Can Middle-School Science Textbooks Help Students Learn Important Ideas? Findings from Project 2061's Curriculum Evaluation Study: Life Science

Autor/inn/en	Stern, Luli; Roseman, Jo Ellen
Titel	Can Middle-School Science Textbooks Help Students Learn Important Ideas? Findings from Project 2061's Curriculum Evaluation Study: Life Science
Quelle	In: Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41 (2004) 6, S.538-568 (31 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0022-4308
DOI	10.1002/tea.20019
Schlagwörter	Prior Learning; Textbooks; Fundamental Concepts; Curriculum Development; Curriculum Evaluation; Science Education; Scientific Literacy; National Standards; Botany; Science Curriculum; Middle School Students; Secondary School Science; Scientific Concepts + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Vorkenntnisse; Textbook; Text book; Schulbuch; Lehrbuch; Grundlagenplan; Konzept; Curriculum; Development; Curriculumentwicklung; Lehrplan; Entwicklung; Evaluation; Curriculumevaluation; Rahmenplan; Evaluierung; Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung; Botanik; Middle school; Middle schools; Student; Students; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Schüler; Schülerin
Abstract	The transfer of matter and energy from one organism to another and between organisms and their physical setting is a fundamental concept in life science. Not surprisingly, this concept is common to the "Benchmarks for Science Literacy" (American Association for the Advancement of Science, [1993]), the "National Science Education Standards" (National Research Council, [1996]), and most state frameworks and likely to appear in any middle-school science curriculum material. Nonetheless, while topics such as photosynthesis and cellular respiration have been taught for many years, research on student learning indicates that students have difficulties learning these ideas. In this study, nine middle-school curriculum materials--both widely used and newly developed--were examined in detail for their support of student learning ideas concerning matter and energy transformations in ecosystems specified in the national standards documents. The analysis procedure used in this study was previously developed and field tested by Project 2061 of the AAAS on a variety of curriculum materials. According to our findings, currently available curriculum materials provide little support for the attainment of the key ideas chosen for this study. In general, these materials do not take into account students' prior knowledge, lack representations to clarify abstract ideas, and are deficient in phenomena that can be explained by the key ideas and hence can make them plausible. This article concludes with a discussion of the implications of this study to curriculum development, teaching, and science education research based on shortcomings in today's curricula. (Author).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10