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Acta Chim. Slov. 2024, 71, 143–160
Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
DOI: 10.17344/acsi.2024.8628
Scientific paper
Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the  
Orientation of the Intended Chemistry Curriculum  
for Primary and Secondary Schools
Špela Hrast* and Vesna Ferk Savec
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Kardeljeva ploščad 16, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
* Corresponding author: E-mail: pela.hrast@pef.uni-lj.si
Received: 01-18-2024
Abstract
Textbooks have a central role in chemistry education and represent the intended chemistry curriculum at the national 
level. This paper focuses on analysing the intended chemistry curriculum as represented by the visual representations 
and the activities for students in the textbook sets in relation to the topics of the Slovenian National Chemistry Curric-
ulum both at the primary and secondary school levels. The analysis involved all textbook sets approved by the national 
representatives for the 2021/2022 school year. The results revealed that in most of the curriculum topics in the analysed 
Slovenian chemistry textbook sets, the curriculum orientation structure of the discipline prevails and the everyday life 
orientation is present for both primary and secondary schools. T o improve the relevance of the textbook sets for students, 
the currently rare presence of history of chemistry, environmental orientation, and technology and industry orientation and 
the lack of the use of socio-scientific orientation should be overcome. It would be valuable if further studies in textbook 
sets would also address the intended chemistry curriculum from a more holistic perspective.
Keywords: Intended chemistry curriculum, curriculum orientation, activity for students, visual representation, chem-
istry textbook set
1. Introduction
1. 1.  Textbooks as Representations of the 
Intended Chemistry Curriculum
The ideas of a curriculum can be manifested by dif-
ferent representations of the curriculum,
1
 such as the in-
tended, the implemented, and the attained curriculum.
2
 
The intended curriculum includes the ideal curriculum, 
which represents the basic philosophy and rationale of a 
curriculum, and the formal/written curriculum; the writ-
ten curriculum represents the intentions as stated in curric-
ulum materials such as textbooks.
2,3 
In Slovenia, textbooks 
for chemistry as a school subject should be in line with the 
National Curriculum for Chemistry at certain levels of ed-
ucation
4,5 
and approved by the Council of Experts of the 
Republic of Slovenia for General Education
6 
or Vocation-
al and Technical Education,
7
 thus reflecting the ideal and 
the formal curriculum for chemistry. Textbooks also have 
a significant impact on implemented and attained curricu-
lum,
2,3
 because they are often used both for teachers’ lesson 
preparation,
8
 students’ activities during lessons, homework 
as well as for students’ independent learning.
9–11
1. 2.  Curriculum Orientations as a 
Foundation for the Analysis of the 
Intended Chemistry Curriculum as 
Represented by Textbooks
Based on a perception of textbooks as a representa-
tion of the intended curriculum,
2
 textbooks can be referred 
to as a reference point to understanding which curricu-
lum orientations are integrated into a particular subject 
and educational setting and which of them prevails.
12
 Six 
basic orientations of the chemistry curriculum have been 
identified by Eilks and his colleagues
13
 in relation to the 
previous research work by De Jong.
14
 They can be utilised 
as guiding principles for structuring the curriculum and/
or as designated approaches to teaching particular chem-
istry topics.
13
The characteristics of each of the curriculum orien-
tations are described below:
•  The chemistry curriculum orientation structure of the 
discipline emphasises contemporary theories and facts 
of chemistry and their interrelationships, on which the 
structure of the curriculum is built. Social or personal 

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Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
issues and technological applications of chemistry are 
generally not covered (or only for illustration at the 
end). As such, it provides an excellent foundation for 
the later academic study of chemistry
13
 and is a suita-
ble approach for a small group of intrinsically motivat-
ed
15,16
 students who have decided to enrol in this study 
in the future. The structure of the discipline curriculum 
could be beneficial for teachers in clarifying the main 
theories of chemistry and their interrelationships.
13
 
However, this approach is not in line with modern 
educational theory, which emphasises the theories of 
scientific literacy
17
 and situated cognition.
18
 The im-
portance of students’ different motivations, interests, 
and attitudes in teaching and learning chemistry
19,20 
is neglected. However, modern chemistry curricula 
are moving towards more holistic approaches that in-
tegrate the learning of concepts and theories through 
different contexts from everyday life, technology, and 
society.
21–24
•  The chemistry curriculum orientation history of chem-
istry emphasises the content of chemistry as it was gen-
erated in history and/or its past development.
13
 It offers 
the opportunity to foster an understanding of the nature 
of science
25,26
 in general and the nature of chemistry in 
particular, which is a central element of scientific literacy 
and is widely regarded as one of the main goals of science 
and chemistry education.
27–29
 Benefits also include the 
potential to improve students’ interest in and attitudes 
towards chemistry,
25,30
 to promote higher order learning 
skills, such as critical thinking and problem solving,
31
 to 
improve understanding of the concept of chemistry, and 
to promote conceptual change.
32
 In the latter, care must 
be taken to ensure that students always know which con-
cepts are part of history and are no longer used today.
13
 
However, when orientating on the history of chemistry, 
aspects of the students’ everyday life and society are of-
ten not sufficiently taken into account.
33
•  The chemistry curriculum orientation everyday life, 
based on the questions of daily life and the chemical 
knowledge needed to deal with them. Contexts, such 
as materials used in everyday life, serve as a starting 
point.
13
 In most cases, however, the everyday life ori-
entation is based on Van Berkel’s curriculum empha-
sis
34
 on fundamental chemistry, which focuses more 
on learning theoretical concepts and facts than on the 
relationship between chemistry and technology and its 
role in societal issues.
13
•  The environmental orientation of the chemistry cur-
riculum focuses on environmental issues, such as acid 
rain and water pollution and the chemical content 
behind them. We can assume fundamental chemistry 
as the curriculum emphasis. However, environmental 
topics require a more thorough reflection on the inter-
relation between science, technology, and society.
13
•  In contrast, the technology and industry orientation of 
the chemistry curriculum emphasises chemical tech-
nology and developments in industry and the chemical 
knowledge applied there.
13
 The teaching and learning 
of chemistry that incorporates aspects of the chemi-
cal industry thus embraces one of the most important 
features of modern life and its technological achieve-
ments.
35,36
 In doing so, it can provide the opportuni-
ty for a broader focus that includes the interaction of 
chemistry and technology in society.
13,35,36
•  The socio-scientific orientation of the chemistry curric-
ulum emphasises socio-scientific issues
13
 and focuses 
on authentic social issues.
37
 They provide a context 
for understanding scientific information
38
 and are not 
only the starting point of teaching and learning but also 
the central content.
22
 They are usually controversial in 
nature and are intended to be important and engaging 
for students. They require the use of evidence-based 
arguments on the one hand and moral reasoning or 
the evaluation of ethical concerns on the other.
38–41
 By 
fostering general education skills in the areas of com-
munication and decision-making, the socio-scientific 
orientation aims to develop students’ scientific literacy 
and prepare them to become responsible citizens in the 
future.
13,42
 This type of orientation also offers opportu-
nities to achieve the goals of discipline-oriented educa-
tion for sustainable development by using sustainabili-
ty-oriented socio-scientific issues.
22,43,44
The curriculum orientation everyday life, environ-
mental orientation, technology and industry orientation 
and socio-scientific orientation can be also referred to with-
in context-based curricula,
33
 as they all aim to increase 
students' interest and motivation in chemistry by linking 
chemical concepts to real-life contexts and, in such a man-
ner make them more relevant for students.
33,45,46
1. 3.  Activities for Students and Visual 
Representations in Textbooks as an 
Essential Part of Developing Chemical 
Understanding
To enhance the teaching and learning of chemistry, 
significant attention has been devoted to studying stu-
dents’ engagement and research on visualisation, particu-
larly molecular-level representation.
47
Based on research recommendations, efforts are be-
ing made to achieve meaningful student engagement in 
learning, so-called student-centred learning,
48
 through 
various types of activities for students, from questions in 
learning materials
49
 to practical work in class.
47,50,51 
One 
particularly important kind of practical work for chem-
istry education is experimental work,
52,53
 which can take 
a variety of forms
54
 and often requires students to make 
connections between the domain of objects and observa-
tions and the domain of ideas in order to develop their 
scientific knowledge.
53
 In addition to the acquisition of 
knowledge, other fundamental goals of experimental work 
are the development of experimental skills and scientific 

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Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
thinking.
50,53,55
Learning materials can also contribute to students’ 
engagement in the learning of chemistry with under-
standing,
49
 whereby realistic, conventional, and hybrid 
visual representations
56
 play an important role.
11,57
 Visual 
representations can relate to one of the three levels pro-
posed by Johnstone
58
 for representing chemical concepts 
and processes: macroscopic (observable phenomena), 
submicroscopic, or particulate (various representations of 
atomic, molecular and particle structures) and symbolic 
(mathematical and chemical symbols). Only a few macro-
scopic observations can be understood without the use of 
submicroscopic representations or models.
59
 Various vis-
ualisations are used to help students in linking of the three 
levels of the concept or process being represented,
60–62
 
since the interpretation of the macroscopic phenomenon 
at the particulate level is considered crucial to the creation 
of accurate mental images or internal representations for 
corresponding phenomena
63,64
 and, as such, is an impor-
tant component of modern chemistry teaching.
65
2. The Context and the Purpose  
of the Study
The use of textbooks has been a habitual means of 
supporting the effective teaching and learning of school 
subjects in primary and secondary schools, including the 
school subject chemistry. To support the quality of text-
books in chemistry education, much attention has been 
paid to the analysis of various aspects of the textbook,
66,67
 
for example, the analysis of the learning content,
68–70
 the 
visual representations and their integration,
9,71,72
 and the 
learning activities.
73–75
However, few textbook analyses focus on the aspect 
that textbooks convey not only explicit information but 
also hidden ideas, for example, the purpose of learning 
chemistry subject matter
13
 and, as such, represent intend-
ed chemistry curriculum and direct to its orientation.
12
 
