An Analysis of Assessment Techniques and Learning Outcomes in Grade 10 History Curricular Materials

An Analysis of Assessment Techniques and Learning Outcomes in Grade 10 History Curricular Materials | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article An Analysis of Assessment Techniques and Learning Outcomes in Grade 10 History Curricular Materials Getachew Lemu, Wudu Melese, Deressa Debu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4713469/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The current Ethiopian Grade Ten Histor Textbook has been scrutinized through the lens of Bloom's Taxonomy to evaluate its learning outcomes and assessment activities. The study indicates that the majority of the learning outcomes and assessment activities in the textbook primarily focus on factual knowledge and conceptual understanding, emphasizing the retention of historical terms and events. The results also reveal that the history textbook learning outcome statements predominantly emphasize lower-order thinking skills. Specifically, 53.19% of the content focused on remembering, understanding, and applying, while only 46.78% of the statements centered on higher-order thinking skills, such as analyzing, evaluating, and creating. To enrich history teaching, the study recommends integrating disciplinary strategies and historian methods to cultivate critical thinking skills, enabling students to make informed judgments and navigate the complexities of the modern world. To achieve this goal, Ethiopian history textbook writers should emphasize the concept of historical thinking, and research evidence to improve educational practice, which is a set of cognitive processes that enables individuals to analyze, evaluate, and contextualize historical information. History Assessment activities Bloom's Taxonomy History textbook Historical thinking 1. Introduction Learning history as a school subject often revolves around reading and writing, with much of the content of the history that students learn determined by the texts they read (Afflerbach, & VanSledright, 2001 ). Popp asserts that history textbooks are crucial for everyone, and the history education that is taught is often considered to be nothing less than the “future of the nation” and the identity of society itself (Popp, 2009 ). In a very broad sense, textbook content is often influenced by the demands of special interest groups. Here, research highlights the tensions in history teaching between historians, researchers, and politicians. Researchers emphasize critical thinking and understanding of the past, while political leaders focus on building national identity and patriotism (Wansink, 2017 ; Popp, 2009 ). Politicians and the public often appear to (naively) believe that the school is the primary medium for (legitimate) historical culture, and they do not always distinguish historical knowledge from social memory (Parkes, & Donnelly, 2014 ). This approach frequently leads to content overload in the curriculum, as seen in Ethiopian secondary schools, where teachers tend to teach for knowledge acquisition (Kemisso, 2009 ). Moreover, philosophers of history and historians emphasize the importance of disciplinary thinking in history, examining historical documents through sourcing, contextualization, and comparison (Monte-Sano, 2010 ). Theorizing what should count as disciplinary knowledge in teaching history currently involves mastering historical thinking (Havekes, 2015 ). Sam Wineburg's influential work 'Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts' marked a turning point in history instruction, distinguishing historical thinking, “in its deepest forms, is neither a natural process nor something that springs automatically from psychological development”, but has to be taught and learned through practice (Wineburg, 2001 , p. 21). Historical thinking involves developing cognitive skills to analyze past events, processes, and phenomena in their temporal and cultural context, identifying patterns, recognizing causes and consequences, formulating informed interpretations, and engaging in critical debate (Van Drie, & Van Boxtel, 2008 ). For this to occur, a history textbook is a major determinant of what is taught and how it is taught, providing an active learning environment for students. Research supports that “history textbooks are powerful tools that can support effective learning, comprehension, and conceptual development” (Bharath, 2023 , p.42). Ivić and Pešikan argue that quality textbooks can significantly enhance the quality of the education system within a short period. “No other change in education is able to influence improvements in the quality of the education system for an entire country in such a short time other than quality textbooks (Ivić, & Pešikan, 2013, p.65). Recently, a new education reform has been in progress following a political reform in 2018 in Ethiopia. This research is essential for understanding the present education reform in Ethiopia to overcome the problems that persist in quality education, to align the curriculum with 21st century advancements and to meet the requirements of the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030 with a particular focus on “quality and equitable education for all” (MoE, 2020 , p.4). Henceforth, one of the major intervention areas for achieving quality education in Ethiopia, the MoE, has recommended that all textbooks be prepared not only to contain knowledge to be acquired but also to promote skill development and to focus on competency achievement through engaging activities ( ibid , p.62). For this reason, next to teachers, textbooks are prioritized as a major area for improving the quality of student learning and achieving the intended competencies. Specifically, to achieve this purpose, a team of experts from Addis Abeba University, Jimma University, Hawassa University, and Bahir Dar University developed history curriculum materials for grades 9–12, including learning competencies, content flowcharts, and syllabi (Tigab, Teferi, Yonas and Desta, 2021). The Ethiopian General Education Curriculum Framework (EGECF) envisions “outcome-based learning” in terms of competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes) to be achieved (MoE, 2020 , p. 66). Implicitly, the National Curriculum Statements for History emphasize learning history as an inquiry process, emphasizing learners’ performance in historical thinking and learning for the future of the common country over past knowledge (Teferra, Asgedom, Oumer, Dalelo, & Assefa, 2018 , p.24). Therefore, the use of historical inquiry is expected to be at the heart of history instruction and learning, and students must be provided with the opportunities to learn the skills required through practice and engagement in historical inquiry. Thus, this study aimed to understand to what extent the Secondary School Grade 10 history textbook's emphasis on higher-level cognitive demands and the application of higher-order thinking tasks encouraged critical thinking in relation to educational outcomes. 1.1. Statement of the Problem History education holds strong potential for students to develop the desired competencies of 21st-century skills. However, some researchers and practitioners still argue that history is introduced to enhance only the memorization and retention of knowledge. Accordingly, teaching strategies in history are affected by traditional methods that teachers tend to use that do not promote students' thinking. Joshi and Verspoor ( 2012 ) highlighted the importance of textbooks in Ethiopian education, particularly because many teachers lack the necessary professional skills. In the absence of textbooks, teachers often spend much time dictating and writing notes, which limits students’ interaction. Therefore, the procurement of new and up-to-date textbooks is essential for ensuring quality education in Ethiopia. The National Curriculum Framework is a central document in our educational system that sets quality standards and requirements for all curriculum areas, including vision, aims, objectives, values, and principles. It emphasizes student competency development as the highest priority, providing guidance to curriculum materials writers and teachers. Accordingly, the National Curriculum Framework requests the following: All textbooks, whether developed by the Ministry or by private companies, must comply with the requirements of the National Curriculum Framework. In particular, they must not simply contain knowledge to be earned but also encourage the development of skills and values in ways that are appropriate to the subject and focus on helping students achieve competency. They must also engage students in a range of interesting and focused classroom activities (MoE, 2020 ). Thus, to overcome persistent problems, a major revision of the existing curriculum must be made to align the national curriculum with 21st century advancements and meet the requirements of the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030 (MoE, 2020 ). The core competencies that are expected to be developed by all learners at all levels are the following: learning to learn, critical thinking and problem solving, creative thinking and innovation, communication, collaboration, leadership and decision-making, digital literacy, cultural identity and global citizenship (MoE, 2020 , p.26). The National Curriculum Statement mandates outcome-oriented learning, emphasizing skills and competencies over rote memorization. Secondary school history textbooks must align curriculum, instruction, and assessments to meet these requirements. Finally, the researcher aimed to analyze to what extent the revised history textbook alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessments covered the six levels of the new version of Bloom's taxonomy (remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating) designed to contribute to curriculum expectations for educating students. 1.2. Research Question Histories textbooks play a significant role, especially in Ethiopian classrooms, where many teachers have no access to any other historical media. Foster and Crawford (2006, p.4) assert that understanding the curriculum through the forms in which it is publicly visible in the form of “textbooks, teacher guides and student exercises requires identifying, analyzing and critiquing its construction” by investigating the work of authors, editors, publishers, teachers and students as they struggle to create meaning. To the best of our knowledge, this subject-specific history has not yet been studied in the Ethiopian context to better inform teachers on how to help students use effective learning strategies in their classroom teaching. Thus, our main research question is as follows: To what extent does the prescribed history text book reflect elements of historical thinking such as substantive and procedural knowledge? This question can be subdivided into the following subquestions: 1.3. Research Questions What are the types of assessment techniques used for Grade 10 history curricular materials? What are the types and levels of objectives stated in Grade 10 history curricular materials? To what extent are the assessment techniques and learning objectives congruent in Grade 10 history curricular materials? 1.4. Objectives of the study Ideally, the objectives to be accomplished through mastering a given thematic unit should run like a thread linking all elements of the material contained in that thematic unit and allowing the student to perceive the thematic unit as an integral whole rather than a series of separate events or tasks. Therefore, this study examines how high school history textbooks' learning objectives and competencies align with 21st-century transferable knowledge and skills using content analysis and research-based taxonomies. To assess the types of assessment techniques used in Grade 10 history curricular materials To investigate the types and levels of learning outcomes stated in Grade 10 history curricular materials To evaluate the extent to which the assessment techniques and learning objectives are aligned in grade 10 history curricular materials 2. Literature Review 2.1. Why do textbooks matter in the teaching of history? Textbooks are crucial instructional aids that guide students through subjects' objectives, content, and methodology; follow the syllabus; and provide rich information, explanations, and commentary for deeper understanding (Seguin, 1989 ). There is international acknowledgment among scholars that the role of textbooks in education is significant in delivering organized knowledge that society has marked as truthful and legitimate (Bharath, 2015 ; Grever, & Van der Vlies, 2017 ). Teachers and students often rely heavily on textbooks for teaching and activities, as they are the primary source of information. Teachers often provide notes and outline important sections for exams, limiting exposure to other historical sources. What accounts for teachers' extensive use of textbooks? Factors contributing to this dependence include teaching experience, subject matter expertise, time allocation, instructional materials, and beliefs in textbook authority (Moulton, 1994 ). High school students tend to hold the common view of history textbooks as narratives, believing that history learning is about following the narrative depicted in textbooks. They rate textbooks as more trustworthy than source documents (Stahl, & Shanahan, 2004 ). Loewen's (2008) book, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got wrong , exposed the biases and inaccuracies in American history textbooks. His follow-up work, What truly Happened: How to Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks & Get Students Excited about Doing History (Loewen, 2009 ), argued for student-centered teaching of history. This special issue on history textbooks aims to address the vilification of textbooks in social studies education, which are often criticized for being boring, being overused, and containing biases and inaccuracies. Foster and Crawford (2006) argued that textbooks are powerful not because of the nature of the texts they include. Simply put, textbooks are powerful because they contain the information that society expects students to know. These expectations, commonly, are those enunciated by governing officials, sometimes elected but frequently by bureaucrats. Similarly, Popp ( 2009 ) asserts that history textbooks not only impart historical knowledge and skills to future generations but also preserve cultural memory, supporting societal concepts of unity and individuality. 