and technology textbooks (Nanyi, Kanghsuan and Hanlin). Also, the participants’ (grade six elementary school students) attitude towards reading and perceiving the figures is considered during the investigation. First of all, the reviews of design and usage of illustrative figures in elementary textbooks and the related literature are studied in order to categorise individual function and characteristic of the figures in the textbooks. In addition, the illustrative figures in the textbooks are examined by the experts and classified into five types: (1) scenario diagram and ornament; (2) system diagram and flow chart; (3) symbolic illustration; (4) statistical diagram and chart; and (5) functional and interpretation diagram. Then, the scale designed in this study is applied to measure students’ attitude towards different types of illustrative figures. Finally, the analysis of the opinions collected from the experts and the students led to two conclusions: (1) “scenario diagram and ornament” is used more frequently than the other types of illustrative figures in currently available elementary science and technology textbooks; and (2) in comparison to different types of figures, students prefer reading “statistical diagram and chart” and “functional and interpretation diagram” over the other types of illustrative figures.