Khaddoor, Al-Amoushab, and Eilks
12
 examined 10
th
-
grade chemistry textbooks from seven Arab countries 
and analysed the intended curriculum as presented by 
them using the theoretical framework of curriculum em-
phases
34
 and orientations of chemistry curricula.
13
 Based 
on the methodology of Khaddoor et al.,
12
 Chen, Chiu 
and Eilks
76
 focused on the representation of the intended 
curriculum in 10
th
-grade chemistry textbooks from three 
Chinese communities. Chen, de Goes, Treagust and Ei-
lks
77
 analysed the visual representations of redox reactions 
in secondary chemistry textbooks from different Chinese 
communities, focusing on the orientation of the intend-
ed curriculum characterised by the contexts proposed for 
chemistry learning. The same focus was also analysed by 
authors de Goes, Chen, Nogueira, Fernandez and Eilks,
78
 
with the difference that they focused on Brazilian chemis-
try textbooks.
In this paper, we seek to provide new insights into 
the analysis of the intended chemistry curriculum as rep-
resented by textbooks, particularly from the perspective of 
the included activities for students and visual representa-
tions in relation to the curriculum orientations. Among 
textbook components, activities for students and visual 
representations are namely recognised in the literature as 
essential to developing students’ deep and coherent under-
standing of chemistry
47
 and have the greatest potential to 
influence classroom practise.
8
 This paper focuses on the 
activities for students and visual representations in Slove-
nian chemistry textbooks in relation to the topics of the 
National Chemistry Curriculum for Primary School,
5
 and 
for General Secondary School – Gymnasium,
4
 which rep-
resents the current state of the art for Slovenian primary 
and secondary school chemistry education. Thereby, it is 
important to note, that chemistry is an obligatory school 
subject in Slovenian primary schools in eighth and ninth 
grades (age 13–15 years) and in general secondary schools 
(age 15–19 years) in the first, second, and third years, 
whereas fourth-year students can choose chemistry based 
on their interests.
The following research questions (RQ) were stated:
1
st
 RQ:   Which curriculum orientations indicated from 
the activities for students prevail in the analysed 
Slovenian chemistry textbook sets for primary 
school with respect to the curriculum topics?
2
nd
 RQ:   Which curriculum orientations indicated from the 
visual representations prevail in the analysed Slo-
venian chemistry textbook sets for primary school 
with respect to the curriculum topics?
3
rd
 RQ:   Which curriculum orientations indicated from 
the activities for students prevail in the analysed 
Slovenian chemistry textbook sets for secondary 
school with respect to the curriculum topics?
4
th
 RQ:   Which curriculum orientations indicated from 
the visual representations prevail in the analysed 
Slovenian chemistry textbook sets for secondary 
school with respect to the curriculum topics?
3. Methods
3. 1. Sample
To answer the research questions, we focused on 
textbook sets, specifically chemistry textbooks for primary 
school (8
th
 and 9
th
 grade; basic compulsory education
79
) 
approved by the Council of Experts of the Republic of Slo-
venia for General Education and for secondary school (1
st
, 
2
nd
, and 3
rd
 years; upper secondary general non-compul-
sory education – gymnasium
79
) approved by the Council 
of Experts of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational and 
Technical Education for the 2021/2022 school year, as well 
as the accompanying workbooks. Due to the large variety 
of supplementary materials offered by different publishers, 
no supplementary materials (e.g., recommendations for 

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Acta Chim. Slov. 2024, 71, 143–160
Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
teachers) were analysed. Only textbook sets in Slovenian 
were analysed. Textbook sets dealing only with the elective 
contents of chemistry were not analysed. If a textbook set 
is available in i- or e-form as well as in printed form, the 
printed materials for students were analysed.
Chemistry textbooks for primary and secondary 
schools in Slovenia must be written on the basis of the 
objectives of the National Curriculum for Chemistry at 
certain levels of education,
4,5 
which set specific objectives 
and suggestions for the content for each of the ten topics 
for primary school and for each of the twelve topics for 
secondary school (the topics are presented in more detail 
in section 3.3 Data analysis). T eachers are free to distribute 
the above curriculum topics in 70 hours in 8
th
 grade and 
64 hours in 9
th
 grade in primary school and in 70 hours 
in 1
st
 year, 70 hours in 2
nd
 year, and 70 hours in 3
rd
 year 
in secondary school as they see fit. With some publishers, 
the topics of the National Chemistry Curriculum for Pri-
mary School are covered in two different sets of textbooks, 
namely the 8
th
-grade textbook set and the 9
th
-grade text-
book set. The same applies to some secondary textbook 
sets. To overcome this issue, the analysis combined the 
primary school textbook sets (8
th
 and 9
th
 grade) from the 
same publisher and the secondary school textbook sets 
(1
st
, 2
nd
, and 3
rd
 year) from the same publisher. Thus, in 
the analysis of secondary school textbook sets, two text-
book sets were excluded whose publishers cover only one 
of three grades. For a publishing company that offers two 
Table 1. The list of the analysed textbook sets for primary school
Publi­
sher
Textbook set title Author(s) Y ear of 
publication 
(Edition)
Textbook/
workbook
Number of 
Pages
Textbook/ 
workbook
Grade/
Learner’s
age
Introduction of 
learning goals at 
the beginning of 
chapters
Textbook/ 
workbook
Summary of 
important 
concepts at 
the end of 
chapters
Textbook/ 
workbook
DZS Kemija danes 1 Graunar, M., Podlipnik, M., Mirnik, J., 
Gabrič, A., Glažar, S. A., Slatinek-Žigon, 
M. (textbook)
Graunar, M., Modec. B., Dolenc,D., 
Gabrič, A., Slatinek Žigon, M. (work-
book)
2018  
(1st Ed.)/
2015 (1st Ed.)
160/104 8/13 Y es/No Y es/No
Kemija danes 2 Graunar, M., Podlipnik, M., Mirnik, J. 
(textbook)
Dolenc, D., Graunar, M., Modec, B. 
(workbook)
2016 
(1st Ed.)/
2018 (1st Ed.)
152/96 9/14
Jutro Svet kemije 8,  
Od atoma do 
molekule
Smrdu, A. 2012  
(2nd Ed.)/ 
2012 (2nd Ed.)
128/160 8/13 No/Y es Y es/No
Svet kemije 9, 
Od molekule do 
makromole-kule
Smrdu, A. 2013  
(2nd Ed.)/ 
2018 (2nd Ed.)
128/152 9/14
MK Pogled v kemijo 8 Kornhauser, A., Frazer, M. 2003  
(1st Ed.)/
2004 (1st Ed.)
140/126 8/13 No/No Y es/No
Pogled v kemijo 9 Kornhauser, A., Frazer, M. 2005 
(1st Ed.)/
2006 (1st Ed.)
140/115 9/14
Modrijan Moja prva kemija Vrtačnik, M., Wissiak Grm, K. S., Glažar, 
S. A., Godec, A.
2017  
(1st Ed.)/
2018 (1st Ed.)
239/92 8, 9/13, 14 No/No Y es/No
Rokus 
Klett
Peti element 8 Devetak, I., Cvirn Pavlin, T., Jamšek, S. 2017  
(1st Ed.)/ 2017 
(1st Ed.)
105/71 8/13 Y es/Y es Y es/No
Peti element 9 Devetak I., Cvirn Pavlin T., Jamšek S., 
Vesna, P .
Devetak, I.,Cvirn Pavlin, T., Jamšek, S.
2015  
(1st Ed.)/ 2012 
(1st Ed.)
77/ 79 9/14
Zavod  
RS za 
šolstvo
Kemija 8,
i-učbenik
Sajovic, I., Wissiak Grm, K. S., Godec, A., 
Kralj, B., Smrdu, A., Vrtačnik, M., Glažar, 
S.
2014 264/0 8/13 Ye s Ye s
Kemija 9,
i-učbenik
Jamšek, S., Sajovic, I., Wissiak Grm, K. S.., 
Godec, A., Boh, B., Vrtačnik, M., Glažar, 
S.
2013 271/0 9/14