2.2. History Curriculum in Secondary Education in Ethiopia Secondary school education is a period that marks the beginning of developing abstract reasoning and logical thinking abilities that are helpful for understanding and generating knowledge beyond the here and now. It is also time for widening and deepening knowledge, skills and attitudes obtained during previous learning and preparing for further education at the tertiary level, further technical training, and the world of work (MoE, 2020 ). During the EPRDF period (1991–2018), Ethiopian secondary schools taught history in grades 9 and 10 to help students acquire basic knowledge and familiarize them with major methodologies. In Grades 11 and 12, the curriculum focused on scientific research methods, providing a strong foundation for tertiary studies (MoE, 2009 ). Following Meles Zenawi's death, political settlement changed, with Haile Mariam Desalegn becoming Prime Minister but lacking party leverage and a support base due to ethnic division within the southern party (Gershberg, Kefale, & Hailu, 2023 ). As a result, the configuration of power within the EPRDF during this period was internally competitive; even when the party ran, the politics of the country remained authoritarian. From 2015 to 2018, the EPRDF faced protests due to growing discontent and political unrest. This unrest was fuelled by economic and political factors, including inequity in economic growth and youth unemployment. Abiy Ahmed became the new leader in April 2018, leading to political reforms and the rebranding of the EPRDF to the Prosperity Party in December 2019 (ibid, pp.22–23). However, Abiy Ahmed's 2018 political transition brought increased participation but faced challenges such as elite disagreement, violence, and displacement. In 2020, civil war escalated, causing displacement and human rights violations (ibid). The 1994 Education and Training Policy and subsequent ESDPs have significantly improved Ethiopia's education system, including decentralization, diversity and inclusion, teacher training, and career structures, but Ethiopia still faces challenges in quality education (Gershberg, Kefale, & Hailu,2023; Yigezu, 2021 ). The Ethiopian Ministry of Education (MoE), which was launched in August 2020 near the end of the ESDP VI, covered the next five years from 2020/21 to 20124/25 G.C. or 2013–2017 E.C. (ESDP VI, 2021). Subsequently, in the ESDP-VI, the six priority programmes with goals, objectives, components, strategies, and key intervention areas are identified as key factors for achieving quality education. These programmes include system strengthening, governance and accountability, values, national unity in diversity, quality improvement and relevance to the labor market, access to general education, equity and internal efficiency, youth and adult nonformal education and the use of digital technology for the education sector (MoE, ESDP VI, 2021, p. 30). Programme 3 Quality improvement and relevance to the labor market, with six components and various subcomponents, are committed to general education, with a focus on enhancing quality. The second objective is to develop 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, creativity, scientific temperament, communication, collaboration, multilingualism, reasoning, problem solving, ethics, social responsibility, and digital literacy among learners from all sectors (MoE, ESDP VI, 2021, p. 60). The Ethiopian Education Development Roadmap for 2018–2030 proposes reforms and paradigm shifts in the education system, highlighting history as an overlooked area. Multipleinterpretations of history should be incorporated to focus on future learning (Teferra, Asgedom, Oumer, Dalelo, & Assefa, 2018 ). The National Curriculum Statements for History emphasize students actively engaging with history, focusing on interrogating sources and incorporating multiple interpretations from diverse backgrounds. They emphasize that understanding the past is more important than knowledge, and this approach can be applied to all school subjects (Teferra, Asgedom, Oumer, Dalelo, & Assefa, 2018 ). In other words, the syllabus revision aims to address the historiographical imbalance in Ethiopian history by focusing on Ethiopian nations, nationalities, and history. It aims to teach diversity and its role in a shared political economy, shifting from a knowledge-based to a competency-based approach. Furthermore, the history curriculum has introduced changes in textbooks, methods, and approaches due to the shift toward a competency-based approach. The shift from knowledge-based education to outcome-oriented learning emphasizes skills and competencies over rote learning and factual memorization. To achieve this goal, a more in-depth analysis of the way content and teaching strategies are presented in textbooks, including activities, competencies, assignments, etc., of a textbook is needed, and the sequencing of the lessons to be learned must be treated more extensively. The extent to which shared competency-based knowledge, skills and attitudes are covered and addressed in the curriculum framework, particularly history textbooks, and the classroom teaching-learning process should be assessed and surveyed. To this end, research has shown that assessing history textbook learning outcomes has a considerable impact on the types of learning activities, teaching strategies, and evaluations that will be used. "Learning outcomes are statements of what a learner is expected to know, understand and/or be able to demonstrate at the end of a period of learning" (Adam, & Expert, 2008 , p.4). The idea of learning outcomes seems to increasingly dominate education policy internationally (Allais, 2012 ). Bloom's Taxonomy, a 60-year-old educational concept, was first developed by Benjamin Bloom and his team and later updated by Krathwohl in 2002; it is well known and widely used for writing learning outcomes because it provides a ready-made structure and list of verbs (Kennedy, 2006 ). The taxonomy categorizes learning objectives based on cognitive complexity, with the cognitive domain being the most widely used. It helps curriculum developers analyze learning objectives and assess students' skills and abilities, enabling better planning and implementation of lessons (Peck, 2024 ). Therefore, this manuscript article has been written from part of a PhD study, the aim of which was, among others, to determine the suitability and extent to which these textbooks incorporate research findings on substantive and procedural concepts, with a particular focus on second-order concepts. This section compares the knowledge and performance of historical concepts found in current history textbooks and discusses their implications for the unique nature of history and history teaching. This will be accomplished through the analysis of Grade 9–10 history textbooks. 3. Research Method This manuscript employed a summative approach distinguished by Hsieh and Shannon ( 2005 ), which is referred to as qualitative content analysis and involves identifying and quantifying specific words or content in a text to understand their contextual use. The rationale for this method is that content in textbooks takes the form of words, pictures, drawings, photographs, maps, cartoons and other formats. This quantification is not meant to infer meaning but to explore usage. The analysis goes beyond word counts and includes latent content analysis for interpretation. The qualitative content analysis employed a summative approach , calculating word frequency counts to understand the frequency of words used to refer to transferable cognitive skills and explicit instruction contexts (Hsieh, & Shannon, 2005 ). 3.1. Source of the Data The sampling of the textbook is purposive. A secondary school grade-10 history textbook was selected for analysis. The selection criterion is a part of the dissertation based on design-based research in the preliminary phase. Secondary school education, spanning grades 9 to 12, serves as a bridge between elementary and higher education and prepares young persons in the 14–18 age group for entry into higher education. 3.2. Data collection procedures The purpose of the analysis was to determine the distribution of learning outcomes and the questions across the six levels of cognitive domains. When advocating for a paradigm shift from content-based teaching to competence-based teaching and learning, both pedagogical concerns and content remain important, as Pingel (2010, p. 31) noted that the whole idea of educational subject-oriented text can be analyzed from two general points of view: a didactic analysis that addresses the methodological approach to the topic and explores the pedagogy behind the text a content analysis that examines the text itself: what does the text tell us, is it in accordance with academic research, does it sufficiently cover the topic in question? This requires a more in-depth analysis of the way content is presented in textbooks: The general structure (text, illustrations, assignments, etc.) of a textbook and the sequencing of the lessons to be learned have to be treated more extensively when formulating recommendations. 3.3. Methods of Data Analysis As a first step toward content analysis, we simply took lists of competencies, exercises and activities that the textbook writers proposed tasks and assessments involving identifying valuable competencies and their alignment with research-based taxonomies developed by Anderson and Krathwohl (2010). The new Bloom’s revised taxonomy has been used to identify knowledge types and the cognitive demand of textbooks through the application of computer-aided content analysis to a variety of substantive problems. The data analysis started with computer-assisted search terms for occurrences of the terms (Weber, 1990 ; Hsieh, & Shannon, 2005 ). Bloom's Taxonomy is a general developmental framework in which a measurable verb is developed to classify observable knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors, and abilities, allowing for explicit learning objectives using measurable verbs to indicate cognitive activity with six stages of increasing competence, commonly used by teachers. The alignment of learning objectives, assessments, and teaching strategies significantly enhances the effectiveness and quality of education by determining the selection of learning experiences, activities, and evaluation methods (Sewagegn, 2020 ). Webb ( 2007 ), an alignment model, also provides the analytical framework for this study to measure curriculum document alignment, focusing on correspondence between syllabus, textbooks, and teachers' guides, suggesting sequential development for educational system support. Webb's alignment model offers four aspects for evaluating curriculum documents: categorical concurrence, depth of knowledge consistency, range of knowledge correspondence, and balance of representation. 4. Results Learning outcomes play an important role in the learning process. This is because learning outcomes can be used as a benchmark to determine the extent to which students experience changes after receiving their learning experiences and are observed and measured in the form of knowledge, attitudes and skills. The noticeable shift in educational goals toward equipping students with a broad range of competences has been recognized through the General Education Curriculum Framework (2020) reform effort. However, the shift in educational goals has not yet translated into practice. The researcher emphasizes the significance of analyzing textbook questions to evaluate their role in education and student thinking development, highlighting the alignment of learning objectives, assessments, and teaching strategies. The textbooks used in this study can be accessed at the following link: https://files.fm/lemugetachew1 . For brevity, the reader is urged to browse to comprehend the full extent of all verbs included in the text under analysis, which has been automated by Ctrl + Click to follow links using a web-based tool https://uploadnow.io/files/jJ5dQmg . 4.1. Assessment technique types This research examines the impact of textbook questioning practices on learner education. The study analyzes all textbook questions and collects results to answer the research question, emphasizing the importance of educators being informed about these practices. Table (1) displays the question frequency level for each learning unit, and the suggested classroom assessment activities are rated. Table 1 displays the assessment activities in Ethiopian Grade-10 history textbooks, primarily multiple choice and short question, with the maximum number of activities registered. Performance assessments should be included in exercises and activities to help students understand the relevance of applying skills in real-world situations, enabling them to progress from beginners to proficient (Hess, Colby, & Joseph, 2020 ). Performance tasks foster critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication skills through in-depth engagement, resources, and instruction, sometimes with community mentors or internships, but not all assessments necessitate extensive teacher planning (ibid). Balancing assessment methods are crucial for student performance, but some activities may hinder higher-order thinking and questioning skills due to teaching-focused questions in history textbooks (Bain, & Mirel, 2006 ). Assessment Technique Frequency (f) True/False questions 25 Multiple Choice questions 92 Matching 20 The what, when, who, which, where questions (Short Answer/Word Answer activities) 99 The how and why questions (Discussion/essay activities) 41 Performance Assessment (creation activities) 10 DBQs (Document-Based Questions) 0 Research shows that lower cognitive questions require students to recall verbatim or in their own words, while higher cognitive questions require students to mentally manipulate information to create or support answers with logical reasoning. Higher cognitive questions include open-ended, interpretive, evaluative, inquiry, inferential, and synthesis questions (Cotton, 1988 ; Assaly, & Smadi, 2015 ). Calder also argued that to expose students' basic misconceptions about the nature of history and prepare them mentally for hard work and a deep understanding of history, six cognitive habits are suggested: questioning, connecting, sourcing, making inferences, considering alternate perspectives, and recognizing limits to one's knowledge (Calder, 2006 ). The six levels within the cognitive domain are divided into two levels of thinking skills: lower-order thinking skills (LOTS) and higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). Lower-Level Question: A question that requires students to respond at the cognitive level of remembering understanding and applying where as Higher-Level Question: A question that requires students to respond at the cognitive level of analyzing, evaluating and creating (Wilson, 2016 ). Higher-order thinking is a concept that we often associate with learning classifications or tasks involving analysis, evaluation, and synthesis (creation of new knowledge) and is cognitively demanding, requiring different learning and teaching methods than the learning of lower-order facts and concepts (Hess, 2018 ). 4.2. Types and Levels of Learning Outcomes This study also aimed to analyze the consistency of different cognitive verbs used by textbook writers to describe learning outcomes. It calculates a score for teaching activities and assessment tasks, revealing the link between action verbs and competency levels. A checklist based on Bloom’s Taxonomy was used to categorize the cognitive levels of these questions. Source: http://www.odu.edu/educ/llschult/blooms_taxonomy.htm ; for additional information on writing learning objectives, it is possible to visit the following websites: http://www.Learning-Objectives-Guidelines.pdf and https://teaching.uic.edu/blooms-taxonomy-of-educational-objectives/ . The cognitive domain levels begin at the basic level of remembering and extend through to the higher and more complex levels up to creating . The second column defines the features of the six levels of the cognitive domain. The third column outlines the range of potential learning activities relevant to each level that prevailed in the text, while the fourth column provides the frequency counted throughout the text. To analyze the use of verbs in the Grade-10 history textbook, I used CTRL-F to search the text for all verbs listed below (that number includes duplicate entries). Table 2 Summary of analysis of verbs applied to the Grade-10 History Textbook ( Source: Bloom’s Taxonomy, Krathwohl, 2002 ) Cognitive level Definitions Intended learning outcomes (ILO) of Grade- 10 History Textbook Frequency (count) Total Percentages Remembering Students can able to retrieve, recognize, and recall relevant knowledge from long-term memory. define List down outline Recognize State 2 2 7 2 2 15 9.61% Understanding Students can able to construct meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining. describe discussion explain elaborate identify Give example unravel 7 4 19 1 20 1 2 54 34.61% Applying Students can able to carry out or using a procedure through executing, or implementing. draw demonstrate illustrate sketch show pinpoint Point out 1 1 2 2 1 4 3 14 8.97% Analyzing Students can able to break material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing, and attributing. Analyze categorize Compare &contrast debate differentiate distinguish Examine explore Relate stipulate 5 1 6 1 1 6 10 1 1 1 33 21.15% Evaluating Students can able to make judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing Appreciate Assess advocate evaluate respect value 13 9 1 11 1 1 36 23.07% Creating Students can able to put elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing. design write prepare produce 1 1 1 1 4 2.56% The results showed that 53.19% (remembering, understanding and applying) of the students emphasized cognition, representing lower-order thinking skills; 46.78% emphasized higher-order thinking cognitive skills (analyzing, evaluating and creating); and only 2.56% emphasized writing activities in history. The learning outcomes in the Horizons textbook place a great deal of emphasis upon understanding, which is a lower-order thinking skill. 