The Place and Pedagogical Function of the Scientific Image in Moroccan Life and Earth Sciences Textbooks: Advanced Study

The discovery of details, knowledge of the structures and composition of biological and geological
elements is a very important step in the understanding of the scientific phenomena programmed in the
SVTs lessons. Thus, scientific evolution has made it possible to explore different levels of
organisation at ever deeper levels, whether in biology or geology, through the innovation of
instruments and tools for exploration and observation, ranging from a simple magnifying glass to
sophisticated techniques such as tomography or medical imaging.
Textbooks transpose the results of these observations into scientific images that help learners to
understand the phenomena under study as well as to develop a critical mind towards the proposed
contents and to problematise their own knowledge within the framework of a competency-based
approach that is adopted by the Moroccan education system.
With the aim of evaluating the place and functions of scientific images of order: microscopic,
magnifying observations and medical imaging, we analysed a corpus of 12 textbooks from the
Moroccan educational system. We selected one copy of different accredited textbooks from each level
of education. These are the textbooks for scientific awakening for the six years of primary education,
three textbooks for middle school and three for high school. The analysis is carried out with the help of
a self-developed grid which takes into account the percentages of each type of scientific images
studied and their functions.
The results showed that there is an evolution in the appearance of the scientific images studied as
one progresses towards the second year of the baccalaureate: almost the majority of primary school
textbooks do not include microscopic or magnifying observations or medical images, but they appear
in the other levels with percentages that differ from one textbook to another. Microscopic observations
are the most abundant among the other types of scientific images studied.
Thus, scientific images with an illustrative function predominate, while those with a heuristic function
and recommended in the competency-based approach are present in only a small percentage.