Media concepts in social studies and national textbooks in public education in light of media education standards and the nature of Saudi society

Abstract

The study aimed to reveal the degree of inclusion of media concepts in the books of social and national studies in general education in light of the criteria of media education and the nature of the Saudi society. Additionally, to identify the estimations of the participants in the study of the importance of including media concepts in these books, and to build a matrix of the range and sequence of media concepts in the books of social and national studies in the grades of Saudi general education. The study followed the descriptive approach in both descriptive analysis of the textbooks and descriptive survey of the study participants who were (203) students in the schools of boys and girls in general education in Makkah. The study used two data collection tools: the content analysis card for textbooks (18 books for students) and the questionnaire of the participants' estimations in the study, as ensuring the validity and reliability of the tools. The data were processed using the statistical program (SPSS) according to a set of appropriate statistical tests. The results of the study led to the preparation of a list of (156) media concepts distributed in (13) fields. The results of the content analysis revealed a very low inclusion of the media concepts in the books of social and national studies. While, the participants' estimations in the study revealed high degree of importance of inclusion of media concepts in those books. In view of this, a model for the matrix of the extent and sequence of the media concepts was designed in the books of social and national studies in Saudi general education.