Historical analysis of portuguese primary school textbooks (1920-2005) on the topic of digestion

Abstract

Our previous studies showed that Portuguese primary school pupils and teachers have three main difficulties in the representation of the digestion process: sequence of the digestive tract, blood absorption and association of the digestive function to other human functions. In this study we analysed the digestion topic in 63 Portuguese textbooks (1920 - 2005). Generally text explanation about the digestive process (including reference to blood absorption) is clear but "confusion" in images is persistent all along the studied period. To show the influence of the dictatorship period (1926-1974), a brief comparison is done with French textbooks, which evolved during the same period to clearer representations of the digestive tract. Results suggest that textbook inadequate images may be the main didactical obstacle to the accurate learning of the digestive function.