4.3. Congruence between Assessment and Learning Outcomes Constructive alignment outlines learning objectives that guide teaching, set expectations, prepare learners, and define faculty and learner responsibilities, ultimately contributing to the achievement of educational outcomes (Chatterjee, & Corral, 2017 ; Cohen, 1987 ). The implication here is that to engage in more complex thinking, students need to start with a large amount of information, as shown by verbs that fall into Bloom's Taxonomy's "Remember" and "Understand" categories. Among the three levels of the lower-order thinking cognitive domain, understanding was the most dominant, accounting for 34.61%. This means that this textbook encouraged the students to acquire knowledge and memorize information in the text, while from the three levels of higher-order thinking cognitive domain, the evaluating level was somewhat the most dominant level, which appeared frequently with a percentage of 23.07%. The above percentage implies that the writers of this textbook could encourage knowledge regurgitation rather than generating and attracting learners to use all their mental processes optimally. Educationists generally agree that the teaching of history requires applying the historical concepts (substantive and meta-concept) that they learn in essay writing, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and reasoning. In doing so, we support a learning process based on abilities that allow students to interpret the past and that go beyond factual or conceptual knowledge based on the memorization of dates, characters or facts. This approach focuses on disciplinary history as a method. It consists of learning history as a form of research and learning to think and reflect on the past (Waring, 2011 ). 5. Discussion Based on the findings shown in Table 2 , the researcher found that the total frequency of lower-order cognitive levels was 83 (53.19%) out of 156 cognitive dimensions more dominant than higher-order cognitive levels 73 (46.78%). The above data confirmed that the subjects “History” and “History Textbooks” appear to lose centrality in favor of factual knowledge. Histories presented large numbers of facts that had to be absorbed. The imbalance and domination of lower-order cognitive skills (remember, understand and apply) over higher-order cognitive skills (analyze, evaluate, and create) in history textbooks is a significant challenge due to a lack of deep knowledge of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. This research also reveals that history curriculum materials overlook the significance of substantive and procedural historical concepts and are struggling with how to integrate 21st century core competencies. As mentioned above, we are not suggesting that the “Remember”, “Understand” and “Apply” categories are unimportant – of course, they are. However, if we assume that students are unable to engage in sophisticated thinking before they accumulate large stores of knowledge, we are not only underestimating their capabilities; we are doing so a disservice. Research indicates that the alignment between textbook content and official intentions varies by subject area, grade level, governance, publishing policy, and country development level. Wealthier, centralized systems have high alignment, while less developed countries have low alignment due to costs, limited availability, multiple actors, and corrupt oversight mechanisms (Benavot, 2011 ). Stannies provide a comprehensive analysis of student learning outcomes (SLOs), including what measurable verbs can and cannot say about student learning. The author analyzed 30 compilations of measurable verbs aligned with Bloom's taxonomy categories, highlighting its value as a heuristic for writing student learning outcomes and other factors that faculty should consider when describing expertise levels for students completing degrees (Stanny, 2016 ). As described, guidelines built around Bloom’s taxonomy assume that the verbs in each category describe a progressive development of cognitive skills. Verbs at lower levels of Bloom’s taxonomy describe the acquisition of knowledge and facts, whereas verbs at higher levels of Bloom’s taxonomy describe complex thinking skills, including the application of knowledge to practical problems, the analysis of competing interpretations, and the creation of new knowledge or alternative interpretations of existing findings (ibid, p.2). Overall, the assessment methods used in history textbooks do not significantly change with the current changes in the history curriculum. This is contrary to Bloom’s taxonomy, which allows for the assessment of both lower- and higher-order thinking skills (Krathwohl, 2002). In this study, many of the questions asked fostered lower-order thinking as opposed to higher-order skills expected in history education. We believe that this is one of the main reasons why teachers lack awareness and ability to use the current assessment approach can partly be due to the way the assessment activities are described in the history syllabus. The syllabus is less informative on what knowledge and skills teachers are supposed to measure and with what methods. This suggests that the approach of asking questions or writing competency statements in the assessment column of the teachers’ lesson plan evidenced in this study has been adopted from the syllabus. This approach does not guide teachers in making formative assessments. Research indicates that assessing history as "information" can obscure its interpretive and perspectival character, hindering its understanding and perception, as it requires careful literary interpretation (VanSledright, 2013 ). Jannet van Drie, Martine Braaksma & Carla van Boxtel (2015) argue that history education should focus on developing students' historical thinking and reasoning skills not only for historians but also in the classroom rather than solely on factual knowledge of important persons, events, and dates. Students should engage in the 'how' and 'why' of history. Effective history instruction requires pedagogical approaches that actively engage students in historical inquiry and meaning-making. Inquiry-based learning encourages students to pose questions, gather evidence, and construct reasoned arguments about historical phenomena, fostering analytical thinking and historical empathy. The use of primary sources and multimedia resources provides opportunities for authentic encounters with historical artifacts and documents, enabling students to develop skills in source analysis and interpretation. Moreover, researchers argue that the design of objective tests will change, requiring students to interpret historical narratives and use narrations. This will help teachers assess students' historical thinking and argument skills, challenging existing narratives in textbooks. As argued, the current assessment approaches should involve reasoning, arguing, interpreting and analyzing historical pieces of evidence (Carrasco, & Martnez, 2016 ; Ndomondo, 2024 ). As described in traditional assessment methods, such as multiple-choice items, true-false tests, and fill-in-the-blank exercises, lists of items to be matched do not provide richer, more useful data points; such tasks assess neither what students know nor improve the instructional process—they simply allow the teacher to shake loose a set of largely meaningless grades (VanSledright, 2013 ; Levstik, & Barton, 2015 ). Thus, factual and conceptual tests, which focus on recalling historical terms, names, dates, and events, fail to encompass all crucial forms of knowledge necessary for historical understanding. If the primary purpose of classroom learning assessment is to produce a set of grades, then neither students nor teachers are likely to see much benefit in the practice. Vansledright suggested that students need to be invited to investigate the past themselves to focus their efforts on learning the practices that appear to produce the deepest understandings (VanSledright, 2013 ). He advocates that employing procedural concepts such as identifying, attributing, assessing, contextualizing, constituting evidence, judging reliability, and corroborating evidence across accounts becomes crucial to historical understanding (ibid, p.34). The study revealed that constructivism in teaching is limited in the Tenth Grade History Textbook analysis. Contrary to this limitation, history education researchers argue that “continuous and constructive assessment takes on a special role in teaching history” (Levstik, & Barton, 2015 , p.xii). Classroom evaluation should not focus solely on grades, as Levstik and Barton argue that constructive assessment occurs throughout instruction and positively impacts teaching and learning. It should align with a constructivist perspective, allowing students to demonstrate their understanding, “what they know rather than what they don’t know” (ibid, p.19). In this context, constructive assessment is a teaching method that helps students demonstrate their achievements, addressing inaccurate performance. It involves formal and informal measures, tasks, and presentations, allowing students to reach their potential and understand their learning needs. Historical methods include peer and teacher reviews, document-based questions, and self-assessments (ibid,p.31). Constructive assessment in history classrooms involves historical inquiry, utilizing diverse data sources, recognizing perspectives, connecting local and global history, and identifying patterns across time and places (ibid, p.68). The constructivist approach to historical knowledge assessment involves complex tools and authentic activities, promoting student-centered methodology and historical thinking skills. It incorporates disciplinary understanding and historian methods for effective teaching (VanSledright, 2013 ). The results of the study revealed that the Ethiopian Grade-10 History Textbook is a passive learning tool that promotes memorization and comprehension but lacks critical thinking and problem-solving tasks, potentially hindering students' intellectual development. 6. Conclusions and Recommendations This final section presents a set of conclusions and policy recommendations for governments and government agencies drawing on the empirical and analytical findings of the manuscript discussed in this report. The conclusions and recommendations pertain to the production and use of school history textbooks. Although learning outcomes are crucial for assessing students' knowledge, attitudes, and skills and serve as a benchmark for evaluating the extent of their changes, the results of the study show that textbook learning outcomes emphasize information accumulation over argumentation. To address this issue, research has suggested that understanding instruction methods that foster discipline-specific writing is essential for improving writing in history (Jannet van Drie, Martine Braaksma & Carla van Boxtel, 2015). Our findings indicate that there are two key areas of concern regarding the Ethiopian curriculum framework. First, while the framework mentions 21st-century skills, the assessment system and curriculum materials—including textbooks—do not align with it. Second, the current large-scale assessment instruments are inadequate for assessing most performance skills. This confirms that the history textbook loses centrality to factual knowledge, focusing on facts and a lack of visually stimulating material. This conception leads teachers to transmit knowledge and students to passively memorize, and teachers rarely consider context, experience, prior knowledge, or perspectives, hindering students' development in interpretation, reasoning, evaluation, and synthesis. The influence of text production lies in the production of syllabus documents for history in Ethiopia. Traditional Ethiopian history syllabus documents rely on a linear, teleological chronological narrative, emphasizing the accepted canon and excluding alternative interpretations, which has always been a totalizing narrative, and historians have been strategically selective in reflecting the history of militarily and politically dominant groups (Toggia, 2013 ; Abbink, 2022 ). Research indicates that traditional history education in nondemocratic regimes prioritizes memorizing historical figures, ignoring or reviling challenging perspectives, and indoctrinating students to maintain dominant narratives and norms (Facal, & Schugurensky, 2022 ). In many jurisdictions, dominant groups restrict teachers' autonomy through rigid curricula, standardized tests, and micromanaging. They also endorse cultural homogenization and exclusion, using xenophobic frames to recover a uniform ethnic identity (Facal, & Schugurensky, 2022 ). This study suggests that constructive alignment in outcome-based teaching and learning ensures appropriate learning levels for a subject or program, reinforcing teaching and assessment for future improvement. It answers the demand for 21st-century skills and competencies in classroom practice, reaffirms its conceptual framework, rejects student dispositions and pedagogical processes, and considers activities for students in the history classroom. Moreover, this study suggested that Ethiopian secondary schools should teach historical thinking using multiple texts to develop transferable knowledge and skills, enhancing critical thinking and information analysis in the 21st century. Historical thinking skills are powerful tools for enhancing critical thinking among students, as they teach students to question, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information, skills that are transferable to various aspects of life and other academic disciplines (Seixas, & Webber, 2014 ). To achieve true historical understanding, students must engage in historical thinking, question and support facts, examine historical records, consult documents, and consider the historical context. They should also compare multiple perspectives and consider multiple perspectives at the same time. Research offers direction for developing transferable knowledge, skills, and teaching methods and for promoting teacher commitment through the following recommendations (Council, 2013 , pp. 9–11): Designers’ and developers’ instructions for deeper learning and 21st-century competencies should start with clear learning goals, model development, and assessments, starting from early grades and lasting throughout K-12 careers. Validators and funding agencies should support curriculum development that incorporates research-based teaching methods, including varied representations of concepts, elaboration, questioning, and explanation; engaging learners in challenging tasks; using examples; motivating students; involving collaborative problem solving; and prioritizing knowledge over grades or scores. Formative assessment can be used to clearly communicate learning goals, monitor and provide feedback