Prevalence,function, and structure of photographs in high school biology textbooks

Photographs are a major aspect of high school science textbooks, which dominate classroom approaches to teaching and learning. It is thus surprising that the function of photographs and their relation to captions and texts have not been the topic of analysis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence, function, and structure of photographs in high school science. Our motivating research question was, “What can students learn from textbooks when they study photographs?” To answer this and several subordinate questions, we selected and analyzed four Brazilian biology textbooks. We focus on the use of photographs and the relation among them, various types of texts, and the subject matter presented. Our analysis reveals that the structural elements of text, caption, and photographs and the relations among them differ across the textbooks and at times even within the same book. This, of course, will influence readers' interpretations of the photographs changing their role in the text. The results of our study have implications for textbook authors and textbook readers. We suggest that future studies may focus on students' and teachers' interpretation of photographs in real time. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 40: 1089–1114, 2003     

Factors in life science textbooks that may deter girls' interest in science

In order to examine factors that may deter girls' interest in science, five seventh-grade life science textbooks were analyzed for sexism in language, images, and curricular content, and for features of activities that have been found to be useful for motivating girls. Although overt sexism was not apparent, subtle forms of sexism in the selection of language, images, and curricular content were found. Activities had some features useful to girls, but other features were seldom included. Teachers may wish to use differences that were found among texts as one basis for text selection.     

Evolution in secondary school biology textbooks of the PRC,the USA,and the latter stages of the USSR

The presentations of evolutionary theory in 13 prominent, secondary-school biology textbooks—3 Chinese, 8 American, and 2 Soviet—were examined using the methods of content analysis. For each book, the amount of text devoted to each of 80 evolutionary topics was assessed. Such word counts were enumerated not only for the main narrative, but also for eight supplemental components (illustrations, marginal information, appendixes, etc.). Pronounced differences in topic emphasis among the 13 textbooks and systematic trends between countries are discussed. The strong emphasis on evolution in the USSR textbooks is impressive, but these textbooks also neglect some major themes, and they devote considerable text to certain concepts of an erroneous or dubious nature. The PRC (People's Republic of China) textbooks fail to introduce a considerable number of topics that are prominent in the other two systems. The eight USA textbooks exhibit great diversity in terms of total evolutionary content, number of themes treated, and which topics are emphasized. Unlike the USSR and PRC textbooks, the USA books position a vast amount of evolutionary content (26.5%-55.8%) within components outside the main narrative. The evolutionary text of USA editions is dispersed throughout and is presented surprisingly early. Several individual themes that proved particularly revealing are examined, including human evolution, law of recapitulation, evolution and religion, evidences of evolution, punctuated equilibria, and artificial selection.     

Correlation between MCAT Biology Content Specifications and Topic Scope and Sequence of General Education College Biology Textbooks

Most American colleges and universities offer gateway biology courses to meet the needs of three undergraduate audiences: biology and related science majors, many of whom will become biomedical researchers; premedical students meeting medical school requirements and preparing for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT); and students completing general education (GE) graduation requirements. Biology textbooks for these three audiences present a topic scope and sequence that correlates with the topic scope and importance ratings of the biology content specifications for the MCAT regardless of the intended audience. Texts for “nonmajors,” GE courses appear derived directly from their publisher''s majors text. Topic scope and sequence of GE texts reflect those of “their” majors text and, indirectly, the MCAT. MCAT term density of GE texts equals or exceeds that of their corresponding majors text. Most American universities require a GE curriculum to promote a core level of academic understanding among their graduates. This includes civic scientific literacy, recognized as an essential competence for the development of public policies in an increasingly scientific and technological world. Deriving GE biology and related science texts from majors texts designed to meet very different learning objectives may defeat the scientific literacy goals of most schools’ GE curricula.     

科学教材中阅读材料的特点和功能--对美国初中科学教材《物质的特性》、《人体系统》的分析

在美国的初中科学教材中,阅读材料与正文的关系是相辅相成的。阅读材料能使得教材在内容的深度和广度、时间和空间上得到扩展,能渗透科学技术与社会和科学发展史的内容,有利于学生开展研究性学习,所以阅读材料具有使科学教材在内容上综合化、弹性化、补充正文、培养学生的各种能力和激发学生对科学的学习兴趣的功能。其他国家编写科学教材的成功经验对我们有很好的借鉴和启发作用。     

Gender,text, and discussion: Examining intellectual safety in the science classroom

