A Critical Analysis of Standards-Based U.S. Middle School Textbook in Terms of Energy Concept

A Critical Analysis of Standards-Based U.S. Middle School Textbook in Terms of Energy Concept

The U.S. science education went through reforms in 1990s and resulted in producing the National Science Education Standards (NSES). A middle school science curriculum, Investigating Earth Systems was newly developed based on the standards. The purpose of this study was to examine how congruent the standards-based science textbook is with the visions of the standards and what characteristics it has. Two instruments were used in analysis: Textbook Questioning Style Assessment Instrument (TQSAI) and Openness of Laboratory Activity and NSES’s Content Standards on Energy. This study focused on energy module in the textbook. Results indicated that Investigating Earth Systems included almost half the entire pages of energy module were consisted of questions in which experiential questions were dominantly used. In addition, both lowerorder and higher-order questions were used in balance throughout the entire module of energy. The energy-related concept dealt in Investigating Earth Systems reflected well what was suggested in NSES. The implications were discussed in this paper.