Transforming the High School Civics and Society Textbooks: From Question-based Curriculum Guidelines to Textbook Design

Purpose This study explores how textbook editors have transformed “question-based” curriculum guidelines into the design of high school Civics and Society textbooks. Main Theories or Conceptual Frameworks Not applicable. Research Design/Methods/Participants This study conducted semi-structured interviews with textbook editors to explore their understanding of question-based curriculum guidelines and the challenges they faced when transorming textbooks. Research Findings or Conclusions The main findings of this study are as follows. First, the editors’ interpretation of question-based curriculum guidelines included: (1) three types of text formats: question answering, question inference, and problem-solving; (2) a shift from deductive to inductive writing; (3) the addition of questions in components outside the main text, with assessments encompassing steps of the inquiry process. Second, the challenges of question-based curriculum guidelines into textbook design included: (1) controversies over the scope of learning content; (2) complex learning content which makes it difficult to implement inductive designs; (3) textbook page limits which make it challenging to effectively address inquiry questions. Theoretical or Practical Insights/Contributions/Recommendations The study concludes by offering suggestions for future curriculum revisions and inquiry-based design of textbooks.