Human-Nature Relationships in School Science: A Critical Discourse Analysis of a Middle-Grade Science Textbook.

Autor/inn/en	Sharma, Ajay; Buxton, Cory A.
Titel	Human-Nature Relationships in School Science: A Critical Discourse Analysis of a Middle-Grade Science Textbook.
Quelle	In: Science education, 99 (2015) 2, S. 260-281Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; gedruckt; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0036-8326; 1098-237X
DOI	10.1002/sce.21147
Schlagwörter	Didaktische Analyse; Schulbuchforschung; Sprachanalyse; Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung
Abstract	Science education has a central role to play in preparing a scientifically literate citizenry that is capable of understanding complex environmental challenges facing human societies and making well-informed and evidence-based decisions that help resolve these challenges. However, evidence suggests that most Americans are poorly equipped with the knowledge necessary for informed environmental action. In this study, we attempted to understand how the language of science textbooks works to represent the world for students in distinct ways that have serious implications for their ecological literacy. Using a methodological framework based on critical discourse analysis and systemic functional linguistics, we focused on clarifying the textual representations of the relationships between natural and social systems as portrayed in a seventh-grade science textbook that is widely adopted in middle schools in Georgia, United States. Results indicate that this science textbook offers outdated representations of natural systems' relationships with social systems and the role of human agency in these relationships. We discuss implications of these textual representations and call for reformed science textbooks that underscore the ecological embeddedness of the social world.
Erfasst von	Arbeitsgruppe Didaktik der Physik, Universität Kassel
Update	2017/4