Schroeder, M., Mckeough, A., Graham, S., Stock, H., & Bisanz, G. (2009) Research in Science Education

The use of trade books i.e., a literary work intended for sale to the generalpublic in North American school classrooms to support the development of science literacyinvites an examinati

PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository

2008-01

The Contribution of Trade Books to Early Science

Literacy: In and Out of School

Schroeder, Meadow; McKeough, Anne M.; Graham, Susan; Stock, Hayli R.; Bisanz, Gay L.

Springer

Schroeder, M., McKeough, A M., Graham, S A., Stock, H R., & Bisanz, G L (2009) The

Contribution of Trade Books to Early Science Literacy: In and Out of School "Research in Science Education" 2009: 39 pp 231-250 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11165-008-9082-0

Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca

The Contribution of Trade Books to Early Science

Literacy: In and Out of School

Meadow Schroeder&Anne Mckeough&Susan Graham&

Hayli Stock&Gay Bisanz

Published online: 22 May 2008

# Springer Science + Business Media B.V 2008

Abstract Lifelong science literacy begins with attitudes and interests established early inchildhood The use of trade books (i.e., a literary work intended for sale to the generalpublic) in North American school classrooms to support the development of science literacyinvites an examination of the quality of science content disseminated to students A total of

116 trade books were examined to: (a) determine the degree to which science trade bookscomplement expected science knowledge outcomes outlined in school curricula, and (b)compare trade book content to the goals of scientific literacy Analysis across four sciencetopics, Dinosaurs, Space, Inheritance, and Growth and Life Properties, revealed that thisbody of children’s literature is inconsistent in its coverage of curricular goals and elements

of scientific literacy Because trade books represent children’s first exposure to science,these shortcomings should be addressed if these books are to be maximally effective inpromoting science literacy Implications for using trade books in the classroom arediscussed

Keywords Science literacy Elementary education Education Trade book

Science literature Nature of science Science curricula Elementary science

Science-technology-society

DOI 10.1007/s11165-008-9082-0

M Schroeder (*):A Mckeough:H Stock

Division of Applied Psychology, EdT 302 University of Calgary,

2500 University Dr N.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4

Department of Psychology, University of Calgary,

2500 University Dr N.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4

e-mail: grahams@ucalgary.ca

G Bisanz

University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Early Science Literacy: What do Trade Books Contribute?

Textbooks remain the favored educational genre for disseminating information inclassrooms despite the fact that they have been criticized for many shortcomings (Goldmanand Bisanz 2002; Ogens 1991; Shymansky et al 1991) In particular, they have beencriticized for their inability to accommodate the range of learning styles and reading levelsfound in classrooms (Baker and Saul 1994; Chavkin1997) Students have reported thattextbooks contain an overwhelmingly large number of new vocabulary terms (Guzzeti et al

1995; Ogens 1991) Main ideas are often imbedded within nonessential information andtechnical terminology causing readers difficulty in identifying the most important concepts(Guzzeti et al 1995; Kesidou and Roseman 2002; Roseman et al 1999) Due to spaceconstraints, many textbook analyses have found that the focus on foundational concepts isinadequate, there are a high number of errors, and science content is oversimplified(Clifford 2002; dePosada 1999; Garnett and Treagust 1990; Haury 2000; Kesidou andRoseman 2002; Roth et al.1999; Sanger and Greenbowe1997; Standsfield2006) Otheranalyses have revealed that science texts reserve only a small amount of space to discussthe social relevance of science (commonly referred to as science-technology-society orSTS), and how science relates to real-world experience (Chiang-Soong and Yager 1993;Chiappetta et al.1993; Guzzeti et al.1995)

In response to these limitations, textbook usage by North American teachers hasdiminished, especially in the early grades (Tolman et al.1998), and trade books have beensuggested as an alternative source for supporting science learning (Ebbers 2002; Haury

2000; Madrazo1997; Nordstrom 1992; Shanahan2004) A trade book is a literary workintended for sale to the general public and does not include educational or scholarly books.Trade books are seen as more advantageous than textbooks in that they often include morerelevant and interesting scientific information, come in variety of genres, and have inviting,colorful, and familiar formats (Daisey1994; Fisher1980; Madrazo1997; Rice et al.2001).The writing styles often contain familiar language, a friendly tone, and storylines that placescience concepts in a familiar context to allow for greater understanding and maintainstudents’ interest (Butzow and Butzow 2000) Experimental programs that have replacedtextbooks with trade books reported successful learning by students in both science andreading (Guthrie et al.1999; McMahon et al.2000; Romance and Vitale2001) Researchhas also suggested that students who are taught science using trade book literature assupplements to textbooks are better able to understand difficult scientific concepts, andare more likely to read science-based books on their own (Moore and Moore 1989;Morrow et al.1990)

