Which textbook to choose? Graphicacy in activities with images

Abstract

The aim of this research is to generate criteria to help in the choice of textbooks focusing in the graphical or visual competence fostered in their activities. The criteria are tested by comparing different primary education textbooks by several Spanish publishers by means of how graphicacy is considered in the activities about the human body. The criteria used are task type, type of biological procedures, level of cognitive processing and the existence of graphical teaching. We found that one of the publishers promotes better the graphicacy in the activities about human body although we also analyzed the contributions of the other publishers. We concluded that the criteria proposed could help to select the best textbook according to graphicacy. Nevertheless, the results also show the necessity to change the conception and use of images as learning tool.