There is a growing research examining the use of visual diagrams in scientific explanations. However, current research in this area is mostly based on case studies involving a few explanations from one or two topics in science. There are few systematic studies that examine more broadly how diagrams are used in relation to scientific explanations…

Broad misconceptions about global climate change (GCC) could hinder efforts to address this large-scale problem, and curricular materials can play a substantial role in what students learn about GCC. This study examines how U.S. high school textbooks and supplemental curricular materials published between 2007 and 2012 portray the causes,…

Previous research about the presence of nature of science (NOS) within science textbooks has been found to be lacking in sufficient coverage. However, given the shift in how scholars conceive of NOS, the shortcomings may not be present in the textbooks but rather in the NOS frameworks used to analyze textbooks. Whereas traditional NOS has taken a…

Given secondary teachers' dependence on textbooks for curricular and instructional guidance, the challenges introduced by increasingly diverse classrooms in the United States, and national efforts to provide equitable access to science for all students, this study examined the alignment between three popular high school biology textbooks and the…

Even though human racial difference has been a longstanding topic of the school biology curriculum, there is little evidence that contemporary biology textbooks challenge stereotypical racial beliefs that are based in biological thinking. Rather, the modern biology curriculum may be a place where such beliefs about race are perpetuated…

The nature of science (NOS) as described by education scholars is a critical component of scientific literacy and includes both rational and social aspects taught best in an explicit and reflective manner. NOS is frequently tied to a critical contextual empiricism (CCE) framework for knowledge production. Central to CCE is that objectivity is…

Scholarly scientific literature conveys epistemological assumptions scientists operate on. Popular scientific literature and instructional science texts deviate in their portrayal of science from these epistemological assumptions. Thus, scholarly scientific literature holds more potential for improving students' epistemological understanding…

The study explores how a complexity approach empowers science learning. A complexity approach represents systems as many interacting entities. The construct of micro-macro compatibility is introduced, the degree of similarity between behaviors at the micro- and macro-levels of the system. Seventh-grade students' learning about gases was studied…

Various features of scientific discourse have been characterized in the science education literature, and challenges students face in appropriating these features have been explored. Using the framework of conceptual metaphor, this paper sought to identify explicit and implicit metaphors in pedagogical texts dealing with the concept of entropy and…

Given concerns with the low levels of explanation in science education classrooms, it has been suggested that text may supply a higher percentage of explanatory discourse than do classroom teachers. However, given that textbooks have been shown to differ little from teacher discourse in percentages of explanation, the present study sought to…

When teachers or students assess the quality of ideas in science classes, they do so mostly based on "textbook correctness"; ideas are good to the extent they align with or lead to the content as presented in the textbook or curriculum. Such appeals to authority are at odds with the values and practices within the disciplines of science. There has…

The photoelectric effect is an important part of general physics textbooks. To study the presentation of this phenomenon, we have reconstructed six essential, history and philosophy of science (HPS)-related aspects of the events that culminated in Einstein proposing his hypothesis of lightquanta and the ensuing controversy within the scientific…

Given the impact of textbooks on learning, this study assesses the five most frequently used secondary school biology textbooks in Turkey to examine the nature and the quality of treatment given to the nature of science. A qualitative oriented approach was employed and ethnographic content analysis was used as the methodological framework for this…

The paper compares the nature of the textual construction of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) science test items and the Greek school science textbooks. This nature is determined by the interplay of the notions of classification (content specialization) and formality (code specialization) modulated by both the linguistic…

Examines ways in which description and explanation are used in science teaching, including word usage and the role of activities. Considers the desirable characteristics of explanation for teaching purposes. Raises major questions about explanation in science education. Shows the need to make a clear distinction between description and…