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Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
textbooks covering the same curriculum topics for sec-
ondary school, the later-released textbook, which also 
contains a complementary workbook, was chosen.
A list of the textbook sets analysed can be found in 
Table 1 and Table 2.
3. 2 Instruments
We employed a rubric, based on the criteria for text-
book analysis by Devetak and Vorgrinc,
11
 for qualitative 
content analysis of textbook sets in this research. The ru-
bric, adapted by Khaddoor, Al-Amoush and Eilks,
12
 as 
well as by Chen, Chie and Eliks,
76
 was used in the analysis 
and is presented in Table 3.
The detailed criteria for the evaluation of the curric-
ulum orientations category indicated by the activities for 
students or visual representations, which are the focus of 
this paper, are presented in Table 4.
To ensure the validity of the rubric, 280 pages of 
primary school textbook sets and 373 pages of second-
ary school textbook sets (10% of all textbook set pages 
analysed) were analysed by both authors to define the 
main types of activities for students and the main types 
of visual representations, and to determine the curric-
ulum orientations indicated from the activities for stu-
dents and visual representations. The textbook set pages 
analysed were randomly selected from the textbook sets 
of all publishers. 47 pages each from the primary school 
textbook sets of the same publisher and 93 pages from 
the secondary school textbook sets of the same publish-
er were analysed. To reduce the bias associated with us-
ing the rubric to categorise activities for students and 
visual representations, 95% inter-rater reliability of the 
rubric was determined through discussion and agree-
ment.
3. 3 Data Analysis
The rubric described in the instruments section was 
used in the analysis of the general structure, textual ma-
Table 2. The list of the analysed textbook sets for secondary school
Publisher Textbook  
set title
Author(s) Y ear of 
publication 
(Edition)
Textbook/
Workbook
Number of 
Pages
Textbook/ 
workbook
Grade/
Learner’s
age
Introduction of 
learning goals at 
the beginning of 
chapters
Textbook/ 
workbook
Summary of 
important 
concepts at 
the end of 
chapters
Textbook/ 
workbook
DZS Kemija za 
gimnazije 1
Bukovec, N. 2019 (1st Ed.)/
2011 (1st Ed.)
144/64 1/15 No/Y es Y es/No
Kemija za 
gimnazije 1
Bukovec, N. 20 (1st Ed.)/
2012 (1st Ed.)
152/72 2/16 No/Y es Y es/No
Kemija za 
gimnazije 2
Graunar, M., Podlipnik, M., Cvirn Pavlin, 
T. (textbook)
Košmrlj, B., Graunar, M (workbooks).
2019 (1st Ed.)/
2019 (1st Ed.); 
2019 (1
st
)
248/118;118 3/17 No/No Y es/No
Jutro Kemija, Snov in 
spremembe 1
Smrdu, A. 2015  
(2nd Ed.)/
2015 (2nd Ed.)
144/168 1/15 No/Y es Y es/No
Kemija, Snov in 
spremembe 2
Smrdu, A. 2012 (3rd Ed.)/
2018 (1st Ed.)
152/168 2/16 No/Y es Y es/No
Kemija, Snov in 
spremembe 3
Smrdu, A. 2016 (2rd Ed.)/
2012 (1st Ed.); 
2016 (1st Ed)
184/96;136 3/17 No/Y es Y es/No
Modrijan Atomi in 
molekule
Godec, A., Leban, I. (textbook)
Cebin, N., Klemenčič, B., Prašnikar, M.
(workbook)
2019 (1st Ed.)/
2012 (1st Ed.)
159/124 1/15 Y es/No Y es/No
Kemijske reakcije Godec, A., Leban, I. (textbook)
Cebin, N., Klemenčič, B., Prašnikar M. 
(workbook)
2010 (1st Ed.)/
2013 (1st Ed.)
174/112 2/16 Y es/No Y es/No
Verige in obroči Tršek, Š., Cerkovnik, J. (textbook)
Cebin, N., Klemenčič, B., Prašnikar M. 
(workbook)
2011 (1st Ed.)/
2015 (1st Ed.)
199/124 3/17 Y es/No Y es/No
Zavod  
RS za 
šolstvo
Kemija 1,
i-učbenik
Smrdu, A., Zmazek, B., Vrtačnik, M., 
Glažar, S., Godec, A., Ferk Savec, V .
2014 (1st. Ed.) 296/0 1/15 Ye s Ye s
Kemija 2,
i-učbenik
Zmazek, B., Smrdu, A., Ferk Savec, V ., 
Glažar, G., Vrtačnik, M.
2014 (1st. Ed.) 245/0 2/16 Ye s Ye s
Kemija 3,
i-učbenik
Vrtačnik, M., Zmazek, B., Boh, B. 2014 (1st. Ed.) 335/0 3/17 Ye s Ye s

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Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
terial, and visual representations of the entire sample of 
chemistry textbook sets presented in Table 1 and Table 2. 
Textbook sets were analysed individually.
Visual representations that were content-related in 
a particular area of the textbook set (e.g., submicroscopic 
representations of modifications of carbon allotropes) and 
Table 3. The rubric used for analysed textbook sets adapted from Khaddoor, Al-Amoush, and Eilks
12
 and Chen, Chie, and Eliks.
76
General 
criteria
Catego­ ry
Subcategories
General 
structure
Pages and 
chapters
Number of pages 
Number of chapter
Length of chapters within a specific curriculum topic
Textual material
Activities for student
Number of activities for students
Type of activities for students
Experimental activities (Demonstrations, Individual students’ experimentations)
Other practical activities (Tasks for Internet searches; Project work, building molecular structures 
etc.)
Rating scales related to learning goals
Other tasks for repeating and deepening knowledge
Curriculum orientations 
indicated from activities for 
students
Structure of the discipline orientation
History of chemistry orientation
Everyday life orientation
Environmental orientation
Technology and industry orientation
Socio-scientific orientation
Introduction 
and 
summary
Presence of introduction of learning goals at the beginning of chapters 
Presence of summary of important concepts at the end of chapters
Visual representations
Visual representations (VRs)
Number of VRs
Type of VRs
Realistic VRs (Photograph, drawing, video)
Conventional VRs (Graph; Flowchart, diagram, map; Table; Pictogram; Molecular structure 
--Submicroscopic level or Symbolic level or Submicroscopic & symbolic level; Atomic structure; 
Other)
Hybrid VRs (Macroscopic level with molecular structure - Macroscopic, submicroscopic & 
symbolic level or Macroscopic & submicroscopic level or macroscopic & symbolic level; Other)
Curriculum orientations 
indicated from VRs
Structure of the discipline orientation
History of chemistry orientation
Everyday life orientation
Environmental orientation
Technology and industry orientation
Socio-scientific orientation
Table 4. Criteria for the evaluation of the category Curriculum orientations indicated by activities for students or visual representations based on the 
theoretical framework of Eilks et al.
13
 and adapted from Khaddoor, Al-Amoush, and Eilks
12
 and Chen, Chie, and Eliks.
76
Category Subcategory Description 
Curriculum 
orientations
Structure of the discipline 
orientation
The analysed part of the textbook set emphasises the contemporary theories and facts of 
chemistry and their interrelationships
History of chemistry orientation The analysed part of the textbook set emphasises the content of chemistry as it was generated 
in history and/or its past development.
Everyday life orientation The analysed part of the textbook set emphasises the questions from everyday life and the 
chemical knowledge needed to deal with them. 
Environmental orientation The analysed part of the textbook set emphasises the environmental issues and chemistry 
content behind them. 
Technology and industry 
orientation
The analysed part of the textbook set emphasises chemical technology and developments in 
industry and the chemical knowledge used in these areas today and in the past.
Socio-scientific orientation The analysed part of the textbook set emphasises the socio-scientific issue and concerns to 
prepare students to become responsible citizens in the future.

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Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
were not specifically separated (e.g., labelled a/b/c) were 
considered as one visual representation.
The analysed aspects of the textbook sets were cate-
gorised with regard to the following curriculum topics of 
the National Chemistry Curriculum for Primary School:
5
 
(1) Chemistry is a W orld of Matter (orig. Kemija je svet sno-
vi); (2) Atom and the Periodic System of Elements (orig. 
Atom in periodni sistem elementov); (3) Compounds and 
Bonding (orig. Povezovanje delcev/gradnikov); (4) Chem-
ical Reactions (orig. Kemijske reakcije); (5) The Elements 
in the Periodic Table (orig. Elementi v periodnem sistemu); 
(6) Acids, Bases and Salts (orig. Kisline, baze in soli); (7) 
Hydrocarbons and Polymers (orig. Družina ogljikovodik-
ov s polimeri); (8) Organic Compounds Containing Oxy-
gen (orig. Kisikova družina organskih snovi); (9) Organic 
Compounds Containing Nitrogen (orig. Dušikova družina 
organskih spojin), and (10) The Mole (orig. Množina sno-
vi) and the following curriculum topics of the National 
Chemistry Curriculum for Secondary School
4
: (1) Intro-
duction to Safe Experimental Work (orig. Uvod v varno 
eksperimentalno delo); (2) Building Blocks of Matter (orig. 
Delci (gradniki) snovi); (3) Compounds and Bonding (orig. 
Povezovanje delcev (gradnikov)); (4) Amount of Substance 
and Chemical Equations as Symbolic Representations 
(orig. Simbolni zapisi in množina snovi); (5) Chemical Re-
action as Change of Substance and Energy (orig. Kemijska 
reakcija kot snovna in energijska sprememba); (6) Alkali 
Metals and Halogens (orig. Alkalijske kovine in halogeni); 
(7) Solutions (orig. Raztopine); (8) Chemical Reaction 
Rates and Equilibrium (orig. Potek kemijskih reakcij); (9) 
The Elements in the Periodic Table (orig. Elementi v peri-
odnem sistemu); (10) Properties of Selected Elements and 
Compounds in Biological Systems and Modern Technolo-
gies (orig. Lastnosti izbranih elementov in spojin bioloških 
sistemih in sodobnih tehnologijah); (11) Structure and No-
menclature of Organic Compounds (orig. Zgradba mol-
ekul organskih spojin in njihovo poimenovanje), and (12) 
Structure and Properties of Organic Compounds (orig. 
Zgradba in lastnosti organskih spojin).
Finally, the types of activities for students, the types 
of visual representations and the curriculum orientations 
indicated by them in each of the topics were counted, and 
the frequencies for each of the textbook sets were calcu-
lated.
To overcome the variability of textbook sets due to 
the personal style and opinions of the textbook authors,
13
 
