Writing for Science and the Science Textbook: a Case Study from Iceland

Writing for Science and the Science Textbook: a Case Study from Iceland

NFSUN Auðvitað, Draft 1, 19th January 2008

Writing for science and science textbooks: a case study from Iceland

NFSUN Proposal, January 2008, Draft 1

Allyson Macdonald and Auður Pálsdóttir

Iceland University of Education

and

Helgi Grímsson

Sjálandsskóla

Background, aims and framework
Science textbooks play an important part in school science in Iceland.In a small country resources must be used well and the science being taught in schools is of more than passing interest in a modern country which thrives on technology and change.

Background

The purpose of this study is to analyse and understand the science ‘story’ told each year to middle school children in Iceland. The focus of the study isa series of textbooks and teacher guides called Auðvitaðwritten for middle school grades 5 to 7 i.e. ages 10-12.The books cover topics in physics, chemistry and earth sciences and were published in 2001 and 2002(Author, 2001a, 2001b, 2001c, 2001d, 2002a, 2002b).

In the 1970s there were several major curriculum projects underway in Iceland, including the production of new materials for science teaching (Author, 1993). In the late 1960s and early 1970s eight units based on student experiments were written for learners aged 10-12, all short and in the form of worksheets with teachers’ guides. Many teachers took part in inservice training on the use of the units. The use of scientific processes, such as measuring, observing and comparing, were encouraged in most of the units. All the units required preplanning with regard to apparatus and chemicals were required for two units. Over time use of the materials dwindled and by the late 1980s some schools were teaching no physical sciences for this age-group (Author, 1993).

Until recently the primary responsibility for the development of educational materials for compulsory schools in Iceland has been in the hands of the National Centre for Educational Materials (NCEM). The NCEM called for an evaluation of the physical science middle school materials in 1987 (Author, 1987). In the mid-1990s it was decided to produce new science materials for lower secondary school and by the late 1990s it was clear that teachers would call for many new materials in order to teacher the revised curriculum of 1999. The task of producing a series of books for middle school physical and earth sciences was put out to tender. Earth sciences were a new area in the science curriculum and overlap in part with the geography curriculumThewriter of the Auðvitaðbooks was commissioned to undertake the project. The materials were to be developed in close cooperation between the NCEM editor responsible for science and the writer. The materials have been well-received by most teachers and are used each year in several hundred classrooms involving about 4000 or more learners per age group.

Aims

The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of the way in which science textbooks developed for a specific context might influence the ‘science story’ being told to young learners. This aim is addressed through a consideration of process, product and use of product.The study therefore has three objectives:

  1. A review and analysis of the activity of the construction of the textbook series, using cultural historical activity theory, in particular the notion of neighbouring activities (Engeström, 1987, Author, 2007).
  2. An analysis of the books as ‘cultural objects’ according to a scheme for textbook analysis developed by Izquierdo, Marzabal, Marquez & Gouvea (2007). A key part of the scheme involves what is called ‘communicability’ in which the books are analysed in terms of the model of science, the model of the reader and the didactical model.
  3. Finally the views of middle school teachers on science, their own science teaching, the textbooks and the role of the learner and teacher are considered. Interviews with teachers were taken during the school year 2006-2007, transcribed and analysed (see project reports).

Framework

The study forms part of a larger research project Intentions and reality on science and technology education in Icelandic schools and is funded by the national Research Fund and the Research Fund of the Iceland University of Education. One (HG) of the researchers is the writer of the books and the other two are curriculum researchers. Members of thee Intentions and reality project are researching the official science curriculum and the way it is reinterpreted in school settings.

The use of curriculum materials varies between countries. Classroom observations in the schools in Iceland have shown that “teachers depend to an inordinate degree on the textbooks, for teaching methods as for content” (Ingvar Sigurgeirsson, 1993, p. 274; Hafsteinn Karlsson, 2007). In the United States, the National Science Foundation (n.d.) has developed frameworks for the review of instructional matters for middle school science, which pay particular attention to the quality of the science presented in books and the pedagogical design, but which also consider the implementation of the materials and support system that might be required. Project 2061 which is run by the American Association for the Advance of Science(2002) has likewise paid attention to the quality of science in textbooks. Categories used in the evaluation of texts include an assessment of the scientific ideas but also emphasise the role of the learner by looking at whether account is taken of student ideas, whether students might become engaged with phenomena and how their thinking can be promoted. Implementation and use of the materials is addressed with a category on whether adopting the materials would enhance the science learning environment.

