Researchers and practitioners alike express concerns about the conceptual difficulties associated with the concepts of momentum and kinetic energy currently taught in school physics. This article presents an in-depth analysis of the treatment given to them in 44 published textbooks written for UK secondary school certificate courses. This is set…

Describes the development of a valid and reliable method to quantitatively analyze the content of science textbooks, especially those used in middle and senior high school science courses. The approach employed four aspects of scientific literacy to determine curriculum balance in textbooks. (KR)

Determined whether males, females, minorities, and nonminorities are quantitatively and qualitatively represented in the illustrations of seven contemporary elementary science textbooks (grades 1-6) in a manner that is reflective of society as it was, is, and should be. Results (based on examination of over 5,900 illustrations) are reported and…

Examines readability of elementary science textbooks regarding visual supplements (color, visuals, and page layout). Significant relationships were found between cloze scores and both grade level and content. Also found significant interaction between grade and sex in favor of older males. Eight of nine texts were at or near readability…

This study demonstrated a direct relationship between achievement level (measured by responses to biological items on the 1977 National Assessment of Educational Progress's science survey) and concept emphasis in biology textbooks. In addition, recommendations of Project Synthesis were not found in newer biology textbooks. Other findings are…

Twenty-two high school biology textbooks published between 1963 and 1983 were analyzed for their treatment of social issues. Results showed that attention to social issues decreased in these textbooks between 1963 and 1983. Implications of the results for biology education in the 1980s are discussed. (JN)

The research reported in this study was done to evaluate the understandings developed by students who meet science concepts through a textbook. Findings indicated that concrete concepts were better understood by eighth grade students than formal concepts and that students achieved some understanding of some formal concepts. (CW)

Reports on a study designed to examine selected units of commonly used elementary science texts, using the Project Synthesis goal clusters as a framework for part of the examination. The discussion of the finding focuses on the comparison of the results to recommendations of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). (TW)