Primary school textbooks can enhance the acquisition of arithmetic word problem solving skills by offering diverse problems based on their semantic-mathematical structure with targeted reasoning aids, including schematics highlighting their mathematical structure. While certain countries, such as the USA and Singapore, have made progress in…

The objective of this article is to explore the relationship between concepts relating to nature and production and, by extension, to work, personal prosperity, and Spain's economic growth, as portrayed in compulsory education textbooks between 1965 and 1990. To this end, in our investigation we scrutinize the evolution of the conception and…

The main natural risk in the Mediterranean region is flooding. Therefore, in Spain, explaining this issue in Primary Education classrooms of Social Sciences should be a priority and is established as such in the current curriculum. The aims of this study are to carry out an analysis of the contents on flood risk included in the Social Science…

This study describes the current status of digital textbooks (DTBs) for Primary Education in Spain. Thirty digital teaching materials were analyzed. The method applied was content analysis. An analysis guide aimed at unraveling the technological, pedagogical and functional characteristics of this type of materials was designed, validated and…

In the 1960s, facing a series of transformations within Spanish society, the Franco regime modified its self-legitimation strategy and with it its portrayal of the Spanish Civil War. Based on the analysis of nine history textbooks for various levels published between 1954 and 1970, this article demonstrates that, by aiming to neutralize increasing…

Despite the prolific research on textbook evaluation in language teaching (Garinger, 2002; Miekley, 2005; Mukundan & Ahour, 2010; Nimehchisalem & Mukundan, 2015, among others), Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) textbook evaluation is still a field to be developed. The lack of specific tools prevents CLIL teachers and other…

Light pollution has emerged with the industrial development in recent decades. It is becoming a significant environmental issue for cities today and it will probably become more important in the near future. However, very little research has been carried out on this issue in the field of science teaching, despite there being a general agreement…

Comparative studies in content and language integrated learning (CLIL) often show CLIL students to be at something of an advantage over their non-CLIL peers. However, such studies are often difficult to interpret given problems of cross-group comparability (different schooling systems, different number of instructional hours, bias attributable to…

In this article, the authors analyze evidence regarding the dissemination of mistaken ideas concerning the presence and function of pine trees ("Pinus halepensis") in a Mediterranean archipelago: the Balearic Islands (Spain). The main errors concerning the natural vegetation that are disseminated among citizens by the forest management…

Despite being a landmark of 20th century biology, the "classical molecular gene concept," according to which a gene is a stretch of DNA encoding a functional product, which may be a single polypeptide or RNA molecule, has been recently challenged by a series of findings (e.g., split genes, alternative splicing, overlapping and nested…

The present study relates to a research line in didactics of science that focuses on the function that sign systems or semiotic modes have in communicative interactions in science classrooms. The study was conducted by 20 secondary and university science teachers who belong to the same research group LIEC ("Language and Science…

Contrasts data gathered regarding how textbooks deal with natural selection and teacher's ability to explore pupils' ideas related to it with an approach seeking to develop the pupils' capacity to explain biological change using the model of natural selection. Results show the approach is often characterized by superficial handling of key ideas…

Describes the results of an analysis of Spanish high school chemistry textbooks (n=58) published from 1974 to 1998 for their treatment of metallic bonding. Reports on what aspects of metallic bonding are usually taught, how it is taught, and the potential that textbooks have to create meaningful learning in students. Contains 104 references.…

Analyzed a sample of English-as-a-Second-Language textbooks currently used in Spanish secondary schools and language schools to determine how well they reflected current theories on reading, particularly the interactive approach to reading. Overall, the coursebooks reflected current views on interactive reading, but they differed in number and…