This study assessed the (i) ways in which, and extent to which, several aspects of nature of science (NOS) are represented in high school biology and physics textbooks in the United States (U.S.); (ii) extent to which these representations have changed over the course of several decades; and (iii) relative impact of discipline, and textbook publishers versus authors on the observed patterns. NOS aspects included the empirical, tentative, inferential, creative, theory‐laden, and social NOS; myth of “The Scientific Method”; nature of theories and laws; and social and cultural embeddedness of science. The sample included 34 (16 biology and 18 physics) textbooks, which commanded significant shares of the U.S. science textbook market. Textbooks were selected from seven “connected series” (three in biology and four in physics), which spanned 1–5 decades, with five series spanning, at least, 3 decades. Textbooks were scored for the accuracy and manner in which, as well as the extent (in textbook pages) to which, the target NOS aspects were represented. Analyses indicated that, on average, only less than 2.5% of the analyzed textbook pages were dedicated to addressing NOS constructs. Overall, representations of NOS in the textbooks did not differ by content area, were discernibly less than favorable, and did not improve substantially over the past several decades. These trends are incommensurate with the emphasis placed in U.S. reform efforts on helping precollege students develop informed NOS conceptions. Finally, the data strongly suggested that textbook authors have a relatively greater impact on the observed patterns when compared to textbook publishers. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 54: 82–120, 2017

This study investigated the impact of the use of computer technology on the enactment of ''inquiry'' in a sixth grade science classroom. Participants were 42 students (38% female) enrolled in two sections of the classroom and taught by a technology-enthusiast instructor. Data were collected over the course of 4 months during which several ''inquiry'' activities were completed, some of which were supported with the use of technology. Non-participant observation, classroom videotaping, and semistructured and critical-incident interviews were used to collect data. The results indicated that the technology in use worked to restrict rather than promote ''inquiry'' in the participant classroom. In the presence of computers, group activities became more structured with a focus on sharing tasks and accounting for individual responsibility, and less time was dedicated to group discourse with a marked decrease in critical, meaning-making discourse. The views and beliefs of teachers and students in relation to their specific contexts moderate the potential of technology in supporting inquiry teaching and learning and should be factored both in teacher training and attempts to integrate technology in science teaching. ß 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 2007 Current reform efforts in science education envision science teaching that is inquiry-based and collaborative, and targets the development of student conceptual understandings, inquiry abilities and skills, and scientific habits of mind (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS], 1990[AAAS], , 1993 National Research Council [NRC], 1996). Such a vision entails pedagogical and instructional approaches that are different from the traditional approaches that typify science teaching in the larger majority of K-12 classrooms. Instead, reform documents argue for providing students with opportunities to engage in authentic inquiry (National Research Council, 1996), which ''refers to the research that scientists actually carry out'' (Chinn & Malhotra, 2002, p. 177). ''When engaging in inquiry, students describe objects and events, ask questions, construct explanations, test those explanations. . ., and communicate their ideas,'' and throughout the process ''they identify their assumptions, use critical and logical thinking, and consider alternative explanations'' (National Research Council, 1996, p. 2). Inquiry provides an ideal context for helping students to achieve the desired scientific understandings, attitudes, abilities, and ways of thinking deemed essential for functioning and decision-making in an increasingly scientific-laden world (National Research Council, 1996). Edelson (1998), for instance, argued that science educators cannot expect students to achieve the aforementioned instructional outcomes if they continue to engage students in learning environments that are dissociated and qualitatively different from those within which scientists learn and function.The notion of replicating ''authentic scientific practice'' w...

This paper describes the development of Connected Chemistry as Formative Assessment (CCFA) pedagogy, which integrates three promising teaching and learning approaches, computer models, formative assessments, and learning progressions, to promote student understanding in chemistry. CCFA supports student learning in making connections among the three domains of chemistry: the macroscopic; the submicroscopic; and the representational. There were 10 sets of computer models and computer-model-based formative assessment tests developed for 10 chemistry topics to enhance student understanding of matter and energy, and models. This article reports the development process of CCFA and evidence supporting the reliability and validity of measures of the formative assessment tests in CCFA based on the Rasch measurement application.

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The Biology Workbench (BW) is a web‐based tool enabling scientists to search a wide array of protein and nucleic acid sequence databases with integrated access to a variety of analysis and modeling tools. The present study examined the development of this scientific tool and its consequent adoption into the context of high school science teaching in the form of the Biology Student Workbench (BSW). Participants included scientists, programmers, science educators, and science teachers who played key roles along the pathway of the design and development of BW, and/or the adaptation and implementation of BSW in high school science classrooms. Participants also included four teachers who, with their students, continue to use BSW. Data sources included interviews, classroom observations, and relevant artifacts. Contrary to what often is advocated as a major benefit accruing from the integration of authentic scientific tools into precollege science teaching, classroom enactments of BSW lacked elements of inquiry and were teacher‐centered with prescribed convergent activities. Students mostly were preoccupied with following instructions and a focus on science content. The desired and actual realizations of BSW fell on two extremes that reflected the disparity between scientists' and educators' views on science, inquiry science teaching, and the related roles of technological tools. Research on large‐scale adoptions of technological tools into precollege science classrooms needs to expand beyond its current focus on teacher knowledge, skills, beliefs, and practices to examine the role of the scientists, researchers, and teacher educators who often are involved in such adoptions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 48: 37–70, 2011