Poor Science Textbooks - Brief Article

School Administrator, Feb, 2000

Many middle school science textbooks cover too many topics that are not fully developed and contain numerous classroom activities that are irrelevant to learning key science ideas, according to a recent study from Project 2061, an education reform initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

By examining how well textbooks for the middle grades can help students learn key ideas in earth science, life science and physical science, AAAS found not one of the widely used middle school science textbooks to be satisfactory.

Each text was evaluated by two independent teams made up of middle school teachers, curriculum specialists and professors of science education in an evaluation procedure developed and tested over three years. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.

A summary of the science textbook evaluation is available at the Project 2061 Web site (www.project.206l.org).