If however we move from the practical evaluation of materials to a more theoretical approach which involves general educational principles, then the scheme developed by Izquierdo et al. (2007) in Spain considers not only the contents and concept presented in the books, but the also the rhetoric (or story) in the textbook. They suggest that the ‘story’ is told through factuality and a consideration of how the facts are built into abook, but also through communicability which can be analysed by looking for indications of the model of science being presented, what is demanded of the reader and the didactical model. An analysis of a text using this approach will tell us what sort of ‘science story’ is being presented in schools. This ‘story’ may or may not offer an approach with which teachers feel comfortable and which learners understand. Likewise, the scheme offers an opportunity for understanding the ‘story’ so that further work with teachers can be strengthened.

It is our hypothesis that the way in which the textbookswere constructed - from the outset through the terms of the tender through the period of writing and development to publication - is reflected in the ‘science story’ in the books. In terms of activity theory components of the central activity of school science are influenced by neighbouring activities, such as the construction of texts, which may call for a culturally more advanced central activity, leading to conflicts of identity and emotion among teachers (Author, 2007). To test this hypothesis, we conduct an analysis of the construction of the textbooks, we consider the ‘story’ told in the books and we ascertain the extent to which the story is one with which teachers can work and the extent of its alignment with policy and good practice.

Methods and samples
Data is collected by interviews on the development of the series, with the writer and the editor of the texts, and these are analysed in terms of activity theory. One of the three textbooks and accompanying teachers’ guide is analysed in detail according to the Spanish scheme. Interviews are taken with teachers about what might be typical for their own teaching, their views on the national curriculum and the preparation of the school curriculum and what opportunities they would like for their own professional development. This study is in progress; most of the interview data has already been collected and some of it has been analysed.

Results
Preliminary results indicate that in the construction of the books, some of the science story told is constrained by practical and budgetary aspects of publishing materials. The relationship between the editor and the writer is a sensitive one, in which views of teaching, science and scientists are negotiated. The model of science suggested in the national curriculum is reshaped in negotiations between writer and editor. The role of the learner islargely shaped by the writer’s own experience while the didactical modelisinfluenced by the editorial process.

Conclusions and implications

These results can be interpreted in the light of the national strategy for scientific and technological development. They can also be viewed through the lens of what we know about how children think and learn. What is most important though is to understand better the kinds of tools which teachers use in science teaching. The findings will be discussed with teachers as an opportunity for professional growth and for feedback on the implementation of science and education policy.

Bibliography

Author (1987a, 1987b, 1993, 2007)

AAAS Project 2061 (2002). Middle grades science textbooks: A benchmark evaluation. Retrieved 9.12.2007

Engeström, Yrjö (1987).Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsulit.

Grímsson, H. (2001a). Auðvitað. Eðlis-, efna- og jarðfræði. Bók 1. Reykjavík, Námsgagnastofnun.

Grímsson, H. (2001b). Kennsluleiðbeiningar. Auðvitað. Eðlis-, efna- og jarðfræði. Bók 1. Reykjavík, Námsgagnastofnun.

Grímsson, H. (2001c). Auðvitað. Eðlis-, efna- og jarðfræði. Bók 2. Reykjavík, Námsgagnastofnun.

Grímsson, H. (2001d). Kennsluleiðbeiningar. Auðvitað. Eðlis-, efna- og jarðfræði. Bók 2. Reykjavík, Námsgagnastofnun.

Grímsson, H. (2002a). Auðvitað. Eðlis-, efna- og jarðfræði. Bók 3. Reykjavík, Námsgagnastofnun.

Grímsson, H. (2002b). Kennsluleiðbeiningar. Auðvitað. Eðlis-, efna- og jarðfræði. Bók 3. Reykjavík, Námsgagnastofnun.

Izquierdo, M., Marzàbal, A., Márquez, C. & Gouvea, G. (2007). Experimental stories in science textbooks: How are the world facts built? [Powerpoint presentation].Paper presented at the ESERA 2007 conference, Malmö, Sweden, August 2007.

Karlssson, H. (2007). Kennsluhættir í íslenskum og finnskum skólum. Unpublished M.Ed. dissertation, Iceland University of Education.

National Science Foundation (n.d.). Review of instructional materials for middle school science. Retrieved 23.10.2007

Sigurgeirsson, I. 1992. A study of the role, use and impact of curriculum materials in intermediate level Icelandic classrooms. Unpublished doctoral thesis, University of Sussex, England.

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