It is clear from the extant literature that gender inequities exist in a myriad of ways in science classrooms. Past research, however, has been conducted solely from researchers' observations and has neglected to investigate students' awareness of and reactions to their own experiences. Hence, this study focused on students' perceptions of gender differences in instructional activity and talk about that activity in physics and honors physics classes. Data analysis showed that although teachers may be unaware of gender inequities, students of both sexes are not unaware of such inequities. Females explained their fears of offering their opinions and participating in activities like labs and small-group or whole-class discussions. Differential language patterns were found for males and females, particularly when discussion was structured and rewarded for refutation. Explanations are offered for these disparities and suggestions are given for addressing gender bias in science classrooms. It has been well documented that science classrooms are not gender fair (Bazler & Simonis, 1991; Bianchini, 1993; Tobin, 1988). Teachers, texts, and the forms of instruction they perpetuate contribute to gender inequities in science instruction. For example, research tracing changes in science textbooks over time has shown that current texts have failed to eliminate barriers to women in science (Bianchini, 1993). Science textbooks are criticized for their unequal treatment of genders, with illustrations, photos, and texts of males far outnumbering those of females, despite the approximate 50/50 male/female ratio of our population (Bazler & Simonis, 1991). In addition to the proclivity of science textbooks to favor males, researchers speculate that the tendency for boys to achieve higher than girls in science may be a result of more opportunity to engage in academic tasks (Tobin & Garnett, 1987). Their behavior shows that teachers have differential expectations for students' responses in activities like teacher-led discussion. In teacher-led, whole-class discussion, boys are spoken to more frequently and are asked more higher-order questions (Becker, 1991; Hall & Sadler, 1982). Teachers in science classrooms elaborate more on males' responses than females' responses in large-group discussion of scientific concepts (Jones & Wheatley, 1990). © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

活动式课文初探

本轮基础教育课程改革过程中,新课标教科书普遍重视活动设计,与传统教科书相比,活动式课文大量增加。活动式课文的凸显既有理论基础,又有政策依据,同时也反映了教科书发展的趋势。活动式课文有多种呈现模式,与传统的叙述式课文相比,它们在功能方面有着显著的差异。从课文系统的建构角度来说,如何达成活动式课文与叙述式课文的优化组合,如何达成活动式课文与习题系统的优化组合,仍需要我们从理论上进一步反思。     

A pedagogical analysis of science textbooks: How can we proceed?

This paper discusses some of the available frameworks for the pedagogical analysis of school science textbooks. First, it distinguishes between (a) studies which focus on elements of textbooks, such as the content, vocabulary, illustrations used, and the teaching methods promoted; and (b) those which consider the principles that organize the content and the form of presentation. In attempting to consider the sorts of principles that may be used in the studies categorised under (b), two crucial issues are discussed. The first issue refers to the relationship between scientific knowledge and school knowledge, which, as the relevant literature suggests, might not be conceived merely as a simplified “casting” of the scientific structure, but rather should be understood as a complex social process. The second issue explicitly addresses the nature of the pedagogic relationship and the place of the pedagogic text within it. Recent views about the nature of knowledge, it is argued, would suggest a reconceptualisation of the teaching activity, and indicate a model according to which the three elements of the teaching situation-the content, the pupil and the teacher—are seen as being (re)constituted in their articulation within and through the text(book). Thus, for example, what is to be a competent pupil in this approach is a function of the text. On the basis of these considerations, three approaches to the analysis of science textbooks are discussed: the socio-cognitive, the sociolinguistic and the socio-epistemic. The relative merits of the third approach are considered, and some examples are used from Greek science textbooks.     

Designing Science Textbooks to Enhance Student Understanding

Theory and practice both suggest that well-designed science textbooks can enhance student understanding. We present an approach to textbook design based on concepts from cognitive psychology, comprehension research, and curriculum theory. At the practical level, the critical elements are coherence in the content and in the rhetorical patterns and devices for connecting these elements. We present results from a cross-cultural study of fourth-grade textbooks from Japan, Singapore, and the United States. Although texts from all three countries have strengths and limitations, the Japanese and Singaporean books are closer to Whitehead's ideal, "teach a few things well" (Whitehead, 1929, p. 2). Our analyses led us to several recommendations for improving the design of science texts.     

The language of school science

In this paper, three different methods for estimating the linguistic complexity of textbooks are reviewed: research on the readability, research on the vocabulary and research on understanding a text by means of the cloze technique. Application of these techniques leads to similar results as regards the difficulty of science textbooks. The results suggest that there is a general tendency for school science texts to be overdemanding on pupils’ abilities.     

Text interpretation and educational design in Norwegian textbooks of religious education

Drawing on sociocultural perspectives on educational design, this article presents a qualitative study investigating how religious texts emerge as educational objects and mediating artefacts in Norwegian textbooks of religious and moral education. The article describes how the distribution of text references in textbooks influences the formation of religious traditions as objects. It also describes how religious texts are given various roles and how textbook assignments use various means to facilitate the interpretation of religious texts in a response to the demands posed by Norwegian syllabuses of religious and moral education.     