in this article, we use the expression the analysed Slovenian 
chemistry textbook sets and thereby refer to the calculat-
ed average of the data obtained from the textbook sets for 
each of the curriculum topics.
4. Results and Discussion
The results of the analysis of the textbook sets in 
terms of curriculum orientation indicated by activities for 
students and visual representations are presented with re-
gard to the research questions. The results of other select-
ed characteristics of activities for students or visual rep-
resentations from the rubric presented in Table 3 can be 
found in Appendices 1–4.
4. 1.  Curriculum Orientations Indicated from 
the Activities for Students in Analysed 
Slovenian Chemistry Textbook Sets 
for Primary School with Respect to the 
Curriculum Topics (Related to 1st RQ)
The average number of different curriculum orienta-
tions indicated from the activities for students in analysed 
Slovenian chemistry textbook sets for primary school is 
shown in Table 5.
Table 5 shows that the largest number of curriculum 
orientation subcategories with more than 5% of analysed 
activities for students can be found in the topic ‘Hydrocar-
bons and Polymers’ (4 subcategories: Structure of the dis-
cipline orientation, Everyday life orientation, Environmen-
tal orientation, and Technology and industry orientation), 
followed by ‘Chemistry is a World of Matter’ (3 subcate-
gories: Structure of the discipline orientation, Everyday life 
orientation, and History of chemistry orientation) and ‘The 
Elements in the Periodic Table’ (3 subcategories: Structure 
of the discipline orientation, Everyday life orientation, and 
Environmental orientation). However, in other curriculum 
topics, only two subcategories prevail, with more than 5% 
of the activities for students (2 subcategories: Structure of 
the discipline orientation and Everyday life orientation).
The analysis of the textbook set revealed that within 
all the topics of the National Chemistry Curriculum for 
Primary School, with the exception of the topics ‘Organic 
Compounds Containing Oxygen’ (M = 75.33 activities, F
M
 
= 43.93%) and ‘Organic Compounds Containing Nitrogen’ 
(M = 15.17 activities, F
M
 = 17.71%), more than half of the 
activities analysed (F
M
 ranges from 53.81% to 87.69%) in-
dicate curriculum orientation that can be categorised as 
Structure of the discipline orientation. The activities that are 
categorised in this group particularly prevail in the topic 
‘Atom and the Periodic System of Elements’ (M = 65.67 
activities, F
M
 = 87.69%).
The second most frequently used activities within all 
curriculum topics in the analysed Slovenian chemistry 
textbook sets indicate a curriculum orientation that can be 
categorised as Everyday life orientation (F
M
 ranges from 
6.87% to 28.17 %). Exceptions are the topics ‘Organic 
Compounds Containing Oxygen’ and ‘Organic Com-
pounds Containing Nitrogen’ , for which the Everyday life 
orientation is used most frequently (M = 97.67 activities, 
F
M 
= 54.25%; M = 72.67 activities, F
M 
= 81.15%, respec-
tively).
In contrast, no or very few activities in analysed Slo-
venian chemistry textbook sets for primary school within 

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Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
all curriculum topics indicate Socio-scientific orientation 
(F
M
 ranges from 0.00% to 0.47%). In addition, none or less 
than 5% of the activities within all curriculum topics indi-
cated History of chemistry orientation (F
M
 ranges from 
0.00% to 4.25%), with the exception of the topic ‘Chemis-
try is a World of Matter’ (M = 7.67 activities, F
M 
= 7.31%), 
Environmental orientation (F
M
 ranges from 0.00% to 
2.29%) with the exception of the topic ‘Hydrocarbons and 
Polymers’ (M = 12.33 activities, F
M 
= 6.29%) and Technol-
ogy and industry orientation (F
M
 ranges from 0.76% to 
3.91%) with the exception of the topics ‘The Elements in 
the Periodic Table’ (M = 14.50 activities, F
M 
= 9.62%) and 
‘Hydrocarbons and Polymers’ (M = 7.50 activities, F
M 
= 
5.54%).
The findings indicate that most activities for students 
focus on the content of contemporary chemistry theories 
and facts and their interrelationships and neglect issues 
related to the individual, society and technology,
13
 as ac-
tivities indicating chemistry curriculum orientation struc-
ture of the discipline predominate in most topics of the Na-
tional Chemistry Curriculum for Primary School. Such 
activities mainly encourage students who are intrinsical-
ly
15
 motivated and interested in studying chemistry in the 
future.
13
 However, the analysed Slovenian chemistry text-
Table 5: The proportion of curriculum orientations indicated from the activities for students within the particular topics of the analysed Slovenian 
chemistry textbook sets for primary school. 
The topics of 
the National 
Chemistry 
Curriculum 
for Primary 
School (8
th
 
and 9
th
 Grade)
Curriculum orientations indicated from activities for students
Structure of the 
discipline 
orientation
History of 
chemistry 
orientation
Everyday life 
orientation
Environmental 
orientation
Technology and 
industry orientation
Socio­scientific 
orientation
M
SUM
f (%)
M
[a]
Min­max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
Chemistry is a 
World of 
Matter
61.83
33-118
66.52
47.83-
82.52
7.67
0-16
7.32
0.00- 
12.63
20.33
8-44
22.12
7.69-
31.88
2.33
0-9
2.29
0.00-6.52
1.17
0-3
1.29
0.00-2.70
0.67
0-4
0.47
0.00-2.80
94.00
55-143
100.00
Atom and the 
Periodic 
System of 
Elements 
65.67
37-131
87.69
77.59-
95.62
3.00
0-9
4.25
0.00-
15.52
3.83
0-8
6.87
0.00-
17.02
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
0.83
0-2
1.18
0.00-2.50
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
73.33
47-137
100.00
Compounds 
and Bonding
49.33
26-78
78.76
44.83-
93.06
0.83
0-4
1.02
0.00-
4.71
10.83
3-32
19.09
3.53-
55.17
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.0-0.00
0.50
0-3
1.14
0.00-6.82
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
61.50
44-85
100.00
Chemical 
Reactions
51.33
36-67
65.55
46.09-
81.33
1.17
0-5
1.34
0.00-
6.02
24.17
6-58
26.96
12.50-
45.31
2.50
0-9
2.25
0.00-7.03
2.67
0-6
3.91
0.00-12.50
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
81.83
48-128
100.00
The Elements 
in the Periodic 
Table 
78.83
32-142
53.81
45.16-
63.86
0.83
0-2
0.54
0.00-
1.42
45.67
26-63
34.89
23.85-
47.62
1.50
0-5
1.13
0.00-3.55
14.50
1-34
9.62
1.59-14.68
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
141.33
63-240
100.00
Acids, Bases 
and Salts 
92.33
51-167
70.45
60.40-
83.61
0.33
0-1
0.26
0.00-
0.92
34.83
9-58
26.51
14.75-
38.93
2.33
0-10
1.38
0.00-6.25
1.50
0-3
1.40
0.00-2.75
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
131.33
61-222
100.00
Hydrocarbons 
and Polymers 
104.00
28-276
61.41
51.94-
70.77
2.17
0-7
1.56
0.00-
3.85
35.67
15-56
25.20
14.36-
35.65
12.33
1-39
6.29
1.74-
12.40
7.50
1-16
5.54
0.87-11.54
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
161.67
52-390
100.00
Organic 
Compounds 
Containing 
Oxygen 
75.33
43-173
43.93
30.71-
57.55
1.33
0-8
0.60
0.00-
3.62
97.67
38-197
54.25
39.62-
68.57
1.00
0-4
0.46
0.00-1.07
0.83
0-2
0.76
0.00-1.89
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
176.17
83-374
100.00
Organic 
Compounds 
Containing 
Nitrogen 
15.17
5-25
17.71
5.00-
28.13
0.50
0-1
0.56
0.00-
1.72
72.67
46-112
81.15
71.88-
94.00
0.17
0-1
0.17
0.00-1.00
0.33
0-1
0.41
0.00-1.54
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
88.83
58-138
100.00
The Mole 34.33
19-50
70.39
54.29-
94.59
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-
0.00
15.00
1-37
28.17
2.70-
45.71
0.17
0-1
0.19
0.00-1.14
0.50
0-2
1.24
0.00-4.76
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
50.00
35-88
100.00
[a]  
M was calculated as the average of the number of identified activities in the textbook sets within the category of specific curriculum orientation 
and within the specific curriculum topics, thereby min and max represent the minimum and maximum number of identified activities in the 
textbook sets.
[b]  
f
M
(%) represents the proportion of M within each curriculum topic, thereby min and max f
M
(%) represent the minimum and maximum number 
of identified activities between the textbook sets.

