Do Primary School Science Books for Children Show a Concern for Explanatory Understanding?

Newton, Lynn D.; Newton, Douglas P.; Blake, Anthony; Brown, Kathleen J.

doi:10.1080/0263514022000030471

Cited by 26 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…Fine-grained analyses of educationally published materials led Newton et al (2002) to these same conclusions. Concerned by the lack of explanatory teaching they had observed (Newton & Newton, 2000), Newton et al (2002) suggested there might "be other 'teachers' in a classroom and that these might show a concern for knowing why" (p. 229).…”

Section: Examining Texts For Use In Elementary Sciencesupporting

confidence: 57%

“…Concerned by the lack of explanatory teaching they had observed (Newton & Newton, 2000), Newton et al (2002) suggested there might "be other 'teachers' in a classroom and that these might show a concern for knowing why" (p. 229). They determined to examine a sample of science texts (N = 53) produced by all major education publishers in Britain for emphases on explanation.…”

Section: Examining Texts For Use In Elementary Sciencementioning

confidence: 96%

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Explanation in science trade books recommended for use with elementary students

et al. 2008

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Bone marrow aplasia due to parvovirus B19 infections is usually mild and self‐limited. In patients with hereditary or acquired hemolytic anemias, B19 infection can cause a severe and life‐threatening anemia due to the shortened half‐life of red cells, but here, too, the transient nature of the infection soon remits the symptoms. Chronic infections with parvovirus are more characteristically associated with immunodeficiency states. We report here a case of B19‐induced anemia in a patient with G6PD deficiency and hypogammaglobulinemia which was mislabeled as Diamond–Blackfan anemia until the use of modern laboratory techniques allowed a correct diagnosis to be made. Am. J. Hematol. 79:54–57, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

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Section: Examining Texts For Use In Elementary Sciencesupporting

confidence: 57%

Section: Examining Texts For Use In Elementary Sciencementioning

confidence: 96%

Explanation in science trade books recommended for use with elementary students

et al. 2008

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“…While print texts, especially textbooks, are often viewed negatively by both teachers and students, these texts are the dominant method of science instruction (Newton, Newton, Blake, & Brown, 2002;Yore, Craig, & Maguire, 1998). The results from twenty years of research on the use of refutation text indicate that reading refutation text can lead to conceptual change, and that reading refutation text is more likely than reading traditional expository text to lead to the correction of misconceptions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Refutation Text in Science Education: A Review of Two Decades of Research

Tippett

2010

Int J of Sci and Math Educ

260

218

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As people attempt to make sense of the world, they develop personal knowledge structures. These structures often contain misconceptions-inaccurate or incomplete information-that are highly resistant to change because existing knowledge networks must be restructured to accommodate counterintuitive information in a process known as conceptual change. Since textbooks are the dominant resource for science instruction in most classrooms, text-based methods of facilitating conceptual change need to be examined. Since the mid-1980 s, researchers have investigated the conceptual change potential of refutation text, a text structure that includes elements of argumentation and that has been described as one of the most effective text-based means for modifying readers' misconceptions. In this paper, twenty years of refutation text research in science and reading education is reviewed and then a secondary analysis of those results is conducted to explore developmental aspects of the efficacy of refutation text. Although a developmental relationship was not revealed, two decades of research indicate that reading refutation text rather than traditional expository text is more likely to result in conceptual change.

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“…However, Metz (1995Metz ( , 1997Metz ( , 2004) has argued that current research does not support such developmental deficiencies for young children. Although many primary science teachers rarely ask young children to pursue explanatory reasoning (Newton & Newton, 2000), young learners, in fact, can be engaged in theorizing about their observations, as they reason about and explain the "whys" of what they have noted and described (Newton, Newton, Blake, & Brown, 2002;. This can especially occur when the talk in the classroom is collaborative or dialogic-that is, there are many spaces for students to offer their ideas, upon which the teacher can contingently respond (Wells, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban primary‐grade children think and talk science: Curricular and instructional practices that nurture participation and argumentation

et al. 2007

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ABSTRACT:We focus on the concept of matter and explore how young children in urban schools bridge their spontaneous concepts and everyday experiences with scientific concepts introduced to them by children's literature information books and their teacher. The study shows how material artifacts used in a sorting activity became ideational tools-semiotic devices that promoted children's engagement with science and shaped the classroom discourse, thinking, and transactions. "Ambiguous" objects, such as a baggie with air, shaving cream, a baggie of salt that children were asked to sort, encouraged them to debate ideas about states of matter. Children used four ways of reasoning about states of matter: macroscopic properties, prototypes, everyday functions, and process of elimination. Furthermore, children's meaning making was intertwined with various socio-organizational aspects of inquiry-the ways in which children negotiated their roles within their group and in wholeclass sessions, how they worked with each other, how their ideas were heard by others. We discuss how curricular and instructional approaches that do not lead children to one specific answer or way of thinking become catalysts for the creation of discursive spaces, where children and teacher engage in meaning making in the midst of ambiguity and confusion.C 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 92: 65 -95, 2008

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Do Primary School Science Books for Children Show a Concern for Explanatory Understanding?

Cited by 26 publications

References 40 publications

Explanation in science trade books recommended for use with elementary students

Explanation in science trade books recommended for use with elementary students

Refutation Text in Science Education: A Review of Two Decades of Research

Urban primary‐grade children think and talk science: Curricular and instructional practices that nurture participation and argumentation

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