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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 5, Issue 1, Article 3 (Apr.,
2004) Daniel Kim Chwee TAN and Kim Seng CHAN An analysis of two textbooks on the topic of intermolecular forces
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| |
Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 5, Issue 1, Article 3 (Apr.,
2004) Daniel Kim Chwee TAN and Kim Seng CHAN An analysis of two textbooks on the topic of intermolecular forces
|
Introduction
Textbooks in science education not only act as a general source of information on the subject for both teachers and students, they are also deemed as influential to the curriculum, coverage of content and teaching approaches (Chiang-Soong & Yager, 1993; de Jong, Acampo, & Verdonk, 1995; Eltinge & Roberts, 1993; Kirk, Matthews, & Kurtts, 2001; Sanger & Greenbowe, 1997, 1999). A study by Chiang-Soong and Yager (1993) found that teachers in United States used textbooks in excess of 90% of the time. The American students not only expected science lessons to be centered around textbooks but their parents also expressed grave concerns if textbooks were not issued and used for assignments. According to Eltinge and Roberts (1993), textbooks need to be carefully evaluated as they play a dominant role in school science. To make the learning from textbooks "meaningful, conceptually integrated, and active" (de Posada, 1999, p. 427), textbooks should not only be free from ambiguities and alternative conceptions, they should also present and explain information such that students can relate new material to that already learnt, and integrate both new and existing knowledge in a coherent way. Analysis of textbooks can indicate the procedures, content, sequences and activities that are used in the class, trends in science education, and the "pedagogical, psychological, and epistemological positions of textbook authors" (de Posada, 1999, p. 425). Numerous studies have been done on the analysis of textbooks as the sources of alternative conceptions (Cho, Kahle, & Nordland, 1985; Sanger & Greenbowe, 1999) and for use of analogy (Curtis & Reigeluth, 1984; Thiele, Venville, & Treagust, 1995). Textbooks also have been analysed to determine the treatment of topics and concepts (Dall'Alba et al., 1993; de Berg & Treagust, 1993; de Berg & Greive, 1999; de Posada, 1999; Palmer & Treagust, 1996; Shiland, 1997), the treatment of various issues of science literacy and goals of science education (Chiang-Soong & Yager, 1993; Wilkinson, 1999), and how science and scientists are portrayed (Eltinge & Roberts, 1993; Williams, 2002).
In a study by Sanger and Greenbowe (1999), ten college-level chemistry texts were analysed for examples of statements or drawings that could lead to alternative conceptions in electrochemistry. The authors found that many of the illustrations and statements used in the textbooks could be misconstrued by students, for example, the use of vague or misleading terms such as 'ionic charge carriers' and the constant drawing of the anode as the left-hand half-cell. A basis for textbook selection would be the extent to which textbooks contain vague, misleading or incorrect material (Sanger & Greenbowe, 1999); indeed, Cox (1996) reported the replacement of a series of science books in a school because of "excessive number of needless errors" (p. 23).
Stinner (1992) argues that there is over-emphasis on the logical aspects of science topics and concepts by textbook writers such that the evidential and psychological dimensions have been overlooked. Linn and Songer (1991) found that textbooks not only focused on isolated facts and definitions, provided abstract and/or incomplete explanations, they also covered too much content in too little depth; these may prevent the "construction of integrated understanding" (p. 891). In another study, Shiland (1997) analysed the material on quantum mechanics in eight secondary chemistry textbooks for four elements associating with a conceptual change model: dissatisfaction, intelligibility, plausibility and fruitfulness. The author discovered that textbooks did not provide sufficient incentives to promote the acceptance of quantum mechanics over the simpler Bohr Theory.
Copyright (C) 2004 HKIEd APFSLT. Volume 5, Issue 1, Article 3 (Apr., 2004). All Rights Reserved.