on students' progress, and involve them in self- and peer assessment. Sustained instruction and effort are necessary for developing expertise in these areas. Foundations and federal agencies should support research programs to address gaps in evidence on deeper learning and transfer instruction and assessment in intrapersonal and interpersonal domains. Declarations Acknowledgments We are grateful to the editors and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. We would like to thank the research participants for sharing their stories. Disclosure statement No potential conflicts of interest were reported by the author(s). Additional information Funding This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. References Abbink J (2022) History Education in Ethiopia Post-1991: Rethinking the Nation’s History in the Context of Decolonization Debates. Cahiers d'études africaines, 487–514 Adam S, Expert UB (2008) Learning outcomes current developments in Europe: Update on the issues and applications of learning outcomes associated with the Bologna Process. In Bologna Seminar: Learning outcomes based higher education: the Scottish experience (Vol. 21, No. 22.02, p. 2008) Afflerbach P, VanSledright B (2001) Hath! Doth! What? Middle graders reading innovative history text. J Adolesc Adult Lit 44(8):696–707 Allais S (2012) Claims vs. practicalities: lessons about using learning outcomes. J Educ Work 25(3):331–354 Assaly IR, Smadi OM (2015) Using Bloom's Taxonomy to Evaluate the Cognitive Levels of Master Class Textbook's Questions. Engl Lang Teach 8(5):100–110 Bain R, Mirel J (2006) Setting up camp at the great instructional divide: Educating beginning history teachers. J teacher Educ 57(3):212–219 Benavot A (2011) Improving the provision of quality education: Perspectives from textbook research. J Int Cooperation Educ 14(2):1–16 Bharath P (2015) An investigation of progression in historical thinking in South African history textbooks (Doctoral dissertation) Bharath P (2023) Tracing the substantive structure of historical knowledge in South African school textbooks. Yesterday Today 30(1):36–65 Calder L (2006) Uncoverage: Toward a signature pedagogy for the history survey. J Am History 92(4):1358–1370 Carrasco CG, Martnez PM (2016) Historical skills in compulsory education: Assessment, inquiry based strategies and students' argumentation. J New Approaches Educational Res (NAER Journal) 5(2):130–136 Chatterjee D, Corral J (2017) How to write well-defined learning objectives. J Educ perioperative medicine: JEPM, 19 (4) Cohen SA (1987) Instructional alignment: Searching for a magic bullet. Educational Researcher 16(8):16–20 Cotton K (1988) Classroom questioning. School Improv Res Ser 5:1–22 Council NR (2013) Education for life and work: Developing transferable knowledge and skills in the 21st century. National Academies, Washington, DC Facal RL, Schugurensky D (2022) History education and democracy. Reimagining Teach Eur History, 13 Gershberg AI, Kefale A, Hailu BH (2023) The political economy of educational reform and learning in Ethiopia (1941–2021). Res Improv Syst Educ PE09 https://doi.org/10.35489/BSG-RISE-2023/PE09 Grever M, Van der Vlies T (2017) Why national narratives are perpetuated: A literature review on new insights from history textbook research. Lond Rev Educ, 15 (2) Havekes HGF (2015) Knowing and doing history. Learning historical thinking in the classroom (Doctoral dissertation, Radboud University Nijmegen) Hess K (2018) A local assessment toolkit to promote deeper learning: Transforming research into practice. Corwin Hess K, Colby R, Joseph D (2020) Deeper competency-based learning: Making equitable, student-centered, sustainable shifts. Corwin Hsieh HF, Shannon SE (2005) Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qual Health Res 15(9):1277–1288 Ivić I, Antic S, Pešikan A (eds) (2013) Textbook quality: A guide to textbook standards, vol 2. V&R unipress GmbH Joshi R, Verspoor A (2012) Secondary education in Ethiopia: Supporting growth and transformation. World Bank Kemisso A (2009) Change and Continuity in History Curriculum: An Assessment of Themes and Perspectives in Ethiopian History Courses at AAU (1961–2006). (A Thesis, Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University) Kennedy D (2006) Writing and using learning outcomes: a practical guide. University College Cork Levstik LS, Barton KC (2015) Doing history: Investigating with children in elementary and middle schools. Routledge Loewen JW (2007) Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong. New Loewen JW (2009) Teaching what really happened: How to avoid the tyranny of textbooks and get students excited about doing history. Teachers College Ministry of Education (2021) Education Sector Development Program VI (ESDP VI): 2020/21–2024/2025, Programme Action Plan. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia MoE (2020) General Education Curriculum Framework. (Addis Ababa MoE E (2009) Curriculum framework for Ethiopian education (KG-Grade 12). Addis Ababa Monte-Sano C (2010) Disciplinary literacy in history: An exploration of the historical nature of adolescents' writing. J Learn Sci 19(4):539–568 Moulton J (1994) How do teachers use textbooks and other print materials: A review of the literature. Improving Educational Qual Project, 1–33 Ndomondo E (2024) Promoting history subject skills through competency-based assessment in Tanzania rural secondary schools: Teachers’ understanding and practices. Social Sci Humanit Open 9:100876 Parkes RJ, Donnelly D (2014) Changing conceptions of historical thinking in History education: an Australian case study. Revista Tempo e Argumento 6(11):113–136 Peck CL (2024) An Analysis of the K-6 Social Studies Draft Curriculum Skills & Procedures through the lens of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives; https://carlapeck.wordpress.com/2024/03/21/an-analysis-of-the-k-6-social-studies-draft-curriculum-skills-procedures-through-the-lens-of-blooms-taxonomy-of-educational-objectives/ Popp S (2009) National textbook controversies in a globalizing world Seguin R (1989) The elaboration of school textbooks. Division of Educational Sciences, Contents and Methods of Education Seixas P, Webber G (2014) Troubling Compromises: Historical Thinking in a One-Year Secondary Teacher Education Program. Becoming a history teacher: Sustaining practices in historical thinking and knowing , 158–174 Sewagegn AA (2020) Learning objective and assessment linkage: Its contribution to meaningful student learning. Univers J Educational Res 8(11):5044–5052 Stahl SA, Shanahan C (2004) Learning to think like a historian: Disciplinary knowledge through critical analysis of multiple documents. Adolesc Lit Res Pract, 94–115 Stanny CJ (2016) Reevaluating Bloom’s Taxonomy: What measurable verbs can and cannot say about student learning. Educ Sci 6(4):37 Teferra T, Asgedom A, Oumer J, Dalelo A, Assefa B (2018) Ethiopian Education Development Roadmap (2018-30). An Integrated Executive Summary. Ministry of Education Strategy Center (ESC) Draft for Discussion: Addis Ababa Teferra T, Asgedom A, Oumer J, Dalelo A, Assefa B (2018) Ethiopian education development roadmap (2018-30). An integrated Executive Summary. Ministry of Education Strategy Center (ESC) Draft for Discussion: Addis ababa Tigab Bezie T, Mekonnen Y, Seifu, Desta (2021) History (MLC, Flow Chart & Syllabus) Grades 9–12, (MoE, Addis Ababa) Toggia P (2013) History writing as a state ideological project in Ethiopia. Ethiopia in Transit. Routledge, pp 5–29 Van Drie J, Van Boxtel C (2008) Historical reasoning: Toward a framework for analyzing students’ reasoning about the past. Educational Psychol Rev 20:87–110 Van Drie J, Braaksma M, van Boxtel C (2015) Writing in history: Effects of writing instruction on historical reasoning and text quality. J Writ Res 7(1):123–156 VanSledright BA (2013) Assessing historical thinking and understanding: Innovative designs for new standards. Routledge Wansink BGJ (2017) Between fact and interpretation: Teachers' beliefs and practices in intepretational history teaching (Doctoral dissertation, Utrecht University) Waring SM (2011) Preserving history: The construction of history in the K-16 classroom. IAP Webb NL (2007) Issues related to judging the alignment of curriculum standards and assessments. Appl Measur Educ 20(1):7–25 Weber RP (1990) Basic content analysis, vol 49. Sage Wilson LO (2016) Anderson and Krathwohl Bloom’s taxonomy revised understanding the new version of Bloom’s taxonomy. Second Principle 1(1):1–8 Wineburg S (2001) Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Pas t. Temple University, Philadelphia Yigezu M (2021) Digitalization in teaching and education in Ethiopia: background report Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4713469","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":324824993,"identity":"7ba9d345-faa7-4388-9383-ca09b36a4fc3","order_by":0,"name":"Getachew Lemu","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHACNoYHQJIfxEwoIFZLApCUbABpMSBFi8EBEJsYLfLuzc8eJFRsS9x8fnXihwcGDPL8YgfwazE8c8zcIOHM7cRtN95ulgA6zHDm7AQCWmbksEkktoG0nN0A0pJgcJuQlvlvgFr+3U7cPOPs5h9EaZGX4AFqabiduIG/dxtxthjwpJlJJBy7bTzjBu82iwQDCcJ+kW8//EziQ81t2f7+s5tv/qiwkeeXJmTLARhLAqxSAr9ysC0NMBb/AdyqRsEoGAWjYGQDACb3STPyYR+eAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6409-9703","institution":"Jimma University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Getachew","middleName":"","lastName":"Lemu","suffix":""},{"id":324826881,"identity":"fa30bc68-32d1-4fe4-b8e2-7e4ad0a072d7","order_by":1,"name":"Wudu Melese","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Jimma University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wudu","middleName":"","lastName":"Melese","suffix":""},{"id":324826882,"identity":"fe68c863-3fa7-4402-ba3a-dcfdb6930ce4","order_by":2,"name":"Deressa Debu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Jimma University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Deressa","middleName":"","lastName":"Debu","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-07-09 16:21:41","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":true,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4713469/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4713469/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":60120691,"identity":"3bae752c-d401-43e1-8531-74dd5aeb8a34","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-07-12 04:40:39","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":909921,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4713469/v1/e22ce485-9d2c-482d-8ceb-82f8e18611bc.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn Analysis of Assessment Techniques and Learning Outcomes in Grade 10 History Curricular Materials\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[{"header":"1. Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eLearning history as a school subject often revolves around reading and writing, with much of the content of the history that students learn determined by the texts they read (Afflerbach, \u0026amp; VanSledright, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2001\u003c/span\u003e). Popp asserts that history textbooks are crucial for everyone, and the history education that is taught is often considered to be nothing less than the \u0026ldquo;future of the nation\u0026rdquo; and the identity of society itself (Popp, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn a very broad sense, textbook content is often influenced by the demands of special interest groups. Here, research highlights the tensions in history teaching between historians, researchers, and politicians. Researchers emphasize critical thinking and understanding of the past, while political leaders focus on building national identity and patriotism (Wansink, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Popp, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePoliticians and the public often appear to (naively) believe that the school is the primary medium for (legitimate) historical culture, and they do not always distinguish historical knowledge from social memory (Parkes, \u0026amp; Donnelly, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e). This approach frequently leads to content overload in the curriculum, as seen in Ethiopian secondary schools, where teachers tend to teach for knowledge acquisition (Kemisso, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMoreover, philosophers of history and historians emphasize the importance of disciplinary thinking in history, examining historical documents through sourcing, contextualization, and comparison (Monte-Sano, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e). Theorizing what should count as disciplinary knowledge in teaching history currently involves mastering historical thinking (Havekes, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e). Sam Wineburg's influential work 'Historical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts' marked a turning point in history instruction, distinguishing historical thinking, \u0026ldquo;in its deepest forms, is neither a natural process nor something that springs automatically from psychological development\u0026rdquo;, but has to be taught and learned through practice (Wineburg, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2001\u003c/span\u003e, p. 21). Historical thinking involves developing cognitive skills to analyze past events, processes, and phenomena in their temporal and cultural context, identifying patterns, recognizing causes and consequences, formulating informed interpretations, and engaging in critical debate (Van Drie, \u0026amp; Van Boxtel, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor this to occur, a history textbook is a major determinant of what is taught and how it is taught, providing an active learning environment for students. Research supports that \u0026ldquo;history textbooks are powerful tools that can support effective learning, comprehension, and conceptual development\u0026rdquo; (Bharath, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e, p.42). Ivić and Pe\u0026scaron;ikan argue that quality textbooks can significantly enhance the quality of the education system within a short period. \u0026ldquo;No other change in education is able to influence improvements in the quality of the education system for an entire country in such a short time other than quality textbooks (Ivić, \u0026amp; Pe\u0026scaron;ikan, 2013, p.65).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecently, a new education reform has been in progress following a political reform in 2018 in Ethiopia. This research is essential for understanding the present education reform in Ethiopia to overcome the problems that persist in quality education, to align the curriculum with 21st century advancements and to meet the requirements of the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030 with a particular focus on \u0026ldquo;quality and equitable education for all\u0026rdquo; (MoE, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e, p.4).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHenceforth, one of the major intervention areas for achieving quality education in Ethiopia, the MoE, has recommended that all textbooks be prepared not only to contain knowledge to be acquired but also to promote skill development and to focus on competency achievement through engaging activities (\u003cem\u003eibid\u003c/em\u003e, p.62). For this reason, next to teachers, textbooks are prioritized as a major area for improving the quality of student learning and achieving the intended competencies. Specifically, to achieve this purpose, a team of experts from Addis Abeba University, Jimma University, Hawassa University, and Bahir Dar University developed history curriculum materials for grades 9\u0026ndash;12, including learning competencies, content flowcharts, and syllabi (Tigab, Teferi, Yonas and Desta, 2021).