Basic Inquiry and Integrated Science Process Skills in Digital-Related Experiments within Physics Textbooks of South Korea, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia

Abstract

Technological development, particularly in experimental, is now embedded in physics textbooks. Therefore, this study analyzed how the basic inquiry and the integrated science process skills in digital-related experiments are distributed within physics textbooks of South Korea, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia. A descriptive qualitative content analysis was conducted by analyzing physics textbooks from these countries. The samples included six physics textbooks, two from each country. The findings indicate that the most frequently used digital-related experiment tool was the video recorder in South Korea, the computer in the United Kingdom, and the virtual (simulation) experiment in Indonesia. The distribution of basic inquiry skills from these countries predominantly emphasizes 'observing' and 'measuring', while other skills are only minimally incorporated. However, the 'classifying' and 'predicting' were not found in any textbooks. Furthermore, the distribution of integrated science process skills shows that 'experimenting' skills are used most frequently, while the other skills are only minimally incorporated. However, 'formulating hypotheses' was not found in any textbooks. Therefore, this study strongly emphasizes the digital-based experiments, which highlight the optimization of basic inquiry and integrated science process skills distribution. This study can be used as a reference in developing educational policy or curriculum on a global scale.