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Acta Chim. Slov. 2024, 71, 143–160
Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
book sets for primary school also recognise the potential 
of everyday life as a context for student activities in various 
curriculum topics that can link chemistry concepts to is-
sues in students' daily lives and improve their interest and 
motivation in chemistry.
23,24,33 
In the topics ‘Organic 
Compounds Containing Oxygen’ and ‘Organic Com-
pounds Containing Nitrogen’ , the everyday life orientation 
prevails. In the activities for students on the topic ‘Hydro-
carbons and Polymers’, the connection of chemical con-
cepts with the context of the environment, technology and 
industry can also be recognised, which indicates the great-
est variability in the curriculum orientation of all curricu-
lum topics. However, most other topics in the curriculum 
do not use the potential of linking to everyday life contexts 
as mentioned above. Furthermore, in most topics, there 
are no activities that indicate a socio-scientific orientation 
and focus on socio-scientific issues
13
 that not only aim to 
provide a context for understanding chemistry concepts 
but also encourage students’ development to become re-
sponsible citizens in the future.
42
 The lack of activities rep-
resenting socio-scientific orientation indicates a possibly 
missed opportunity to develop students’ scientific litera-
cy
17
 and to achieve the goals of discipline-oriented educa-
tion for sustainable development.
22
 An unrecognised op-
portunity to promote the understanding of the nature of 
science as an important element of scientific literacy
25
 in 
various curriculum topics is also indicated by the absence 
of activities for students related to the history of chemistry 
orientation.
4. 2.  Curriculum Orientations Indicated from 
the Visual Representations in Analysed 
Slovenian Chemistry Textbook Sets for 
Primary School with Respect to  
the Curriculum Topics (Related to the  
2
nd
 RQ)
The average number of different curriculum orienta-
tions indicated from the visual representations for stu-
dents in the analysed Slovenian chemistry textbook sets in 
primary school is presented in Table 6.
From Table 6, it can be derived that the largest num-
ber of subcategories of curriculum orientation, with more 
than 5% of the analysed visual representations for stu-
dents, can be recognised within the topic ‘Chemistry is a 
World of Matter’ (4 subcategories: Structure of the disci-
pline orientation, Everyday life orientation, Technology and 
industry orientation, and History of chemistry orientation) 
and ‘Hydrocarbons and Polymers’ (4 subcategories: Struc-
ture of the discipline orientation, Everyday life orientation, 
Technology and industry orientation, and Environmental 
orientation), followed by ‘ Atom and the Periodic Table’ (3 
subcategories: Structure of the discipline orientation, 
Everyday life orientation, and History of chemistry orienta-
tion), ‘Chemical Reactions’ (3 subcategories: Structure of 
the discipline orientation, Everyday life orientation, and 
Technology and industry orientation) and ‘The Elements 
in the Periodic Table’ (Structure of the discipline orienta-
tion, Everyday life orientation, and Technology and indus-
try orientation). However, in the other half of the curricu-
lum topics, only two subcategories prevail, with more 
than 5% of the activities for students (2 subcategories: 
Structure of the discipline orientation and Everyday life ori-
entation).
The analysis of the textbook set revealed that the 
visual representations for students within half of the topics 
of the National Chemistry Curriculum for Primary School 
(‘Chemistry is a World of Matter’ , ‘ Atom and the Periodic 
System of Elements’, ‘Compounds and Bonding’, ‘Acids, 
Bases and Salts’, ‘Hydrocarbons and Polymers’) indicate 
curriculum orientation, which can most often be catego-
rised as Structure of the discipline orientation. Whereby the 
analysed representations represent approximately half or 
more of all visual representations within a particular cur-
riculum topic (M = 38.67 VRs, F
M 
= 47.40%; M = 39.50 
VRs, F
M 
= 68.13%; M = 36.00 VRs, F
M 
= 68.60%; M = 42.17 
VRs, F
M 
= 57.34%, M = 74.83 VRs, F
M 
= 55.49%, respec-
tively). Structure of the discipline orientation represents the 
second most frequently analysed curriculum orientation, 
indicated by visual representations within the topics ‘Or-
ganic Compounds Containing Oxygen’ (68.17 VRs; 
42.39%), ‘Organic Compounds Containing Nitrogen’ (M = 
14.00 VRs; F
M 
= 15.64%) and ‘The Mole’ (M = 8.67 VRs; 
F
M 
=15.64%). For the latter three topics, everyday life ori-
entation is the most commonly used curriculum orienta-
tion, as indicated by the visual representations analysed, 
and represents approximately half or more of all visual 
representations within a given curriculum topic (M = 
91.00 VRs, F
M 
= 55.06%; M = 59.17 VRs, F
M 
= 77.88%; M 
= 14.00 VRs, F
M 
= 60.95%, respectively). Within the other 
curriculum topics, the subcategory Everyday life orienta-
tion represents the second most frequent subcategory of 
curriculum orientations (F
M
 ranges from 29.74% to 45.23 
%) with the exception of the topics ‘Chemical Reactions’ 
and ‘The Elements in the Periodic Table’, for which the 
proportion of the subcategory Everyday life orientation (M 
= 24.00 VRs, F
M 
= 42.06%; M = 42.50 VRs, F
M 
= 45.23%, 
respectively) is about the same as the proportion of the 
subcategory Structure of the discipline orientation (M = 
25.00 VRs, F
M 
= 45.68%; M = 40.50 VRs, F
M 
= 41.64%, re-
spectively).
In contrast, no or very few activities in analysed Slo-
venian chemistry textbook sets in primary school within 
all curriculum topics indicate socio-scientific orientation 
(F
M
 ranges from 0.00% to 0.27%). In addition, none or 
less than 5% of the activities within all curriculum topics 
indicates history of chemistry orientation (F
M
 ranges from 
0.33% to 3.72%), with the exception of the topics ‘Chem-
istry is a World of Matter’ (M = 6.83 VRs, F
M
=9.09%) and 
‘Atom and the Periodic System of Elements’ (M = 8.67 
VRs, F
M 
= 14.34%), environmental orientation (F
M
 range 

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Acta Chim. Slov. 2024, 71, 143–160
Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
from 0.00% to 2.21%), with exception of the topic ‘Hydro-
carbons and Polymers’ (M = 9.17 VRs, F
M 
= 7.89%) and 
technology and industry orientation (F
M
 range from 0.67% 
to 3.00%), with the exception of the topics ‘Chemistry is a 
World of Matter’ (M = 5.17 VRs, F
M 
= 5.84%), ‘Chemical 
Reactions’ (M = 4.17 VRs, F
M 
= 6.93%), ‘The Elements in 
the Periodic Table’ (M = 10.67 VRs, F
M 
= 10.70%) and 
‘Hydrocarbons and Polymers’ (M = 7.50 VRs, F
M 
= 
6.97%).
The results revealed that in analysed Slovenian 
chemistry textbook sets for primary school, half of the 
topics in the National Chemistry Curriculum for Primary 
School are dominated by visual representations that pres-
ent chemical theories and their interconnections to the 
students without integrating them into different contexts 
or indicating the structure of the discipline chemistry cur-
riculum orientation.
13
 The prevalence of this type of visual 
representations neglects the importance of the different 
Table 6: The proportion of curriculum orientations indicated from the visual representations (VRs) for students within the particular topics of the 
analysed Slovenian chemistry textbook sets for primary school
The topics of 
the National 
Chemistry 
Curriculum 
for Primary 
School (8
th
 
and 9
th
 Grade)
Curriculum orientations indicated from visual representations (VRs) for students
Structure of the 
discipline 
orientation
History of 
chemistry 
orientation
Everyday life 
orientation
Environmental 
orientation
Technology and 
industry 
orientation
Socio­scientific 
orientation
M
SUM
f (%)
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­ max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­ max
Chemistry is a 
World of 
Matter
38.67
8-61
47.40
21.62-
63.54
6.83
1-11
9.09
1.16-
12.86
25.83
14-36
35.83
20.00-
62.16
1.17
0-2
1.84
0.00-5.41
5.17
0-20
5.84
0.00-21.51
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
77.67
37-96
100.00
Atom and the 
Periodic 
System of 
Elements 
39.50
13-71
68.13
44.83-
81.82
8.67
4-21
14.34
11.84-
20.79
7.17
1-14
14.31
2.78-
37.93
0.17
0-1
0.22
0.00-1.32
1.83
0-4
3.00
0.00-5.17
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
57.33
29-101
100.00
Compounds 
and Bonding
36.00
17-55
68.60
49.02-
82.09
0.17
0-1
0.33
0.00-
1.96
15.67
5-25
29.74
14.93-
49.02
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
0.83
0-3
1.33
0.00-5.00
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
52.67
22-67
100.00
Chemical 
Reactions
25.00
14-32
45.68
30.77-
68.09
1.67
1-3
3.13
1.54-
6.82
24.00
8-36
42.06
17.02-
55.38
1.33
0-4
2.21
0.00-6.15
4.17
0-11
6.93
0.00-13.92
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
56.17
44-79
100.00
The Elements 
in the Periodic 
Table 
40.50
22-51
41.64
34.38-
49.49
1.33
0-4
1.50
0.00-
4.26
42.50
31-65
45.23
30.28-
57.81
0.83
0-2
0.93
0.00-1.83
10.67
3-22
10.70
4.55-20.18
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
95.83
64-121
100.00
Acids, Bases 
and Salts 
42.17
35-52
57.34
47.37-
74.47
0.50
0-3
0.69
0.00-
4.17
30.33
12-41
39.19
25.53-
46.05
1.67
0-5
2.09
0.00-6.58
0.67
0-4
0.67
0.00-4.04
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
75.33
47-99
100.00
Hydrocarbons 
and Polymers 
74.83
23-160
55.49
32.86-
65.71
2.33
0-6
1.92
0.00-
4.29
31.83
14-46
27.46
18.78-
41.43
9.17
4-18
7.89
3.05-
12.86
7.50
3-17
6.97
2.14-14.52
0.17
0-1
0.27
0.00-1.61
125.83
62-245
100.00
Organic 
Compounds 
Containing 
Oxygen 
68.17
45-95
42.39
34.84-
50.88
1.00
0-3
0.67
0.00-
1.96
91.00
55-155
55.06
43.14-
63.52
1.17
0-3
0.73
0.00-2.26
1.83
0-8
1.15
0.00-5.23
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
163.17
114-244
100.00
Organic 
Compounds 
Containing 
Nitrogen 
14.00
0-32
15.64
0.00-
29.36
2.83
0-6
3.72
0.00-
9.38
59.17
48-75
77.88
60.55-
96.00
0.00
0-3
0.00
0.00-0.00
2.50
0-9
2.76
0.00-8.26
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
78.50
50-109
100.00
The Mole 8.67
2-16
32.88
16.67-
47.06
0.83
0-1
3.25
0.00-
5.00
14.00
10-18
60.95
44.12-
83.33
0.33
0-2
0.98
0.00-5.88
0.50
0-1
1.93
0.00-4.55
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
24.33
12-34
100.00
[a]  
M was calculated as the average of the number of identified visual representations in the textbook sets within the category of specific curriculum 
orientation and within the specific curriculum topics, thereby min and max represent the minimum and maximum number of identified visual 
representations in the textbook sets.
[b]  
f
M
(%) represents the proportion of M within each curriculum topic, thereby min and max f
M
(%) represent the minimum and maximum number 
of identified visual representations between the textbook sets.

