This study analyzed a unit covering digital content in elementary social studies digital textbooks according to the 2015 revised curriculum from the perspective of digital literacy.
As a result of the analysis, elementary social digital textbooks had...
This study analyzed a unit covering digital content in elementary social studies digital textbooks according to the 2015 revised curriculum from the perspective of digital literacy.
As a result of the analysis, elementary social digital textbooks had the most elements of ‘understanding digital media’ and ‘access and utilization of digital information.’ As for the characteristics of each grade, there were many elements of ‘understanding digital media’ in the first semester of the third year and the second semester of the fourth year. In the first semester of the fifth and sixth grades, there were many elements of ‘access and utilization of digital information’ and ‘communication in a digital environment.’ It is noteworthy that the ‘response and participation related to digital society (media)’ were not mentioned in the curriculum, but were presented in the textbook, and the elements of ‘digital information criticism’ or ‘communication in the digital environment’ were presented in the form of additional activities in digital textbooks, even though neither the curriculum nor textbooks were presented. This seems to be due to the characteristics of social studies civic education, where critical approach and sovereign participation are important, and unlike book-type textbooks, digital textbooks can provide additional contents and are easy to effectively access a suitable digital environment.
Nevertheless, the frequency of ‘digital content production’, ‘digital information criticism’, and ‘digital media-related response and participation’ was not high in both book-type and digital textbooks.
In this study, it was found that when teachers use digital textbooks, digital literacy education is possible in connection with the social studies curriculum.
However, It is suggested that more factors related to ‘digital information criticism,’ ‘digital content production’, and ‘digital media-related response and participation’ should be considered when developing digital textbooks in the future. In addition, to provide systematic digital literacy education from elementary school to high school, further research is needed to make digital literacy elements more specific and to sequence the content, scope, and methods.