scholarly journals Analysis of Structural Elements in Lower-secondary Chemistry Textbooks in Czechia

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karel Vojíř ◽  
Martin Rusek
Keyword(s):  
Structural Elements ◽  
Secondary Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Textbooks

scholarly journals Lower-Secondary School Chemistry Textbooks’ Didactic Equipment

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 69-77
Author(s):  
Martin Rusek ◽  
Karel Vojíř ◽  
Šárka Šubová
Keyword(s):  
Publishing House ◽  
Materials Chemistry ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Lower Secondary School ◽  
Secondary Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Teachers ◽  
Current State ◽  
Chemistry Textbooks ◽  
Publishing Houses ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract Textbooks’ fundamental influence on teaching is caused not only by their subject matter, but also by their didactic elaboration. Textbooks’ individual functions are fulfilled through incorporated structural elements. Their pool is referred to as the didactic equipment of the textbook and represents qualities of the textbook through the options it gives to its users. The presented overview of lower-secondary chemistry textbooks’ didactic equipment included 7 series of currently available textbooks. Results of the analysis serve not only as a possible guide for chemistry teachers’ textbook selection, but they also provide insight into the current state to authors of textbooks and other didactic materials. Chemistry textbooks for lower-secondary schools achieve relatively high didactic equipment (75-92 %). The best equipped are the series of textbooks published after the current state curriculum introduction (by publishing houses Fraus and Nova Skola). Surprisingly, however, the most recently published textbooks by the Taktik publishing house showed the lowest didactic equipment.

scholarly journals Conceptual Demography in Upper Secondary Chemistry and Biology Textbooks’ Descriptions of Protein Synthesis: A Matter of Context?

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. ar51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara J. Wahlberg ◽  
Niklas M. Gericke
Keyword(s):  
Protein Synthesis ◽  
Biology Education ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Secondary Chemistry ◽  
Biology Textbooks ◽  
Biology Textbook ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Chemistry Textbooks ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Technical Terms

This study investigates how the domain-specific language of molecular life science is mediated by the comparative contexts of chemistry and biology education. We study upper secondary chemistry and biology textbook sections on protein synthesis to reveal the conceptual demography of concepts central to the communication of this subject. The term “conceptual demography” refers to the frequency, distribution, and internal relationships between technical terms mediating a potential conceptual meaning of a phenomenon. Data were collected through a content analysis approach inspired by text summarization and text mining techniques. Chemistry textbooks were found to present protein synthesis using a mechanistic approach, whereas biology textbooks use a conceptual approach. The chemistry texts make no clear distinction between core terms and peripheral terms but use them equally frequently and give equal attention to all relationships, whereas biology textbooks focus on core terms and mention and relate them to each other more frequently than peripheral terms. Moreover, chemistry textbooks typically segment the text, focusing on a couple of technical terms at a time, whereas biology textbooks focus on overarching structures of the protein synthesis. We argue that it might be fruitful for students to learn protein synthesis from both contexts to build a meaningful understanding.

scholarly journals An Analysis of the Visual Representation of Redox Reactions in Secondary Chemistry Textbooks from Different Chinese Communities

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 42
Author(s):  
Xiaoge Chen ◽  
Luciane de Goes ◽  
David Treagust ◽  
Ingo Eilks
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Redox Reactions ◽  
Visual Representations ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Secondary Chemistry ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
Intended Curriculum ◽  
Chemistry Textbooks ◽  
Chemistry Learning

This study provides an analysis of selected aspects of the intended curriculum related to redox reactions as represented in secondary chemistry textbooks from the People’s Republic of China, with a special view also on Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan, and the Chinese minority in Malaysia. This study reveals how chemistry textbooks deal with visual representations related to redox reactions and whether or not the visualizations provide any indication for the orientation of the intended curriculum, characterized by contexts suggested for chemistry learning. Specific criteria were derived from a literature review of the discussion on different levels of chemical representations and from a total of 346 visual representations related to redox reactions identified and analyzed from the textbooks. Based on the frequencies and levels of visual representations in the textbooks, this study showed that representations in textbooks from the People’s Republic of China mostly focus on the macro and macro-symbolic levels and indicate some aspects of everyday life as well as orientations towards industry and technology. The findings show that the textbook from Taiwan uses multiple macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic representations to illustrate the redox reactions. The textbook from Hong Kong has a strong orientation along the content structure of chemistry, with mostly macro level representations. The textbook from the Chinese minority in Malaysia follows a strong structure-of-discipline orientation with limited visual support.