153
Acta Chim. Slov. 2024, 71, 143–160
Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
motivations, interests and attitudes of students in chem-
istry.
19,20
 In the other half of the curriculum topics (topics 
‘Chemical Reactions’ , ‘The Elements in the Periodic Table’ , 
‘Organic Compounds Containing Oxygen’ , ‘Organic Com-
pounds Containing Nitrogen’ and ‘The Mole’), the visual 
representations focus almost as often or even more often 
on the challenges of everyday life and the chemical knowl-
edge that is important for dealing with them. In this way, 
they attempt to increase the students’ interest and motiva-
tion for chemistry
23,24
 and indicate the everyday life chem-
istry curriculum orientation.
In most cases, however, the focus is on learning the-
oretical concepts and facts rather than the relationships 
between chemistry, technology, and society.
13
 The greatest 
diversity of visual representations in terms of curriculum 
orientation was found in the topic ‘Hydrocarbons and Pol-
ymers’ , in which visual representations also indicate an en-
vironmental curriculum orientation and a technology and 
industry curriculum orientation, and in the topic ‘Chem-
istry is a World of Matter’ , in which visual representations 
also indicate a history of chemistry curriculum orienta-
tion and a technology and industry curriculum orienta-
tion. Furthermore, in the topics ‘Chemical Reactions’ , and 
‘The Elements in the Periodic Table’, further visual rep-
resentations can be recognised that indicate technology 
and industry curriculum orientation. In contrast, in most 
other curriculum topics, the potential of linking chemis-
try concepts to real contexts related to the environment, 
technology and industry, or to the history of chemistry, is 
rarely used. As with the activities for students, there are no 
visual representations in most topics that focus on most-
ly controversial, engaging social issues that are important 
to students and that promote general educational skills in 
terms of communication and decision-making and pre-
pare students to take on a responsible role as contributing 
members of society in the future.
39–42
 The absence of visual 
representations representing socio-scientific curriculum 
orientation indicates a missed opportunity to promote 
students’ scientific literacy
13,42
 and provide them with an 
education geared towards sustainable development.
22,43,44
4. 3.  Curriculum Orientations Indicated from 
the Activities for Students in Analysed 
Slovenian Chemistry Textbook Sets for 
Secondary School With Respect to  
the Curriculum Topics (Related to the  
3
rd
 RQ)
The average number of different curriculum orienta-
tions indicated from the activities for students in analysed 
Slovenian chemistry textbook sets for secondary school is 
shown in Table 7.
Table 7 shows that the largest number of subcatego-
ries for curriculum orientation, with more than 5% of the 
analysed activities for students, can be found in the topic 
‘Properties of Selected Elements and Compounds in Bi-
ological Systems and Modern Technologies’ (3 subcate-
gories: Structure of the discipline orientation, Everyday life 
orientation, and Technology and industry orientation). In 
contrast, for the topics ‘Building Blocks of Matter Structure’ 
and ‘Structure and Nomenclature of Organic Compounds’ , 
there is only one subcategory (Structure of the discipline ori-
entation) with more than 5% of the activities for students.
The analysis of the secondary textbook sets revealed 
that within all topics of the National Chemistry Curricu-
lum for Secondary School, except for the topic ‘Properties 
of Selected Elements and Compounds in Biological Sys-
tems and Modern Technologies’ (M = 12.75 activities, F
M
 
= 31.98%), more than two thirds of the activities analysed 
(F
M
 ranges from 67.10% to 94.66%) indicate a curriculum 
orientation that can be categorised as Structure of the dis-
cipline orientation. The activities that can be categorised in 
this group are particularly dominant in the topics ‘Building 
blocks of matter’ (M = 111.75 activities, F
M
 = 94.66%) and 
‘Structure and nomenclature of organic compounds’ (M = 
134.50 activities, F
M
 = 94.21%). The second most frequent-
ly used activities within all curriculum topics in the typi-
cal Slovenian secondary chemistry textbook set indicate a 
curriculum orientation that can be classified as Everyday 
life orientation (F
M
 ranges from 2.66% to 28.65%). An ex-
ception is the topic ‘Organic Compounds Containing Ox-
ygen’ , in which the Everyday life orientation is used most 
frequently (M = 15.75 activities, F
M 
= 43.26%).
In contrast, there were no activities in the typical Slo-
venian chemistry textbooks within all secondary school 
curriculum topics that indicated Socio-scientific orienta-
tion (M = 0.00 activities, F
M
 = 0.00%). In addition, none or 
less than 5 % of the activities within all secondary school 
curriculum topics indicated Technology and industry ori-
entation (F
M
 ranges from 0.00% to 2.74%), with the ex-
ception of the topic ‘Properties of Selected Elements and 
Compounds in Biological Systems and Modern Technol-
ogies’ (M = 8.50 activities, F
M 
= 22.75%), History of chem-
istry orientation (F
M
 ranges from 0.00% to 2.64%) and En-
vironmental orientation (F
M
 ranges from 0.00% to 3.36%).
The results show that most topics in the National 
Chemistry Curriculum for Secondary School emphasise 
the core content of modern chemical theories and facts in 
the activities for students, while aspects related to the indi-
vidual, society and technology are neglected.
13
 A notable 
exception is the topic ‘Properties of Selected Elements and 
Compounds in Biological Systems and Modern Technolo-
gies’ , whose name inherently signals an integration of re-
al-life contexts in order to engage students with different 
interests and attitudes in the teaching and learning of 
chemistry.
19,20
 The lack of use of different contexts in most 
secondary curriculum topics, and in particular the ab-
sence of socio-scientific issues,
13
 points to the possibility 
of improving activities to develop both chemical knowl-
edge and general education skills for active engagement in 
social issues in the future.
13,42

154
Acta Chim. Slov. 2024, 71, 143–160
Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
Table 7: The proportion of curriculum orientations indicated from the activities for students within the particular topics of the analysed Slovenian 
chemistry textbook sets for secondary school
The topics of 
the National 
Chemistry 
Curriculum 
for Secondary 
School (1
st
, 2
nd
 
and 3
th
 Ye ar )
Curriculum orientations indicated from activities for students
Structure of the 
discipline 
orientation
History of 
chemistry 
orientation
Everyday life 
orientation
Environmental 
orientation
Technology and 
industry 
orientation
Socio­scientific 
orientation
M
SUM
f (%)
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­ max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­ max
Safe 
Experimental 
Work
33.00
20-48
76.48
62.86-
95.45
0.25
0-1
0.40
0.00-
1.59
8.75
2-14
21.69
4.55-
31.43
0.25
0-1
0.71
0.00-2.86
0.25
0-1
0.71
0.00-2.86
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
42.50
8-63
100.00
Building 
Blocks of 
Matter
111.75
76-149
94.66
90.63-
99.07
2.00
0-4
1.92
0.00-
3.61
3.25
0-8
2.66
0.00-6.25
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
0.75
0-2
0.77
0.00-2.41
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
117.75
83-153
100.00
Compounds 
and Bonding
136.25
96-166
81.17
73.85-
89.08
0.50
0-1
0.34
0.00-
0.77
28.75
19-40
17.72
10.92-
23.67
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
1.00
0-4
0.77
0.00-3.08
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
166.50
130-193
100.00
Amount of 
Substance and 
Chemical 
Equations as 
Symbolic 
Representa­ tions
93.75
59-135
77.03
71.81-
80.91
1.00
0-2
0.90
0.00-
2.53
27.50
18-50
21.72
18.42-
26.60
0.25
0-1
0.22
0.00-0.88
0.25
0-1
0.13
0.00-0.53
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
122.75
79-188
100.00
Chemical 
Reaction as 
Change of 
Substance and 
Energy
50.00
31-69
75.83
65.88-
88.46
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-
0.00
12.00
3-21
18.45
5.66-
31.91
1.75
0-6
3.36
0.00-
11.32
2.00
0-8
2.35
0.00-9.41
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
65.75
47-85
100.00
Alkali Metals 
and Halogens
49.00
37-71
85.13
69.81-
92.59
0.25
0-1
0.47
0.00-
1.89
6.75
4-12
12.05
7.41-
22.64
0.25
0-1
0.47
0.00-1.89
1.25
0-3
1.87
0.00-3.77
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
57.50
42-81
100.00
Solutions 92.00
67-131
70.83
54.92-
83.62
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-
0.00
35.75
19-54
28.65
15.82-
44.26
0.75
0-2
0.52
0.00-1.27
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
128.50
116-158
100.00
Chemical 
Reaction Rates 
and 
Equilibrium 
401.75
334-505
89.64
83.71-
93.77
0.50
0-1
0.11
0.00-
0.25
37.75
16-56
8.30
3.99-
12.28
3.00
0-9
0.75
0.00-2.26
5.25
3-7
1.21
0.70-1.75
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
448.25
399-567
100.00
The Elements 
in the Periodic 
Table
54.75
31-89
83.94
75.61-
96.55
0.50
0-2
1.22
0.00-
4.88
7.75
1-17
11.19
1.72-
15.45
0.50
0-1
0.91
0.00-1.92
1.75
0-4
2.74
0.00-7.32
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
65.25
41-110
100.00
Properties of 
Selected 
Elements and 
Compounds in 
Biological 
Systems and 
Modern 
Technologies
12.75
4-24
31.98
12.12-
48.00
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-
0.00
15.75
14-19
43.26
30.00-
57.58
0.75
0-2
2.02
0.00-6.06
8.50
4-10
22.75
12.12-
30.30
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
37.75
33-50
100.00
Structure and 
Nomenclature 
of Organic 
Compounds
134.50
70-226
94.21
89.74-
97.84
2.50
0-6
2.64
0.00-
7.69
4.25
2-5
3.15
2.16-4.31
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
141.25
78-231
100.00
Structure and 
Properties of 
Organic 
Compounds
384.75
290-537
67.10
57.20-
80.15
4.00
0-10
0.79
0.00-
2.08
156.75
121-187
28.53
18.06-
36.88
11.25
9-13
2.06
1.34-2.56
8.00
1-13
1.52
0.15-2.56
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
564.75
481-670
100.00
[a]  
M was calculated as the average of the number of identified activities in the textbook sets within the category of specific curriculum orientation 
and within the specific curriculum topics, thereby min and max represent the minimum and maximum number of identified activities in the 
textbook sets.
[b]  
f
M
(%) represents the proportion of M within each curriculum topic, thereby min and max f
M
(%) represent the minimum and maximum number 
of identified activities between the textbook sets.

