TY - JOUR AU - Delalic, Vanesa PY - 2017/12/08 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - THE USE OF TEXTBOOKS FOR A MORE EFFICIENT LEARNING IN 'MY ENVIRONMENT' (NATURE AND SOCIETY) CLASSES JF - KNOWLEDGE - International Journal JA - kij VL - 20 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - UR - https://ikm.mk/ojs/index.php/kij/article/view/3673 SP - 51 - 56 AB - <p>Besides the teacher, textbooks are still the most available source of knowledge in schools. The boom in information technology, the development of computers and the Internet (web sites, e-mail) have enabled a significantly faster flow of information, which brought about great changes in teaching and learning in schools. Still, regardless of their content, textbooks will be necessary as long as schools are traditionally organized. In other words, textbooks, along with computers and other IT products, will exist as a source of information crucial for learning. Teaching is marked by a co-existence of different teaching concepts and multiple teaching methods – all of which are constituent parts of a class which dictate the number of textbooks used for a specific subject, in this case My environment classes. Textbook creators and educators have two goals in common: emphasizing the importance of students’ active participation in the learning process and the need to develop a critical and creative opinion as well as students’ creativity, and looking for a way to adapt the school to the students’ needs.<br>Textbook authors and creators, as well as publishers, aim at creating textbooks that meet the needs of their users, are high quality and are compatible with the contemporary teaching concepts. On the other hand, there are no means to objectively determine textbook quality. Therefore, one of the future aims should be finding a way to evaluate textbooks. Some teachers gladly accept the exercises and key offered in the textbooks and other teaching aids, covering every lesson in the book without critically examining its importance. However, nowadays, students want to actively participate in the learning process – a desire that can be easily met by enabling them to learn through exploration, games and hard work. Creating a learning environment in which the students participate and build up their knowledge through cognitive activities is not only ideal, but also one of the criteria for teaching evaluation.<br>Textbooks are a mandatory source of information in schools, and as such are the point where teachers’ professional competence and students’ expectations meet. Furthermore, they represent the means of communication in the teaching process. Simply put, textbooks contain a topic or a unit that is pedagogically, psychologically, didactically and methodologically explained and adapted to teach a specific subject and accompanying terms. A contemporary textbook should lead the students on their way of deduction and exploration and teach them how to learn. The content of My environment textbook does not ensure meeting teaching aims and goals. Regardless of its quality and value, a textbook should lose the title of being a single source of knowledge. Textbooks are a mandatory source of information in schools, and as such are the point where teachers’ professional competence and students’ expectations meet. Furthermore, they represent the means of communication in the teaching process. A democratic school can use a textbook as a precious instrument serving flexible organization and teaching and learning process – provided it is enriched with other texts and publications (e.g. children’s encyclopedias, magazines, handbooks, atlases, dictionaries etc.), as well as other alternative resources and IT products.</p> ER -