A conceptual analysis of introductory physic textbooks.

The problem distribution in the electricity and magnetism sections of seven major introductory physics textbooks was studied. The problems were classified into four categories ranging from purely quantitative to purely qualitative. The variation of the distribution of problems among these categories was studied. Using the classification, a subset of the problems was identified as non-quantitative. Solutions to the non-quantitative problems were decomposed into their Basic Steps; the fundamental pieces of the solution. Basic steps were used to characterize the distribution of conceptual complexity among the textbooks. The variation between topics and between textbook level (calculus-based, algebra-based, and conceptual) was also studied.