155
Acta Chim. Slov. 2024, 71, 143–160
Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
4. 4.  Curriculum Orientations Indicated from 
the Visual Representations in Analysed 
Slovenian Chemistry Textbook Sets for 
Secondary School with Respect to the 
Curriculum Topics (Related to 4
th
 RQ)
The average number of different curriculum orien-
tations indicated from the visual representations for stu-
dents in the analysed Slovenian chemistry textbook sets 
for secondary school is given in Table 8.
From Table 8, it can be derived that the largest num-
ber of subcategories of curriculum orientation, with more 
than 5% of the analysed visual representations for students, 
can be recognised within the topic ‘Chemical Reaction as 
Change of Substance and Energy’ (4 subcategories: Struc-
ture of the discipline orientation, Everyday life orientation, 
Environmental orientation, and Technology and industry 
orientation), followed by ‘Safe Experimental Work’ , ‘Build-
ing Blocks of Matter’ , ‘ Amount of Substance and Chemical 
Equations as Symbolic Representations’ (3 subcategories: 
Structure of the discipline orientation, Everyday life orienta-
tion, and History of chemistry orientation) and ‘Solutions’ 
and ‘Properties of Selected Elements and Compounds in 
Biological Systems and Modern Technologies’ (3 subcat-
egories: Structure of the discipline orientation, Everyday 
life orientation, and Technology and industry orientation). 
However, in other six curriculum topics for secondary 
school, only two subcategories prevail with more than 5% 
of the activities for students (2 subcategories: Structure of 
the discipline orientation and Everyday life orientation).
The analysis of the secondary textbook sets in relation 
to the visual representations revealed that the curriculum 
orientation Structure of the discipline predominates in the 
topics of the National Chemistry Curriculum for Second-
ary School (F
m
 ranges from 52.95% to 91.87%), with the 
exception of the topics ‘Solutions’ (M = 20.25 activities, F
M
 
= 44.89%), in which about the same number of visual rep-
resentations indicate Everyday life orientation (M = 18.75 
activities, F
M
 = 44.12%), and ‘Properties of Selected Ele-
ments and Compounds in Biological Systems and Modern 
Technologies’ (M = 7.00 activities, F
M
 = 22.19%), in which 
the most common curriculum orientation is Everyday life 
orientation (M = 18.75 activities, F
M
 = 55.34%).
Everyday life orientation is the second most common 
curriculum orientation, as can be found from the analysed 
visual representations (F
M
 ranges from 7.14% to 44.12%), 
with the exception of the already discussed topic ‘Prop-
erties of Selected Elements and Compounds in Biological 
Systems and Modern Technologies’ (M = 18.75 activities, 
F
M
 = 55.34%) and the topic ‘Building Blocks of Matter’ (M 
= 4.00 activities, FM = 8.86%), with the second most com-
mon orientation being History of chemistry orientation (M 
= 7.50 activities, FM = 13.16%).
In contrast, there were no visual representations in 
the typical Slovenian chemistry textbooks within all sec-
ondary school curriculum topics that indicated Socio-sci-
entific orientation (M = 0.00 activities, FM = 0.00%). In 
addition, none or less than 5 % of visual representations 
within all secondary school curriculum topics indicate 
History of chemistry orientation (F
M
 ranges from 0.99% to 
4.23%), with the exception of ‘Safe Experimental W ork’ (M 
= 1.75 activities, F
M 
= 5.09%), ‘Building Blocks of Matter’ 
(M = 7.50 activities, F
M 
= 13.16%), and ‘Amount of Sub-
stance and Chemical Equations as Symbolic Representa-
tions’ (M = 3.75 activities, F
M 
= 9.15%), Environmental 
orientation (F
M
 ranges from 0.00% to 2.06%), except for 
the topic ‘Chemical Reaction as Change of Substance and 
Energy’ (M = 3.50 activities, FM = 10.59%) and Technology 
and industry orientation (F
M
 ranges from 0.00% to 3.76%), 
with the exception of the topics ‘Chemical Reaction as 
Change of Substance and Energy’ (M = 2.50 activities, F
M 
= 6.48%), ‘Solutions’ (M = 3.25 activities, F
M 
= 7.74%) and 
‘Properties of Selected Elements and Compounds in Bio-
logical Systems and Modern Technologies’ (M = 7.25 ac-
tivities, F
M 
= 20.38%).
The results indicate that in most topics of the Na-
tional Chemistry Curriculum for Secondary School, simi-
lar to the activities for students, the visual representations 
mainly focus on chemical theories, facts, and their inter-
relationships.
13
 In this case, too, the exception is the topic 
Properties of Selected Elements and Compounds in Bio-
logical Systems and Modern T echnologies’ , and additional-
ly the topic ‘Solutions’ . However, the visual representations 
in analysed Slovenian chemistry textbook sets for second-
ary school show a greater variety of contexts in some top-
ics, which relate not only to questions of everyday life and 
the chemical knowledge required for this, but in some top-
ics also to contexts related to history, the environment and 
technology, but also there without pronounced socio-sci-
entific issues.
13,45
It can be derived from Tables 4 to 8 that the num-
ber of different curriculum orientations indicated by both 
the activities and visual representations varies between 
the textbook sets, with the exception of the activities and 
visual representations that indicate socio-scientific cur-
riculum orientation. This suggests that primary and sec-
ondary textbook set authors recognise the potential of 
each curriculum topic for the use of activities and visual 
representations that indicate different curriculum orien-
tations in different ways. This confirms the influence of 
textbook set authors’ personal views on the textbook sets 
as representations of the intended curriculum for chem-
istry.
12
5. Conclusions
Textbook sets are one of the most important teach-
ing aids that support the effective teaching and learning of 
chemistry in primary and secondary schools. They contain 
various components, with activities for students and visual 
representations having the greatest potential to influence 

156
Acta Chim. Slov. 2024, 71, 143–160
Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
Table 8: The proportion of curriculum orientations indicated from the visual representations (VRs) for students within the particular topics of the 
analysed Slovenian chemistry textbook sets for secondary school
The topics of 
the National 
Chemistry 
Curriculum 
for Secondary 
School (1
st
, 2
nd
 