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Ethiopian General Education Curriculum Framework (EGECF) envisions \u0026ldquo;outcome-based learning\u0026rdquo; in terms of competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes) to be achieved (MoE, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e, p. 66). Implicitly, the National Curriculum Statements for History emphasize learning history as an inquiry process, emphasizing learners\u0026rsquo; performance in historical thinking and learning for the future of the common country over past knowledge (Teferra, Asgedom, Oumer, Dalelo, \u0026amp; Assefa, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e, p.24). Therefore, the use of historical inquiry is expected to be at the heart of history instruction and learning, and students must be provided with the opportunities to learn the skills required through practice and engagement in historical inquiry. Thus, this study aimed to understand to what extent the Secondary School Grade 10 history textbook's emphasis on higher-level cognitive demands and the application of higher-order thinking tasks encouraged critical thinking in relation to educational outcomes.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec2\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e1.1. Statement of the Problem\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHistory education holds strong potential for students to develop the desired competencies of 21st-century skills. However, some researchers and practitioners still argue that history is introduced to enhance only the memorization and retention of knowledge. Accordingly, teaching strategies in history are affected by traditional methods that teachers tend to use that do not promote students' thinking. Joshi and Verspoor (\u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e) highlighted the importance of textbooks in Ethiopian education, particularly because many teachers lack the necessary professional skills. In the absence of textbooks, teachers often spend much time dictating and writing notes, which limits students\u0026rsquo; interaction. Therefore, the procurement of new and up-to-date textbooks is essential for ensuring quality education in Ethiopia.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe National Curriculum Framework is a central document in our educational system that sets quality standards and requirements for all curriculum areas, including vision, aims, objectives, values, and principles. It emphasizes student competency development as the highest priority, providing guidance to curriculum materials writers and teachers. Accordingly, the National Curriculum Framework requests the following:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll textbooks, whether developed by the Ministry or by private companies, must comply with the requirements of the National Curriculum Framework. In particular, they must not simply contain knowledge to be earned but also encourage the development of skills and values in ways that are appropriate to the subject and focus on helping students achieve competency. They must also engage students in a range of interesting and focused classroom activities (MoE, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThus, to overcome persistent problems, a major revision of the existing curriculum must be made to align the national curriculum with 21st century advancements and meet the requirements of the Sustainable Development Goals of 2030 (MoE, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). The core competencies that are expected to be developed by all learners at all levels are the following: \u003cem\u003elearning to learn, critical thinking and problem solving, creative thinking and innovation, communication, collaboration, leadership and decision-making, digital literacy, cultural identity and global citizenship\u003c/em\u003e (MoE, \u003cspan class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e, p.26).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe National Curriculum Statement mandates outcome-oriented learning, emphasizing skills and competencies over rote memorization. Secondary school history textbooks must align curriculum, instruction, and assessments to meet these requirements. Finally, the researcher aimed to analyze to what extent the revised history textbook alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessments covered the six levels of the new version of Bloom's taxonomy (remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating) designed to contribute to curriculum expectations for educating students.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cp id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e1.2. Research Question\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHistories textbooks play a significant role, especially in Ethiopian classrooms, where many teachers have no access to any other historical media. Foster and Crawford (2006, p.4) assert that understanding the curriculum through the forms in which it is publicly visible in the form of \u0026ldquo;textbooks, teacher guides and student exercises requires identifying, analyzing and critiquing its construction\u0026rdquo; by investigating the work of authors, editors, publishers, teachers and students as they struggle to create meaning.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo the best of our knowledge, this subject-specific history has not yet been studied in the Ethiopian context to better inform teachers on how to help students use effective learning strategies in their classroom teaching. Thus, our main research question is as follows: \u003cem\u003eTo what extent does the prescribed history text book reflect elements of historical thinking such as substantive and procedural knowledge?\u003c/em\u003e This question can be subdivided into the following subquestions:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e1.3. Research Questions\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat are the types of assessment techniques used for Grade 10 history curricular materials?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat are the types and levels of objectives stated in Grade 10 history curricular materials?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo what extent are the assessment techniques and learning objectives congruent in Grade 10 history curricular materials?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e1.4. Objectives of the study\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIdeally, the objectives to be accomplished through mastering a given thematic unit should run like a thread linking all elements of the material contained in that thematic unit and allowing the student to perceive the thematic unit as an integral whole rather than a series of separate events or tasks. Therefore, this study examines how high school history textbooks' learning objectives and competencies align with 21st-century transferable knowledge and skills using content analysis and research-based taxonomies.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo assess the types of assessment techniques used in Grade 10 history curricular materials\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo investigate the types and levels of learning outcomes stated in Grade 10 history curricular materials\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo evaluate the extent to which the assessment techniques and learning objectives are aligned in grade 10 history curricular materials\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"2. Literature Review","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.1. Why do textbooks matter in the teaching of history?\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eTextbooks are crucial instructional aids that guide students through subjects' objectives, content, and methodology; follow the syllabus; and provide rich information, explanations, and commentary for deeper understanding (Seguin, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1989\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThere is international acknowledgment among scholars that the role of textbooks in education is significant in delivering organized knowledge that society has marked as truthful and legitimate (Bharath, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e; Grever, \u0026amp; Van der Vlies, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR18\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). Teachers and students often rely heavily on textbooks for teaching and activities, as they are the primary source of information. Teachers often provide notes and outline important sections for exams, limiting exposure to other historical sources. What accounts for teachers' extensive use of textbooks? Factors contributing to this dependence include teaching experience, subject matter expertise, time allocation, instructional materials, and beliefs in textbook authority (Moulton, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR34\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1994\u003c/span\u003e). High school students tend to hold the common view of history textbooks as narratives, believing that history learning is about following the narrative depicted in textbooks. They rate textbooks as more trustworthy than source documents (Stahl, \u0026amp; Shanahan, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR42\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2004\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eLoewen's (2008) book, \u003cem\u003eLies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got wrong\u003c/em\u003e, exposed the biases and inaccuracies in American history textbooks. His follow-up work, \u003cem\u003eWhat truly Happened: How to Avoid the Tyranny of Textbooks \u0026amp; Get Students Excited about Doing History\u003c/em\u003e (Loewen, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR29\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e), argued for student-centered teaching of history. This special issue on history textbooks aims to address the vilification of textbooks in social studies education, which are often criticized for being boring, being overused, and containing biases and inaccuracies.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFoster and Crawford (2006) argued that textbooks are powerful not because of the nature of the texts they include. Simply put, textbooks are powerful because they contain the information that society expects students to know. These expectations, commonly, are those enunciated by governing officials, sometimes elected but frequently by bureaucrats. Similarly, Popp (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR38\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e) asserts that history textbooks not only impart historical knowledge and skills to future generations but also preserve cultural memory, supporting societal concepts of unity and individuality.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec7\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e2.2. History Curriculum in Secondary Education in Ethiopia\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eSecondary school education is a period that marks the beginning of developing abstract reasoning and logical thinking abilities that are helpful for understanding and generating knowledge beyond the here and now. It is also time for widening and deepening knowledge, skills and attitudes obtained during previous learning and preparing for further education at the tertiary level, further technical training, and the world of work (MoE, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR31\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eDuring the EPRDF period (1991\u0026ndash;2018), Ethiopian secondary schools taught history in grades 9 and 10 to help students acquire basic knowledge and familiarize them with major methodologies. In Grades 11 and 12, the curriculum focused on scientific research methods, providing a strong foundation for tertiary studies (MoE, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR32\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFollowing Meles Zenawi's death, political settlement changed, with Haile Mariam Desalegn becoming Prime Minister but lacking party leverage and a support base due to ethnic division within the southern party (Gershberg, Kefale, \u0026amp; Hailu, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR17\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2023\u003c/span\u003e). As a result, the configuration of power within the EPRDF during this period was internally competitive; even when the party ran, the politics of the country remained authoritarian. From 2015 to 2018, the EPRDF faced protests due to growing discontent and political unrest. This unrest was fuelled by economic and political factors, including inequity in economic growth and youth unemployment. Abiy Ahmed became the new leader in April 2018, leading to political reforms and the rebranding of the EPRDF to the Prosperity Party in December 2019 (ibid, pp.22\u0026ndash;23). However, Abiy Ahmed's 2018 political transition brought increased participation but faced challenges such as elite disagreement, violence, and displacement. In 2020, civil war escalated, causing displacement and human rights violations (ibid).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe 1994 Education and Training Policy and subsequent ESDPs have significantly improved Ethiopia's education system, including decentralization, diversity and inclusion, teacher training, and career structures, but Ethiopia still faces challenges in quality education (Gershberg, Kefale, \u0026amp; Hailu,2023; Yigezu, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR57\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2021\u003c/span\u003e). The Ethiopian Ministry of Education (MoE), which was launched in August 2020 near the end of the ESDP VI, covered the next five years from 2020/21 to 20124/25 G.C. or 2013\u0026ndash;2017 E.C. (ESDP VI, 2021). Subsequently, in the ESDP-VI, the six priority programmes with goals, objectives, components, strategies, and key intervention areas are identified as key factors for achieving quality education. These programmes include system strengthening, governance and accountability, values, national unity in diversity, quality improvement and relevance to the labor market, access to general education, equity and internal efficiency, youth and adult nonformal education and the use of digital technology for the education sector (MoE, ESDP VI, 2021, p. 30).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eProgramme 3\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cp\u003eQuality improvement and relevance to the labor market, with six components and various subcomponents, are committed to general education, with a focus on enhancing quality. The second objective is to develop 21st-century skills such as critical thinking, creativity, scientific temperament, communication, collaboration, multilingualism, reasoning, problem solving, ethics, social responsibility, and digital literacy among learners from all sectors (MoE, ESDP VI, 2021, p. 60).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe Ethiopian Education Development Roadmap for 2018\u0026ndash;2030 proposes reforms and paradigm shifts in the education system, highlighting history as an overlooked area. Multipleinterpretations of history should be incorporated to focus on future learning (Teferra, Asgedom, Oumer, Dalelo, \u0026amp; Assefa, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe National Curriculum Statements for History emphasize students actively engaging with history, focusing on interrogating sources and incorporating multiple interpretations from diverse backgrounds. They emphasize that understanding the past is more important than knowledge, and this approach can be applied to all school subjects (Teferra, Asgedom, Oumer, Dalelo, \u0026amp; Assefa, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR44\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). In other words, the syllabus revision aims to address the historiographical imbalance in Ethiopian history by focusing on Ethiopian nations, nationalities, and history. It aims to teach diversity and its role in a shared political economy, shifting from a knowledge-based to a competency-based approach.