Integrating Science Process Skills in Secondary Education of Odisha: A Content Analysis of the Class IX Physical Science Textbook

The cognitive and psychomotor skills and students employ to examine, research and comprehend scientific phenomena are known as science process skills (SPS). The objectives of the study are (1) To identify different types of science process skills in Class IX physical science textbook. (2) To investigate the extent in which science process skills are incorporated in the Class IX physical science textbook. (3) To investigates to what extent the content of Class IX physical science textbook consistent with the inclusion of science process skills. A qualitative content analysis approach was adopted. A researcher developed checklist, based on established SPS frameworks (e.g., Harlen & Qualter, 2009; Elmas et al., 2018), was utilized as the primary data collection tool. Textual explanations, illustrations, exercises and suggested student activities were systematically coded and analysed. The findings reveal that all six core SPS are present in the textbook, with observation (67.25%) being the most prominently featured, followed by communication (52.86%) and inferring (48.67%). Prediction (42.47%) and measurement (34.51%) are moderately represented, whereas classification (23.89%) is the least addressed. And, the integration of these skills is uneven across chapters, indicating a fragmented approach to skill development.