measurement tool was a researcher-made content analysis checklist whose validity was verified by experts and its reliability was verified by Scott method (89.5) and reproducibility technique (inter-coder reliability); Finally, the conceptual framework of the research was designed in the form of 2 skills and 10 indicators. Then, the data obtained from content analysis were analyzed in the form of descriptive statistics using the three steps of Shannon entropy. Decision-making and problem-solving skills are discussed 755 times in all pages of elementary school textbooks, of which; The highest attention with 403 frequency (53.4%) is related to "problem solving" skill and the lowest attention with 352 cases (46.6%) is related to "decision making" skill. In elementary school textbooks, the highest coefficient of importance is related to the skill of "decision making" (0.2221) and the lowest is related to the skill of "problem solving" with a coefficient of 0.502. The first grade has 5 book titles with a total of 64 times (8.5%); Second grade with 6 titles 92 (12.2%); Third, fourth and fifth grades with 7 titles, respectively 118 (15.6%); 134 (17.8%) and 128 times (17%) and the sixth grade with 9 titles, 219 times (29%) mentioned decision-making and problem-solving skills. The most attention to the total skills is related to the book "Mathematics" with 131 frequency (17.4%) and the least attention to "Quran teaching" with 80 frequency (10.6%). The book "Persian" in a total of six bases, 81 times; "Persian writing" 99; "Experimental Sciences" 105; "Teaching the Qur'an" 80; "Mathematics" 131; "Heavenly Gifts" 108 and "Social Studies" have dealt with these skills 102 times in total. Of these, the most attention was paid to the Persian book "Sixth" with 19 frequencies (23.5%) in the Persian book "Sixth" with 25 frequencies (25.2%) to the experimental sciences "Fourth" with 27 frequencies (25.8%) to the teaching of the Qur'an "Basic" "Fourth" with 21 frequencies (26.3%) in mathematics "sixth" with 39 frequencies (29.8%) in celestial gifts "fifth" with 39 frequencies (36.1%) in social studies "sixth" with 38 frequencies (37.3%). The most attention of Persian books, Persian writing, experimental sciences and mathematics to the problem of "problem solving" 51.9%; 59.6%; 63.8%; 62.6% and 51.9% and the most attention of Quran teaching books and social studies to the skill of "decision making" is 51.2% and 61.8%. The books "Thinking and Research and Work and Technology", which are taught only in the sixth grade, have taught decision-making and problem-solving skills 24 and 25 times, respectively; Their greatest focus has been on "decision-making" skills with 15 frequencies.We have to make decisions to take every step of life, the path of human life is determined by his decisions, but if a person does not have enough skills to make decisions, he will not be able to make decisions and as a result will endure conflicts and tensions or irrational decisions. And incorrectly, it will cause depression, anxiety and other discomforts (Ahanchian and Asavardi, 2015). In 2005, Scheckman et al. Found that decision-making skills training has a significant impact on the living environment and personal performance, and Tuttle stated in 2006 that life skills training in adolescents improves their decision-making abilities. Kurd Noghabi (2005) also said that from the point of view of students, teachers and education experts to develop a life skills curriculum; Decision-making skills in elementary school have high priorities. The coefficient obtained for this skill indicates the high importance of this component and is consistent with the mentioned researches. However, the findings of this study are in line with the results of Asadollahi et al. (2016) who stated that according to teachers, the sixth grade social education textbook pays more attention to decision making and Akbarzadeh Mirzanagh (2011) is not consistent.The results also show that out of a total of 755 frequency cases, 403 cases (53.4%) are dedicated to problem solving skills and the obtained importance coefficient is 0.1502 (second priority). Life is full of simple and complex issues. Students should practice how to solve the problem in school. If they have a problem in life or school, they know how to solve it (Harrington and Oliver, 2000). It is through learning to solve problems that children build their thinking skills. When children learn to solve problems with the confidence that They can easily make good decisions for themselves and solve their problems.When children do not have problem solving skills, they run away from the problem or problem and do not try to solve the problem, for example, a child whose age is ridiculed and does not know How he should deal with it will always escape from this problem, for example, he may hate school little by little, suffer from academic failure, and may want to run away from school under the pretext of headaches and pain, and so on.In this study, according to the obtained coefficient of importance, problem solving skills are in the second priority. The results of studies show that accurate problem solving has good consequences. Therefore, emphasis should be placed on teaching effective and positive coping skills. Beliges and Mous (1984, quoting Khosravi and Aghajani, 2003) found that centralized coping was less relevant to problem solving with severe abnormalities. Ohren and Gates (2002) and Gotholic (2004) focused on problem-solving skills training. The results of this study are in line with the findings of Ahmadi (2012) who stated that there is a difference between the level of attention of Persian books in the elementary school to each of the components of life skills training, so that problem solving skills are not the first priority. It is also consistent with the research of chivalry (2015) and El Masari et al. (2016) who stated that textbooks have paid enough attention to problem solving skills.In general, the most attention is paid to the total decision-making and problem-solving skills related to the book "Mathematics" with 131 frequencies (17.4%) and the least attention is related to the book "Teaching the Qur'an" with 80 frequencies (10.6%). Findings from the analysis show that textbooks teach life skills, but there is a difference between the level of attention paid to each component of life skills and in different textbooks.