Complexity of Practical Work in Portuguese Primary Science Textbooks

Practical work and textbooks have an important role in primary science education. This study analyses the complexity of practical work in Portuguese primary science textbooks. The level of complexity was appreciated by the level of conceptual demand of practical work, as given by the type of practical work, the complexity of scientific knowledge, the complexity of cognitive skills and the degree of relation between theory and practice. The explicitness of practical work was also analysed. The study followed an approach that combines quantitative and qualitative methods of analysis and a total of 176 units of analysis were evaluated from six science textbooks, chosen among the most selected in Portuguese primary schools. The results showed that textbooks evidence a tendency towards a low level of conceptual demand of practical work, considering the proposals for practical activities and the related evaluation questions. Practical activities, mainly focused on practical exercises and illustrative experiences, tend to mobilize scientific knowledge and cognitive skills of a low level of complexity and point out to an apparent relation between theory and practice. The evaluation questions present a lower level of conceptual demand. The results also showed a weak concern with the explicitness of the practical work. However, findings also indicated that there are differences between the textbooks.

THE DELETION OF THE HUMAN AGENT IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE DISCOURSE: AN ECOLINGUISTIC STUDY

This study explores the use of the strategy of erasure in environmental science discourses to explore the deletion of the agent. Three environmental science textbooks have been chosen for analysis. Stibbe’s (2015) framework of erasure has been used as a model for analyzing the data. He asserts that the natural world is marginalized in texts through the use of certain linguistic strategies; these strategies run throughout the whole discourse to construct the erasure of the ecosystem. The researchers aim to identify erasure at the level of void, which is the complete erasure or deletion of the agent from these discourses. Stibbe mentions nine linguistic strategies for the construction of erasure in environmental discourses. These strategies are passive voice, nominalization, co-hyponymy, hyponymy, metaphor, metonymy, construction of noun phrases, transitivity patterns and massification. For the construction of void, the researchers have analyzed the strategies of passivization and nominalization. It has been found that these strategies are pervasive in the discourses, thereby deleting the agent and constructing void. The study suggests a new way to look at the language of ecological discourses and proposes further studies on how euphemistic language in these discourses can negatively influence readers. Keywords: erasure, mask, void, environmental discourse

Differences and Similarities in Scientists’ Images Among Popular USA Middle Grades Science Textbooks

<p style="text-align: justify;">Research on students’ perceptions of scientists is ongoing, starting with early research by Mead and Metraux in the 1950s and continuing in the present. Continued research interest in this area is likely due to scholarship suggesting adolescents’ impressions of scientists are sourced in-part from media, which influence their interests in science and identity in becoming a scientist. A significant source of images, in which adolescents (or middle school students) view science and scientists, is in their science textbooks. A qualitative content analysis explored images of scientists in three of the major U.S.-based middle grade science textbooks published in the new millennium: sixth grade biology, seventh grade earth science, and eighth grade physical science. The Draw A Scientist Test (DAST) Checklist was employed to assess scientists’ images and the stereotypes therein. From nine textbooks, 435 images of scientists were coded and analyzed by publisher and grade level / area by DAST constructs of appearance, location, careers, and scientific activities. Statistical analyses showed significant variances between grade levels and textbook publishers of scientists. Despite scientists portrayed in active endeavors, traditional tropes of the scowling, older, solitary, white male scientist persist. This study offers insight in leveraging improved images of scientists in textbooks.</p>

Content Analysis of Developed Science Textbooks (Collins) for the Tenth Grade in Jordan in View of the Constructivism Theory : تحليل محتوى كتب العلوم المطورة (كولينز) للصف العاشر الأساسي في الأردن في ضوء مبادئ النظرية البنائية

The study aimed to analyze the content of developed science textbooks (Collins) for the tenth grade in Jordan: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Geology and Environment. the study has used the analytical descriptive approach, for achieving the objective of the study the researcher has made a content analysis tool of the principles of constructivism theory that include the following five principles: Prior Knowledge, Knowledge Building, Change of Knowledge Structure, Confronting Situation, and Social Negotiation. The results that the percentage of the principles of the constructivism theory are as follows: Physics textbook (28.57%), Geology and Environment textbook (25.21%), Biology textbook (24.28%), and Chemistry textbook (21.84%). And the study recommended conducting more studies to identify the principles of the constructivism theory in textbooks and other academic grades.