scholarly journals Metaforer och analogier inom termodynamik i kemiläroböcker för gymnasietMetaphors and analogies in thermodynamics in upper secondary chemistry textbooks

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Hedberg ◽  
Jesper Haglund ◽  
Fredrik Jeppsson
Keyword(s):  
Education Research ◽  
Conceptual Knowledge ◽  
Event Structure ◽  
Secondary Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Textbooks ◽  
Upper Secondary ◽  
Secondary Teaching ◽  
Embodied Experiences ◽  
Metaphors In Science

Science education research has long taken an interest in how we may make full use of analogies and metaphors in science teaching. Further, more recently, the role of implicit, conceptual metaphors in connecting abstract conceptual knowledge to concrete embodied experiences has been recognised. The textbook plays a central role in upper secondary teaching, as it is, together with the teacher, a source of knowledge for the students. We have analysed the use of analogies, and explicit and implicit metaphors in two Swedish upper secondary chemistry textbook, and interviewed two of the authors of the textbooks. Abstract states and processes were found to be construed by means of the Object-Event and Location-Event Structure metaphors. Explicit metaphors and analogies were presented, but the comparisons were not always elaborated sufficiently in order to guide the students’ interpretations and avoid possible misunderstandings.

The nature and extent of analogies in secondary chemistry textbooks

1994 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodney B. Thiele ◽  
David F. Treagust
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Textbooks

Analysis of text difficulty in lower-secondary chemistry textbooks

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Rusek ◽  
Karel Vojíř
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Text Difficulty ◽  
Secondary Chemistry ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
9Th Grade ◽  
Chemistry Textbooks ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Improve Reliability

This paper focuses on the procedure and results for analyzing text-difficulty in lower-secondary chemistry textbooks in the Czech Republic. The authors use established methodology for text-difficulty analysis by Nestler, adapted by Průcha and Pluskal by adding a second independent analyser to improve reliability. Some textbooks do not follow the expected trend of either text-difficulty coherence or increasing text-difficulty between books for the 8th and 9th grade. No trend in topic difficulty was found either. The results show that learning outcomes may differ significantly when different books are used, despite the fact that they are supposed to support the same curriculum. For this reason, the results serve to support not only teachers when selecting a textbook, but also researchers as a starting point for lesson observations.

Evaluating the effectiveness of the open-access ChemWiki resource as a replacement for traditional general chemistry textbooks

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 939-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Allen ◽  
Alberto Guzman-Alvarez ◽  
Amy Smith ◽  
Alan Gamage ◽  
Marco Molinaro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Chemistry ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Multiple Linear Regression Analysis ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Time On Task ◽  
Secondary Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Textbooks ◽  
Standard Textbook ◽  
Students Attitudes

Open educational resources (OERs) provide a potential alternative to costly textbooks and can allow content to be edited and adapted to a variety of classroom environments. At the University of California, Davis, the OER “ChemWiki” project, as part of the greater STEMWiki Hyperlibrary, was developed to supplant traditional post-secondary chemistry textbooks. The effectiveness of using this OER was assessed by comparing two general chemistry classes, one using ChemWiki and one using a traditional textbook, during the spring quarter of 2014. Student performance was measured using common midterms, final, and a pre/post content exam. We also employed surveys, the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) for Chemistry, and a weekly time-on-task survey to quantify students’ attitudes and study habits. The effectiveness of the ChemWiki compared to a traditional textbook was examined using multiple linear regression analysis with a standard non-inferiority testing framework. Results show that the performance of students who were assigned readings from the ChemWiki section was non-inferior to the performance of students in the section who were assigned readings from the traditional textbook, indicating that the ChemWiki does not substantially differ from the standard textbook in terms of student learning outcomes. The results from the surveys also suggest that the two classes were similar in their beliefs about chemistry and minimal overall study time. These results indicate that the ChemWiki is a viable cost-saving alternative to traditional textbooks.

scholarly journals An analysis of analogies used in secondary chemistry textbooks

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 307-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gülten S˛endur ◽  
Mustafa Toprak ◽  
Esin S˛ahin Pekmez
Keyword(s):  
Secondary Chemistry ◽  
Chemistry Textbooks
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document