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eFurthermore, the history curriculum has introduced changes in textbooks, methods, and approaches due to the shift toward a competency-based approach. The shift from knowledge-based education to outcome-oriented learning emphasizes skills and competencies over rote learning and factual memorization. To achieve this goal, a more in-depth analysis of the way content and teaching strategies are presented in textbooks, including activities, competencies, assignments, etc., of a textbook is needed, and the sequencing of the lessons to be learned must be treated more extensively. The extent to which shared competency-based knowledge, skills and attitudes are covered and addressed in the curriculum framework, particularly history textbooks, and the classroom teaching-learning process should be assessed and surveyed.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTo this end, research has shown that assessing history textbook learning outcomes has a considerable impact on the types of learning activities, teaching strategies, and evaluations that will be used. \"Learning outcomes are statements of what a learner is expected to know, understand and/or be able to demonstrate at the end of a period of learning\" (Adam, \u0026amp; Expert, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR2\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e, p.4).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe idea of learning outcomes seems to increasingly dominate education policy internationally (Allais, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR4\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e). Bloom's Taxonomy, a 60-year-old educational concept, was first developed by Benjamin Bloom and his team and later updated by Krathwohl in 2002; it is well known and widely used for writing learning outcomes because it provides a ready-made structure and list of verbs (Kennedy, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e). The taxonomy categorizes learning objectives based on cognitive complexity, with the cognitive domain being the most widely used. It helps curriculum developers analyze learning objectives and assess students' skills and abilities, enabling better planning and implementation of lessons (Peck, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR37\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eTherefore, this manuscript article has been written from part of a PhD study, the aim of which was, among others, to determine the suitability and extent to which these textbooks incorporate research findings on substantive and procedural concepts, with a particular focus on second-order concepts. This section compares the knowledge and performance of historical concepts found in current history textbooks and discusses their implications for the unique nature of history and history teaching. This will be accomplished through the analysis of Grade 9\u0026ndash;10 history textbooks.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"3. Research Method","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis manuscript employed a \u003cem\u003esummative approach\u003c/em\u003e distinguished by Hsieh and Shannon (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e), which is referred to as qualitative content analysis and involves identifying and quantifying specific words or content in a text to understand their contextual use. The rationale for this method is that content in textbooks takes the form of words, pictures, drawings, photographs, maps, cartoons and other formats. This quantification is not meant to infer meaning but to explore usage. The analysis goes beyond word counts and includes latent content analysis for interpretation. The qualitative content analysis employed a \u003cem\u003esummative approach\u003c/em\u003e, calculating word frequency counts to understand the frequency of words used to refer to transferable cognitive skills and explicit instruction contexts (Hsieh, \u0026amp; Shannon, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec9\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.1. Source of the Data\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe sampling of the textbook is purposive. A secondary school grade-10 history textbook was selected for analysis. The selection criterion is a part of the dissertation based on design-based research in the preliminary phase. Secondary school education, spanning grades 9 to 12, serves as a bridge between elementary and higher education and prepares young persons in the 14\u0026ndash;18 age group for entry into higher education.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec10\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.2. Data collection procedures\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe purpose of the analysis was to determine the distribution of learning outcomes and the questions across the six levels of cognitive domains. When advocating for a paradigm shift from content-based teaching to competence-based teaching and learning, both pedagogical concerns and content remain important, as Pingel (2010, p. 31) noted that the whole idea of educational subject-oriented text can be analyzed from two general points of view:\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003ea \u003cem\u003edidactic analysis\u003c/em\u003e that addresses the methodological approach to the topic and explores the pedagogy \u003cem\u003ebehind\u003c/em\u003e the text\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003ea \u003cem\u003econtent analysis\u003c/em\u003e that examines the text itself: what does the text tell us, is it in accordance with academic research, does it sufficiently cover the topic in question?\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003c/ul\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis requires a more in-depth analysis of the way content is presented in textbooks: The general structure (text, illustrations, assignments, etc.) of a textbook and the sequencing of the lessons to be learned have to be treated more extensively when formulating recommendations.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e3.3. Methods of Data Analysis\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs a first step toward content analysis, we simply took lists of competencies, exercises and activities that the textbook writers proposed tasks and assessments involving identifying valuable competencies and their alignment with research-based taxonomies developed by Anderson and Krathwohl (2010). The new \u003cem\u003eBloom\u0026rsquo;s revised taxonomy\u003c/em\u003e has been used to identify knowledge types and the cognitive demand of textbooks through the application of computer-aided content analysis to a variety of substantive problems. The data analysis started with computer-assisted search terms for occurrences of the terms (Weber, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR54\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1990\u003c/span\u003e; Hsieh, \u0026amp; Shannon, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR22\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2005\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eBloom's Taxonomy is a general developmental framework in which a measurable verb is developed to classify observable knowledge, skills, attitudes, behaviors, and abilities, allowing for explicit learning objectives using measurable verbs to indicate cognitive activity with six stages of increasing competence, commonly used by teachers. The alignment of learning objectives, assessments, and teaching strategies significantly enhances the effectiveness and quality of education by determining the selection of learning experiences, activities, and evaluation methods (Sewagegn, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR41\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eWebb (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR53\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2007\u003c/span\u003e), an alignment model, also provides the analytical framework for this study to measure curriculum document alignment, focusing on correspondence between syllabus, textbooks, and teachers' guides, suggesting sequential development for educational system support. Webb's alignment model offers four aspects for evaluating curriculum documents: categorical concurrence, depth of knowledge consistency, range of knowledge correspondence, and balance of representation.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"4. Results","content":"\u003cp\u003eLearning outcomes play an important role in the learning process. This is because learning outcomes can be used as a benchmark to determine the extent to which students experience changes after receiving their learning experiences and are observed and measured in the form of knowledge, attitudes and skills. The noticeable shift in educational goals toward equipping students with a broad range of competences has been recognized through the General Education Curriculum Framework (2020) reform effort. However, the shift in educational goals has not yet translated into practice. The researcher emphasizes the significance of analyzing textbook questions to evaluate their role in education and student thinking development, highlighting the alignment of learning objectives, assessments, and teaching strategies. The textbooks used in this study can be accessed at the following link: \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://files.fm/lemugetachew1\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://files.fm/lemugetachew1\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e. For brevity, the reader is urged to browse to comprehend the full extent of all verbs included in the text under analysis, which has been automated by Ctrl\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;Click to follow links using a web-based tool \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://uploadnow.io/files/jJ5dQmg\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://uploadnow.io/files/jJ5dQmg\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e4.1. Assessment technique types\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis research examines the impact of textbook questioning practices on learner education. The study analyzes all textbook questions and collects results to answer the research question, emphasizing the importance of educators being informed about these practices. Table\u0026nbsp;(1) displays the question frequency level for each learning unit, and the suggested classroom assessment activities are rated.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003edisplays the assessment activities in Ethiopian Grade-10 history textbooks, primarily multiple choice and short question, with the maximum number of activities registered. Performance assessments should be included in exercises and activities to help students understand the relevance of applying skills in real-world situations, enabling them to progress from beginners to proficient (Hess, Colby, \u0026amp; Joseph, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e). Performance tasks foster critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication skills through in-depth engagement, resources, and instruction, sometimes with community mentors or internships, but not all assessments necessitate extensive teacher planning (ibid). Balancing assessment methods are crucial for student performance, but some activities may hinder higher-order thinking and questioning skills due to teaching-focused questions in history textbooks (Bain, \u0026amp; Mirel, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR6\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"2\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAssessment Technique\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrequency (f)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTrue/False questions\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e25\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMultiple Choice questions\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e92\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eMatching\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e20\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe what, when, who, which, where questions (Short Answer/Word Answer activities)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e99\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe how and why questions (Discussion/essay activities)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e41\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePerformance Assessment (creation activities)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDBQs (Document-Based Questions)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e0\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eResearch shows that lower cognitive questions require students to recall verbatim or in their own words, while higher cognitive questions require students to mentally manipulate information to create or support answers with logical reasoning. Higher cognitive questions include open-ended, interpretive, evaluative, inquiry, inferential, and synthesis questions (Cotton, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR14\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1988\u003c/span\u003e; Assaly, \u0026amp; Smadi, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e). Calder also argued that to expose students' basic misconceptions about the nature of history and prepare them mentally for hard work and a deep understanding of history, six cognitive habits are suggested: questioning, connecting, sourcing, making inferences, considering alternate perspectives, and recognizing limits to one's knowledge (Calder, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe six levels within the cognitive domain are divided into two levels of thinking skills: lower-order thinking skills (LOTS) and higher-order thinking skills (HOTS). Lower-Level Question: A question that requires students to respond at the cognitive level of remembering understanding and applying where as Higher-Level Question: A question that requires students to respond at the cognitive level of analyzing, evaluating and creating (Wilson, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR55\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). Higher-order thinking is a concept that we often associate with learning classifications or tasks involving analysis, evaluation, and synthesis (creation of new knowledge) and is cognitively demanding, requiring different learning and teaching methods than the learning of \u003cem\u003elower-order\u003c/em\u003e facts and concepts (Hess, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e4.2. Types and Levels of Learning Outcomes\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis study also aimed to analyze the consistency of different cognitive verbs used by textbook writers to describe learning outcomes. It calculates a score for teaching activities and assessment tasks, revealing the link between action verbs and competency levels.