An analysis of global problem issues in sixth-and seventh-grade textbooks

The study examines the extent to which the global issues of population growth, world hunger, air quality and atmosphere, and water resources were treated in sixth- and seventh-grade science textbooks. Ten textbooks were examined by five raters to determine the amount of content presented by different textbooks on global issues, the number of pages of content devoted to each issue, and the degree of depth in which issues were treated. Differences between grade levels were also explored. Of the 4,393 pages of content analyzed, less than 2 percent was devoted to these issues identified as the most serious human problems. No significant differences were found between textbook series. Significant differences were found in the number of pages of content presented on each issue. Most of the content fell into the categories of water resources, population growth, air quality, and atmosphere. The issue of war technology had the least amount of content. Distribution of content did not vary by grade level. Both levels addressed the issues of population growth, air quality, and water resources with a greater degree of depth than the issue of world hunger or war technology. The study concludes that the most widely used textbooks at the sixth- and seventh-grade levels avoid serious discussion of major global problems. And like the career indecision of a recent Miss America contestant, purchasers don't seem to be able to decide whether they want science textbooks to be “a brain surgeon or a movie actress.” Implications stemming from this dichotomy and its relationship to future science education curricular are also explored.     

The elaboration of concepts in three biology textbooks: Facilitating student learning

As the levels of scientific literacy and science achievement have become issues of concern, the necessity of investigating possible causes becomes more urgent. Since textbooks have been shown to have a tremendous impact on curriculum, this is one variable of science instruction that needs further investigation. The purpose of this article is to describe how three biology books present the content related to photosynthesis through the construct of elaboration. The textbooks were selected for their differences in target audiences, as defined by student abilities. Results are discussed in terms of quantity of elaboration, relevance of ideas used to elaborate major concepts, relationship of the nature of elaboration to intended readers, and the general relationship between how texts present information and student learning.     

Do middle school life science textbooks provide a balance of scientific literacy themes?

Four themes of scientific literacy have been synthesized to analyze science textbooks for this purpose: (a) science as a body of knowledge, (b) science as a way of investigating, (c) science as a way of thinking, and (d) the interaction among science, technology, and society (STS). The intercoder agreement between two researchers who coded the units of analysis for the four themes was high. The life science textbooks examined in this study seem to stress two aspects of scientific literacy—science as a body of knowledge and science as a way of investigating. These textbooks devote practically no text to science as a way of thinking. Very little text is devoted to the interaction of science, technology, and society. There was at least one chapter in each textbook that addressed the nature of science and its relationship to life science. Most of the analyzed textbooks present the stereotypical steps of the scientific method and do not provide a balance of scientific literacy themes.     

A study of the presence of evolutionary protoconcepts in pre-high school textbooks

Abstract Elementary and middle school science texts were analyzed for the presence of evolutionary protoconcepts, which are defined as topics that prepare students to study evolution in later years. Elementary and middle school texts were content-analyzed for protoconcepts in both life science and earth science. Seventeen concepts considered important for student understanding of evolution were gleaned from the misconception literature and used to review the life science texts. Concepts used to analyze other texts were chosen by exploring all texts used in the analysis for any topics that might qualify as evolutionary protoconcepts, thus generating grounded theory. Coverage of evolutionary protoconcepts varies considerably among published textbooks. We recommend using this analysis when considering textbooks for adoption and for supplementing texts currently in use. We also recommended this type of analysis of textbooks for inclusion of other topics of interest to science education research.     

Evaluating the language of different types of explanations in junior high school science texts

Since 'it is written texts - and the talk around them - that provide the discursive means for the development of the 'higher mental functions' (Wells 1994), the quality of writing and explicit use of texts in teaching warrant close attention. This is not to diminish the importance of 'hands on' investigations, observation and negotiation of understanding through talk. However, the complementary use of effective texts has a significant role. This article demonstrates how functional language analyses differentiate explanation types and specify language features relevant to the effectiveness of texts in apprenticing students to the language forms of scientific English. Key differences between different types of explanations are illustrated, then sample text analyses show how language features index variation in explanation quality. Implications are drawn for the selection and use of texts and the role of knowledge about language in teaching critical comprehension and composition of science explanations.     

Reading about Women in World History Textbooks from One Feminist Perspective

The purpose of this study was to analyze the content on women in three secondary school world history textbooks used in the USA from one feminist perspective. The analyses involved recursively reading, coding, and interpreting all of the content pertaining to women across the three texts. The macroanalysis yielded a 16-category coding scheme that reflected the areas most emphasized in the presentation of women's contributions to world history, at least as described in each of the textbooks. The microanalysis was conducted to examine the language used for the content coded 'women's rights' and similarly for that coded 'power', 'fighters', or 'mediators'. The results of this feminist content analysis of world history textbooks signal the importance of teachers and students engaging in reading subtextually and resistantly.