The Availability Degree of Visual Thinking Skills in Geography Textbooks at the Secondary School in the Republic of Yemen

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the availability degree of visual thinking skills in the geography textbooks and monitor their frequencies at the secondary school stage in the Republic of Yemen. In order to achieve the study objective, the researcher sets a list of visual thinking skills making use of the educational literature and previous studies in this field. The list included six skills, namely; reading the visual shapes, analysis the visual shapes, linking the relationship in the visual shape, visual discrimination, interpreting information using the visual shape, and realizing the spatial relationships; they are validated by some of the curricula and teaching methods as well as educational sciences experts. The researcher modified the skills in accordance to the experts' perspectives and suggestions to be in their final form. Then, a form was prepared to analyze the content by taking advantage of the previous list of visual thinking skills. In light of this, the researcher analyzed the contents of geography books, including pictures, shapes, maps and symbols following the steps in the analysis process. The study revealed that the visual thinking skills were available in the content of the geography textbooks to a weak degree except for the skill of interpreting information using the visual shape, which was with a degree of availability ranging between acceptable and medium in all textbooks. The skill of realizing the spatial relationships was also with an acceptable degree of availability in the two geography textbooks for the third secondary school grade. Accordingly, the study recommends to activate the availability of all visual thinking skills in the geography textbooks to a high degree because of their importance in activating the student learning.