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eA checklist based on Bloom\u0026rsquo;s Taxonomy was used to categorize the cognitive levels of these questions. Source: \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttp://www.odu.edu/educ/llschult/blooms_taxonomy.htm\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"http://www.odu.edu/educ/llschult/blooms_taxonomy.htm\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e; for additional information on writing learning objectives, it is possible to visit the following websites: \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttp://www.Learning-Objectives-Guidelines.pdf\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"http://www.Learning-Objectives-Guidelines.pdf\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e and \u003cspan class=\"ExternalRef\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"RefSource\"\u003ehttps://teaching.uic.edu/blooms-taxonomy-of-educational-objectives/\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan address=\"https://teaching.uic.edu/blooms-taxonomy-of-educational-objectives/\" targettype=\"URL\" class=\"RefTarget\"\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe cognitive domain levels begin at the basic level of \u003cem\u003eremembering\u003c/em\u003e and extend through to the higher and more complex levels up to \u003cem\u003ecreating\u003c/em\u003e. The second column defines the features of the six levels of the cognitive domain. The third column outlines the range of potential learning activities relevant to each level that prevailed in the text, while the fourth column provides the frequency counted throughout the text. To analyze the use of verbs in the Grade-10 history textbook, I used CTRL-F to search the text for all verbs listed below (that number includes duplicate entries).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e \u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eSummary of analysis of verbs applied to the Grade-10 History Textbook\u003c/p\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"Credit\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e(\u003cem\u003eSource: Bloom\u0026rsquo;s Taxonomy, Krathwohl, 2002\u003c/em\u003e)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/caption\u003e \u003ccolgroup cols=\"6\"\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003cthead\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCognitive level\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eDefinitions\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eIntended learning outcomes (ILO) of Grade- 10 History Textbook\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eFrequency\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e(count)\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eTotal\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003ePercentages\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/th\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/thead\u003e \u003ctbody\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eRemembering\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStudents can able to retrieve, recognize, and recall relevant knowledge from long-term memory.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003edefine\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eList down\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eoutline\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRecognize\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eState\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e15\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e9.61%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eUnderstanding\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStudents can able to construct meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through interpreting, exemplifying, classifying, summarizing, inferring, comparing, and explaining.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003edescribe\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ediscussion\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eexplain\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eelaborate\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eidentify\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eGive example\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eunravel\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e7\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e19\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e20\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e54\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e34.61%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eApplying\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStudents can able to carry out or using a procedure through executing, or implementing.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003edraw\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003edemonstrate\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eillustrate\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003esketch\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eshow\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003epinpoint\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ePoint out\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e2\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e3\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e14\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e8.97%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAnalyzing\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStudents can able to break material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing, and attributing.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAnalyze\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ecategorize\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eCompare \u0026amp;contrast\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003edebate\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003edifferentiate\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003edistinguish\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eExamine\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eexplore\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eRelate\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003estipulate\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\" morerows=\"1\" rowspan=\"2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e5\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e6\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e6\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e10\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e33\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e21.15%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eEvaluating\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStudents can able to make judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eAppreciate\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAssess\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eadvocate\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eevaluate\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003erespect\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003evalue\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e13\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e9\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e11\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e36\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e23.07%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003ctr\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eCreating\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e \u003cp\u003eStudents can able to put elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e \u003cp\u003edesign\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003ewrite\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eprepare\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eproduce\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e1\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e4\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c6\"\u003e \u003cp\u003e2.56%\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e \u003c/tr\u003e \u003c/tbody\u003e \u003c/colgroup\u003e \u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e \u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe results showed that 53.19% (remembering, understanding and applying) of the students emphasized cognition, representing lower-order thinking skills; 46.78% emphasized higher-order thinking cognitive skills (analyzing, evaluating and creating); and only 2.56% emphasized writing activities in history. The learning outcomes in the Horizons textbook place a great deal of emphasis upon understanding, which is a lower-order thinking skill.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e \u003cdiv id=\"Sec15\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e \u003ch2\u003e4.3. Congruence between Assessment and Learning Outcomes\u003c/h2\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstructive alignment outlines learning objectives that guide teaching, set expectations, prepare learners, and define faculty and learner responsibilities, ultimately contributing to the achievement of educational outcomes (Chatterjee, \u0026amp; Corral, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e; Cohen, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR13\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1987\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe implication here is that to engage in more complex thinking, students need to start with a large amount of information, as shown by verbs that fall into Bloom's Taxonomy's \"Remember\" and \"Understand\" categories. Among the three levels of the lower-order thinking cognitive domain, understanding was the most dominant, accounting for 34.61%. This means that this textbook encouraged the students to acquire knowledge and memorize information in the text, while from the three levels of higher-order thinking cognitive domain, the evaluating level was somewhat the most dominant level, which appeared frequently with a percentage of 23.07%. The above percentage implies that the writers of this textbook could encourage knowledge regurgitation rather than generating and attracting learners to use all their mental processes optimally.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eEducationists generally agree that the teaching of history requires applying the historical concepts (substantive and meta-concept) that they learn in essay writing, analysis, synthesis, evaluation, and reasoning. In doing so, we support a learning process based on abilities that allow students to interpret the past and that go beyond factual or conceptual knowledge based on the memorization of dates, characters or facts. This approach focuses on disciplinary history as a method. It consists of learning history as a form of research and learning to think and reflect on the past (Waring, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR52\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"5. Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eBased on the findings shown in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e, the researcher found that the total frequency of lower-order cognitive levels was 83 (53.19%) out of 156 cognitive dimensions more dominant than higher-order cognitive levels 73 (46.78%). The above data confirmed that the subjects \u0026ldquo;History\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;History Textbooks\u0026rdquo; appear to lose centrality in favor of factual knowledge. Histories presented large numbers of facts that had to be absorbed. The imbalance and domination of lower-order cognitive skills (remember, understand and apply) over higher-order cognitive skills (analyze, evaluate, and create) in history textbooks is a significant challenge due to a lack of deep knowledge of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. This research also reveals that history curriculum materials overlook the significance of substantive and procedural historical concepts and are struggling with how to integrate 21st century core competencies.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs mentioned above, we are not suggesting that the \u0026ldquo;Remember\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;Understand\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Apply\u0026rdquo; categories are unimportant \u0026ndash; of course, they are. However, if we assume that students are unable to engage in sophisticated thinking before they accumulate large stores of knowledge, we are not only underestimating their capabilities; we are doing so a disservice.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eResearch indicates that the alignment between textbook content and official intentions varies by subject area, grade level, governance, publishing policy, and country development level. Wealthier, centralized systems have high alignment, while less developed countries have low alignment due to costs, limited availability, multiple actors, and corrupt oversight mechanisms (Benavot, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR7\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2011\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eStannies provide a comprehensive analysis of student learning outcomes (SLOs), including what measurable verbs can and cannot say about student learning. The author analyzed 30 compilations of measurable verbs aligned with Bloom's taxonomy categories, highlighting its value as a heuristic for writing student learning outcomes and other factors that faculty should consider when describing expertise levels for students completing degrees (Stanny, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs described, guidelines built around Bloom\u0026rsquo;s taxonomy assume that the verbs in each category describe a progressive development of cognitive skills. Verbs at lower levels of Bloom\u0026rsquo;s taxonomy describe the acquisition of knowledge and facts, whereas verbs at higher levels of Bloom\u0026rsquo;s taxonomy describe complex thinking skills, including the application of knowledge to practical problems, the analysis of competing interpretations, and the creation of new knowledge or alternative interpretations of existing findings (ibid, p.2).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOverall, the assessment methods used in history textbooks do not significantly change with the current changes in the history curriculum. This is contrary to Bloom\u0026rsquo;s taxonomy, which allows for the assessment of both lower- and higher-order thinking skills (Krathwohl, 2002). In this study, many of the questions asked fostered lower-order thinking as opposed to higher-order skills expected in history education. We believe that this is one of the main reasons why teachers lack awareness and ability to use the current assessment approach can partly be due to the way the assessment activities are described in the history syllabus. The syllabus is less informative on what knowledge and skills teachers are supposed to measure and with what methods.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis suggests that the approach of asking questions or writing competency statements in the assessment column of the teachers\u0026rsquo; lesson plan evidenced in this study has been adopted from the syllabus. This approach does not guide teachers in making formative assessments. Research indicates that assessing history as \"information\" can obscure its interpretive and perspectival character, hindering its understanding and perception, as it requires careful literary interpretation (VanSledright, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR50\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eJannet van Drie, Martine Braaksma \u0026amp; Carla van Boxtel (2015) argue that history education should focus on developing students' historical thinking and reasoning skills not only for historians but also in the classroom rather than solely on factual knowledge of important persons, events, and dates. Students should engage in the 'how' and 'why' of history. Effective history instruction requires pedagogical approaches that actively engage students in historical inquiry and meaning-making. Inquiry-based learning encourages students to pose questions, gather evidence, and construct reasoned arguments about historical phenomena, fostering analytical thinking and historical empathy. The use of primary sources and multimedia resources provides opportunities for authentic encounters with historical artifacts and documents, enabling students to develop skills in source analysis and interpretation.