The level of attention to the five dimensions of health in the content of experimental science textbooks at elementary schools

Health education and promotion at schools and thoughtful planning for the health of the future generation are very important and lay the foundation for the full development of society in all aspects. The purpose of the research was to review and analyze the content of experimental science textbooks at elementary schools based on the attention paid to the five dimensions of health (physical, mental, spiritual, social, and environmental). The research method was content analysis, and a researcher-made checklist was used to collect the data. The statistical population consisted of experimental science textbooks from the first to the sixth grades in the academic year 2019–2020, which included 81 lessons and 644 pages. The unit of analysis included all the pages (including texts, images, activities, and questions), and descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) was used to analyze the data. The findings showed that 1st grade textbook and 5th grade textbook have paid more attention to physical health dimensions, but 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades textbooks have mainly focused on the environmental dimension. Furthermore, experimental science textbooks of 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades have paid the least attention to spiritual health, and experimental science textbook of 2nd grade has paid the least attention to mental health. The results of the data analysis indicated that the content of experimental science textbooks at elementary schools has addressed all the five dimensions of health, but the attention paid to some aspects of health was not consistent, balanced, or desirable.