and 3
th
 Ye ar )
Curriculum orientations indicated from visual representations (VRs) for students
Structure of the 
discipline 
orientation
History of 
chemistry 
orientation
Everyday life 
orientation
Environmental 
orientation
Technology and 
industry 
orientation
Socio­scientific 
orientation
M
SUM
f (%)
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­ max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­max
M
[a]
Min­ max
f
M
(%)
[b]
Min­ max
Safe 
Experimental 
Work
24.00
17-36
68.63
50.00-
85.00
1.75
1-3
5.09
2.70-
8.82
9.75
2-14
25.61
10.00-
41.18
0.25
0-1
0.68
0.00-2.70
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
35.75
20-52
100.00
Building 
Blocks of 
Matter
42.75
23-64
75.47
52.17-
86.49
7.50
1-12
13.16
3.57-
26.09
4.00
3-6
8.86
4.05-
14.29
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
1.25
0-4
2.51
0.00-8.70
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
55.50
28-74
100.00
Compounds 
and Bonding
93.50
62-130
66.54
55.36-
79.47
3.75
1-8
2.44
0.89-
4.19
40.25
26-53
30.63
17.22-
42.86
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
0.50
0-1
0.39
0.00-0.89
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
138.00
98-191
100.00
Amount of 
Substance and 
Chemical 
Equations as 
Symbolic 
Representa­ tions
25.75
15-38
61.99
50.00-
78.38
3.75
2-5
9.15
5.41-
11.90
11.00
6-16
27.97
16.22-
38.10
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
0.50
0-2
0.89
0.00-3.57
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
41.00
29-56
100.00
Chemical 
Reaction as 
Change of 
Substance and 
Energy
19.00
12-27
52.95
37.50-
75.00
0.75
0-2
2.26
0.00-
6.25
10.00
2-16
27.74
5.56-
39.02
3.50
0-9
10.59
0.00-
28.13
2.50
0-6
6.48
0.00-14.63
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
35.75
32-41
100.00
Alkali Metals 
and Halogens
16.25
8-21
59.06
44.44-
77.78
1.00
1-1
3.94
2.50-
5.56
9.00
3-16
33.28
11.11-
50.00
0.75
0-3
1.88
0.00-7.50
0.50
0-2
1.85
0.00-7.41
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
27.50
18-40
100.00
Solutions 20.25
4-37
44.89
9.52-
67.27
0.50
0-2
1.19
0.00-
4.76
18.75
15-23
44.12
27.27-
54.76
1.00
0-3
2.06
0.00-5.45
3.25
0-13
7.74
0.00-30.95
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
43.75
36-55
100.00
Chemical 
Reaction Rates 
and 
Equilibrium 
123.25
93-134
70.11
59.62-
77.78
5.75
3-9
3.25
1.75-
4.62
38.00
27-48
21.78
15.79-
28.85
2.00
0-5
1.23
0.00-3.21
6.25
5-7
3.62
2.56-4.49
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
175.25
156-195
100.00
The Elements 
in the Periodic 
Table
29.5
19-42
66.80
51.79-
82.35
2.00
0-4
4.23
0.00-
7.14
11.5
6-23
25.22
14.04-
41.07
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
1.75
0-5
3.76
0.00-8.77
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
44.75
32-57
100.00
Properties of 
Selected 
Elements and 
Compounds in 
Biological 
Systems and 
Modern 
Technologies
7.00
4-11
22.19
9.52-
39.29
0.75
0-2
2.08
0.00-
4.76
18.75
13-23
55.34
46.43-
65.63
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
7.25
3-13
20.38
10.71-
30.95
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
33.75
28-42
100.00
Structure and 
Nomenclature 
of Organic 
Compounds
163.00
80-277
91.87
85.11-
94.63
1.75
0-4
0.99
0.00-
2.68
11.00
4-18
7.14
2.68-
14.89
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
0.00
0-0
0.00
0.00-0.00
175.75
94-297
100.00
Structure and 
Properties of 
Organic 
Compounds
428.00
234-674
62.71
47.27-
76.24
7.00
4-12
1.06
0.64-
1.41
210.75
152-275
33.40
21.04-
46.46
10.25
7-17
1.75 
0.79-3.43
6.75
3-10
1.09 
0.57-2.02
0.00
0-0
0.00 
0.00-0.00
662.75 
495-884
100.00
[a]  
M was calculated as the average of the number of identified visual representations in the textbook sets within the category of specific curriculum 
orientation and within the specific curriculum topics, thereby min and max represent the minimum and maximum number of identified visual 
representations in the textbook sets.
[b]  
f
M
(%) represents the proportion of M within each curriculum topic, thereby min and max f
M
(%) represent the minimum and maximum number 
of identified visual representations between the textbook sets.

157
Acta Chim. Slov. 2024, 71, 143–160
Hrast and Ferk Savec:  Textbook Sets Through the Perspective of the 
teaching practice
8
 and being essential to the development 
of students’ knowledge of chemistry.
47
 As representations 
of the intended chemistry curriculum
2,3
 textbook sets can 
direct to the orientation of the chemistry curriculum.
12 
Ei-
lks and his colleagues
13
 have defined six basic orientations 
of the chemistry curriculum, which are guiding principles 
for structuring the whole curriculum and/or approaches 
for teaching a particular chemistry subject matter.
This paper presents an analysis of the intended chem-
istry curriculum in Slovenia, as represented by chemistry 
textbook sets in primary school (8
th
 and 9
th
 grade) and 
secondary school (1
st
, 2
nd
, and 3
rd
 year), from the perspec-
tive of curriculum orientations indicated by the activities 
for students and visual representations related to the topics 
of the National Chemistry Curriculum.
4,5
Regarding the activities for students and visual rep-
resentations in the analysed Slovenian chemistry textbook 
sets for primary school, the results show the dominance 
of the chemistry curriculum orientation structure of the 
discipline and, especially for organic chemistry topics, also 
the everyday life orientation. The greatest diversity of ac-
tivities for students and visual representations in primary 
school related to curriculum orientation could be found 
in the topic ‘Hydrocarbons and Polymers’ , where the ana-
lysed part of the textbook set also indicates environmental 
orientation and technology and industry orientation. The 
greatest diversity among the visual representations could 
be found in the topic ‘Chemistry is a World of Matter’ in 
which the visual representations also refer to the history 
of chemistry and the technology and industry orientation. 
The other curriculum orientations in terms of activities 
for students and visual representations are less common in 
most other topics of the National Chemistry Curriculum 
for Secondary School, with the lack of socio-scientific ori-
entation being particularly noticeable.
With regard to the activities for students and visual 
representations in the analysed Slovenian chemistry text-
book sets for secondary school, the results indicate that the 
chemistry curriculum orientation structure of the discipline 
prevails, and that the everyday life orientation is present. 
The everyday life orientation is particularly present in the 
topic ‘Properties of Selected Elements and Compounds in 
Biological Systems and Modern Technologies’ . In the men-
tioned topic, it is also possible to find the greatest variety 
of activities for secondary school students in terms of cur-
riculum orientation, with the analysed part of the textbook 
set also indicating the technology and industry orientation. 
The greatest diversity among the visual representations 
could be found in the topic ‘Chemical Reaction as Change 
of Substance and Energy’ in which the visual representa-
tions also refer to the environmental orientation and the 
technology and industry orientation. As with the analysis at 
the primary school level, the other curriculum orientations 
in terms of activities for students and visual representations 
are relatively rare in most of the other topics of the National 
Chemistry Curriculum for Secondary School.
The findings that the activities for students and the 
visual representations focus more on learning theoret-
ical concepts and facts than on the interaction of chem-
istry with technology and society,
13
 and the lack of use 
of socio-scientific orientation indicates that the intended 
chemistry curriculum for primary and secondary school, 
as represented by the activities and visual representations 
in the textbook sets, still has much potential to approach 
modern chemistry curricula that incorporate more holis-
tic approaches and integrate the learning of concepts and 
theories through different contexts from everyday life, 
technology and society.
21-24 
They also point to a possibly 
missed opportunity to develop students’ scientific liter-
acy
13,17,42
 and to achieve the goals of discipline-oriented 
education for sustainable development,
22,43,44
 as well as to 
the possibility of further improving the intended chemis-
try curriculum for primary and secondary school as pre-
sented in the textbooks.
The results of the presented study are particularly 
important because Slovenia has just started to reform the 
curricula of all subjects in primary and secondary school, 
including chemistry. After the implementation of the cur-
riculum reform, the existing textbooks will be revised, and 
it would be beneficial for the students if the results of the 
study could be taken into account.
It is important to note that in our study chosen seg-
ments of the textbook sets (the activities for students and 
visual representations) seem to be a fundamental part of 
the textbook sets, but we are aware that their ability to ful-
ly reveal curriculum orientation is limited.
78
 Therefore, it 
would be valuable to consider future research opportuni-
ties to analyse the textbook sets also from the perspective 
of further textbook segments to provide a more holistic 
insight.
As various curriculum orientations with their char-
acteristics contribute to varying degrees to the relevance 
of learning and teaching chemistry subject matter,
33,80,81
 it 
would be valuable to analyse the intended chemistry cur-
riculum for primary and secondary school from the per-
spective of relevance in order to make chemistry educa-
tion for young people more relevant in terms of individual 
as well as societal and vocational dimensions in the future.
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Povzetek
Učbeniki imajo osrednjo vlogo pri poučevanju in učenju kemije in predstavljajo predvideni učni načrt za kemijo na 
nacionalni ravni. Prispevek se osredinja na analizo predvidenega učnega načrta za kemijo, kot ga predstavljajo vizualne 
reprezentacije in aktivnosti za učence oz. dijake v učbeniških setih v povezavi z vsebinskimi sklopi nacionalnega učne-
ga načrta za kemijo za osnovno in srednjo šolo. Analiza, ki je vključevala s strani nacionalnih predstavnikov potrjene 
učbeniške komplete za šolsko leto 2021/2022, temelji na šestih osnovnih usmeritvah kemijskega učnega načrta, ki jih je 
opredelil Eilks s sodelavci. Rezultati so pokazali, da v analiziranih slovenskih učbeniških kompletih za kemijo tako za 
osnovno kot za srednjo šolo pri večini vsebinskih sklopov prevladuje usmerjenost v strukturo discipline, prisotna pa je 
tudi usmerjenost v vsakdanje življenje. Za namen izboljšanja relevantnosti učbeniških kompletov za učence je potrebno 
preseči trenutno redko prisotnost usmerjenosti v zgodovino kemije, okolje, tehnologijo in industrijo ter socio-nara-
voslovni kontekst, npr. z vključevanjem večje interakcije kemije, tehnologije in družbe. Dragoceno bi bilo, če bi nadaljnje 
raziskave naslavljale predvideni učni načrt za kemijo tudi z bolj celostnega vidika.