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMoreover, researchers argue that the design of objective tests will change, requiring students to interpret historical narratives and use narrations. This will help teachers assess students' historical thinking and argument skills, challenging existing narratives in textbooks. As argued, the current assessment approaches should involve reasoning, arguing, interpreting and analyzing historical pieces of evidence (Carrasco, \u0026amp; Martnez, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e; Ndomondo, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2024\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAs described in traditional assessment methods, such as multiple-choice items, true-false tests, and fill-in-the-blank exercises, lists of items to be matched do not provide richer, more useful data points; such tasks assess neither what students know nor improve the instructional process\u0026mdash;they simply allow the teacher to shake loose a set of largely meaningless grades (VanSledright, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR50\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e; Levstik, \u0026amp; Barton, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e). Thus, factual and conceptual tests, which focus on recalling historical terms, names, dates, and events, fail to encompass all crucial forms of knowledge necessary for historical understanding. If the primary purpose of classroom learning assessment is to produce a set of grades, then neither students nor teachers are likely to see much benefit in the practice.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eVansledright suggested that students need to be invited to investigate the past themselves to focus their efforts on learning the practices that appear to produce the deepest understandings (VanSledright, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR50\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e). He advocates that employing procedural concepts such as identifying, attributing, assessing, contextualizing, constituting evidence, judging reliability, and corroborating evidence across accounts becomes crucial to historical understanding (ibid, p.34).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe study revealed that constructivism in teaching is limited in the Tenth Grade History Textbook analysis. Contrary to this limitation, history education researchers argue that \u0026ldquo;continuous and constructive assessment takes on a special role in teaching history\u0026rdquo; (Levstik, \u0026amp; Barton, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR27\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e, p.xii). Classroom evaluation should not focus solely on grades, as Levstik and Barton argue that constructive assessment occurs throughout instruction and positively impacts teaching and learning. It should align with a constructivist perspective, allowing students to demonstrate their understanding, \u0026ldquo;what they know rather than what they don\u0026rsquo;t know\u0026rdquo; (ibid, p.19). In this context, constructive assessment is a teaching method that helps students demonstrate their achievements, addressing inaccurate performance. It involves formal and informal measures, tasks, and presentations, allowing students to reach their potential and understand their learning needs. Historical methods include peer and teacher reviews, document-based questions, and self-assessments (ibid,p.31).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eConstructive assessment in history classrooms involves historical inquiry, utilizing diverse data sources, recognizing perspectives, connecting local and global history, and identifying patterns across time and places (ibid, p.68). The constructivist approach to historical knowledge assessment involves complex tools and authentic activities, promoting student-centered methodology and historical thinking skills. It incorporates disciplinary understanding and historian methods for effective teaching (VanSledright, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR50\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe results of the study revealed that the Ethiopian Grade-10 History Textbook is a passive learning tool that promotes memorization and comprehension but lacks critical thinking and problem-solving tasks, potentially hindering students' intellectual development.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"6. Conclusions and Recommendations","content":"\u003cp\u003eThis final section presents a set of conclusions and policy recommendations for governments and government agencies drawing on the empirical and analytical findings of the manuscript discussed in this report. The conclusions and recommendations pertain to the production and use of school history textbooks.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eAlthough learning outcomes are crucial for assessing students' knowledge, attitudes, and skills and serve as a benchmark for evaluating the extent of their changes, the results of the study show that textbook learning outcomes emphasize information accumulation over argumentation. To address this issue, research has suggested that understanding instruction methods that foster discipline-specific writing is essential for improving writing in history (Jannet van Drie, Martine Braaksma \u0026amp; Carla van Boxtel, 2015).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eOur findings indicate that there are two key areas of concern regarding the Ethiopian curriculum framework. First, while the framework mentions 21st-century skills, the assessment system and curriculum materials\u0026mdash;including textbooks\u0026mdash;do not align with it. Second, the current large-scale assessment instruments are inadequate for assessing most performance skills. This confirms that the history textbook loses centrality to factual knowledge, focusing on facts and a lack of visually stimulating material. This conception leads teachers to transmit knowledge and students to passively memorize, and teachers rarely consider context, experience, prior knowledge, or perspectives, hindering students' development in interpretation, reasoning, evaluation, and synthesis.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThe influence of text production lies in the production of syllabus documents for history in Ethiopia. Traditional Ethiopian history syllabus documents rely on a linear, teleological chronological narrative, emphasizing the accepted canon and excluding alternative interpretations, which has always been a totalizing narrative, and historians have been strategically selective in reflecting the history of militarily and politically dominant groups (Toggia, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR47\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e; Abbink, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR1\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). Research indicates that traditional history education in nondemocratic regimes prioritizes memorizing historical figures, ignoring or reviling challenging perspectives, and indoctrinating students to maintain dominant narratives and norms (Facal, \u0026amp; Schugurensky, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e). In many jurisdictions, dominant groups restrict teachers' autonomy through rigid curricula, standardized tests, and micromanaging. They also endorse cultural homogenization and exclusion, using xenophobic frames to recover a uniform ethnic identity (Facal, \u0026amp; Schugurensky, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR16\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2022\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis study suggests that constructive alignment in outcome-based teaching and learning ensures appropriate learning levels for a subject or program, reinforcing teaching and assessment for future improvement. It answers the demand for 21st-century skills and competencies in classroom practice, reaffirms its conceptual framework, rejects student dispositions and pedagogical processes, and considers activities for students in the history classroom.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eMoreover, this study suggested that Ethiopian secondary schools should teach historical thinking using multiple texts to develop transferable knowledge and skills, enhancing critical thinking and information analysis in the 21st century. Historical thinking skills are powerful tools for enhancing critical thinking among students, as they teach students to question, analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information, skills that are transferable to various aspects of life and other academic disciplines (Seixas, \u0026amp; Webber, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2014\u003c/span\u003e). To achieve true historical understanding, students must engage in historical thinking, question and support facts, examine historical records, consult documents, and consider the historical context. They should also compare multiple perspectives and consider multiple perspectives at the same time.\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eResearch offers direction for developing transferable knowledge, skills, and teaching methods and for promoting teacher commitment through the following recommendations (Council, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e, pp. 9\u0026ndash;11):\u003c/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e \u003cul\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003eDesigners\u0026rsquo; and developers\u0026rsquo; instructions for deeper learning and 21st-century competencies should start with clear learning goals, model development, and assessments, starting from early grades and lasting throughout K-12 careers.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003eValidators and funding agencies should support curriculum development that incorporates research-based teaching methods, including varied representations of concepts, elaboration, questioning, and explanation; engaging learners in challenging tasks; using examples; motivating students; involving collaborative problem solving; and prioritizing knowledge over grades or scores.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003eFormative assessment can be used to clearly communicate learning goals, monitor and provide feedback on students' progress, and involve them in self- and peer assessment.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003eSustained instruction and effort are necessary for developing expertise in these areas.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e \u003cp\u003eFoundations and federal agencies should support research programs to address gaps in evidence on deeper learning and transfer instruction and assessment in intrapersonal and interpersonal domains.\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/li\u003e \u003c/ul\u003e \u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003ch2\u003eAcknowledgments\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are grateful to the editors and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. We would like to thank the research participants for sharing their stories.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eDisclosure statement\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo potential conflicts of interest were reported by the author(s).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAdditional information\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFunding\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAbbink J (2022) History Education in Ethiopia Post-1991: Rethinking the Nation\u0026rsquo;s History in the Context of Decolonization Debates. 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Sage\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWilson LO (2016) Anderson and Krathwohl Bloom\u0026rsquo;s taxonomy revised understanding the new version of Bloom\u0026rsquo;s taxonomy. Second Principle 1(1):1\u0026ndash;8\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWineburg S (2001) \u003cem\u003eHistorical Thinking and Other Unnatural Acts: Charting the Future of Teaching the Pas\u003c/em\u003et. Temple University, Philadelphia\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e \u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eYigezu M (2021) Digitalization in teaching and education in Ethiopia: background report\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[{"identity":"88e330e6-e923-4cdb-bcfb-373abcccd4a0","identifier":"10.13039/100008686","name":"Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research","awardNumber":"No","order_by":0}],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Assessment activities, Bloom's Taxonomy, History textbook, Historical thinking","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4713469/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4713469/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe current Ethiopian Grade Ten Histor Textbook has been scrutinized through the lens of Bloom's Taxonomy to evaluate its learning outcomes and assessment activities. The study indicates that the majority of the learning outcomes and assessment activities in the textbook primarily focus on factual knowledge and conceptual understanding, emphasizing the retention of historical terms and events. The results also reveal that the history textbook learning outcome statements predominantly emphasize lower-order thinking skills. Specifically, 53.19% of the content focused on remembering, understanding, and applying, while only 46.78% of the statements centered on higher-order thinking skills, such as analyzing, evaluating, and creating. To enrich history teaching, the study recommends integrating disciplinary strategies and historian methods to cultivate critical thinking skills, enabling students to make informed judgments and navigate the complexities of the modern world. To achieve this goal, Ethiopian history textbook writers should emphasize the concept of historical thinking, and research evidence to improve educational practice, which is a set of cognitive processes that enables individuals to analyze, evaluate, and contextualize historical information.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"An Analysis of Assessment Techniques and Learning Outcomes in Grade 10 History Curricular Materials","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-07-12 04:32:32","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4713469/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"d8749e0a-3eb7-4d26-9f51-064382ac059d","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 12th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":34358971,"name":"History"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-07-12T04:32:32+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-07-12 04:32:32","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4713469","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4713469","identity":"rs-4713469","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}