Advocating the use of trade books in the classroom, however, suggests the need to firstdetermine if they meet two important criteria The first criterion is to determine how welltrade book content matches the goals of science curriculum This is especially relevantbecause trade books are not published for the use in educational settings but rather for thegeneral public (Giblin 2000; Hade 2002) With a focus on pleasing public tastes, tradebooks vary in their coverage of science education standards Although some studies andreviews have provided valuable information for educators on how to choose appropriatetrade books for the classroom setting (Bamford and Kristo1998; Butzow and Butzow2000;Children’s Book Council/The National Science Teachers Association 2002; Rice et al

2001), there is a paucity of literature that has examined how trade book content matchescurricula requirements for early elementary science (Broemmel and Rearden 2006; Ford

2006) One of the aims of this study was to examine the extent to which trade book contentcomplements the education goals outlined by the National Research Council (1996) and

The Pan-Canadian Protocol for Collaboration on School Curriculum [Council of Ministers

of Education (CMEC) 1997] Our goal here was to determine whether there is enoughcoverage of curricula that a teacher might profitably use the trade books with their students,and if so, to what degree there is a curricular match

A second criterion trade books need to meet when considering their use in schoolclassrooms is the degree to which they support the goals of scientific literacy Thedevelopment of a scientifically literate public is considered an important curricular goal ofscience education (American Association for the Advancement of Science 1990, 1993;DeBoer1991,2000; National Research Council1996; Oliver et al.2001) Definitions ofscientific literacy vary within the literature but three common elements can be identified(Bisanz et al.1998; DeBoer1991; Eisenhart et al.1996; Korpan et al 1997; Oliver et al

2001; Roberts2007; Zachos et al.2000) The first element of scientific literacy relates tothe development of good science process skills, that is, those skills routinely performed bypracticing scientists such as estimation, manipulation, and observation and skills thatrequire familiarity with basic scientific facts and concepts A second element of scientificliteracy is an understanding of nature of science Typically the nature of science is referred

to as how scientists come to know scientific knowledge (Driver et al 1996; Helms andCarlone1999; Lederman2007; Osborne et al.2003) From the literature we have identifiedfour general tenets: (a) knowledge is tentative and subject to change as new informationbecomes available, therefore, it is cumulative; (b) knowledge is empirically based onobservations of the natural world and involves discovery; (c) knowledge involves theinvention of explanation through human inference (claims); and (d) knowledge is supported

by argumentation, theories, and laws (Elder 2002; Driver et al 1996; Sandoval 2005).Finally, a third element of scientific literacy is an understanding of the role of science andtechnology within the social and cultural context (STS) Not only is there an influence oftechnological products on our everyday living, but scientific knowledge influences how weinterpret the natural phenomena of our world As a system of thought, it shapes ournarratives and our public policies In turn, science is practiced in the context of a largerculture and its practitioners are the product of that culture (Driver et al 1996) Anunderstanding of STS can support students in decision making and to make sense of thenatural world by focusing on real-world problems (Mbajiorgu 2002; Yager 1992) Thedesired outcome of teaching students about the interaction of science, technology, and societyare citizens who are able to respond to scientific issues in a critical and active way (NationalScience Teachers Association 1990) The definition of scientific literacy can also beexpanded to include aspects of reading and writing These areas are important, but for thepurposes of this study, scientific literacy was limited to the three elements described above.Why is scientific literacy important? In our increasingly advanced society, citizens areconstantly required to form opinions on public issues that may be controversial such asglobal warming or stem cell research (Goldman and Bisanz 2002; Norris and Phillips

1994) In order to do this, the average layperson must have some understanding of howscience information has been established, under what circumstances we considerknowledge reliable, and how agreement of knowledge is maintained Having thisunderstanding is thought to provide the foundation to critically examine science and makeinformed decisions

The literature on scientific literacy has revealed the consistent failure of our currenteducation system to develop a scientifically literate society (Eisenhart et al.1996; Korpan et

al.1999; Ogens1991; Wagner et al.2002; Zimmerman et al.1998) Miller (1991) reportedthat only about 6% of American adults met international standards for knowledge aboutscience facts and theories Norris and Phillips (1994) found that Grade 12 Canadian science

students had not yet acquired the necessary skills to accurately judge the scientific status ofmedia reports of scientific findings Only half the students demonstrated knowledge of theelements of scientific argument Furthermore, Yeaton et al (1990) found that universitystudents can also be overly accepting of generalizations of health-related research extractedfrom newspapers and magazines Thus, our future adult citizens are graduating from theschool system without the skills necessary to accurately interpret scientific information.Examining the degree to which science trade books meet desired science literacyoutcomes specified for young children is important in order to determine whether they can

be a viable component of instruction In an earlier analysis, Ford (2006) examined theexplicit and implicit conceptions of the nature of science in trade books Trade books wereanalyzed for their representations of science and scientists, using the Helms and Carlone(1999) heuristic This heuristic examined the methods utilized by scientists, informationabout and images of scientists, the type of knowledge presented (e.g., certain versusuncertain), science within the scientific community, and purpose of science Some of thesecategories are similar to those we used in this study (e.g., methods, information aboutscientists, and knowledge as uncertain); however, the current study differs from that of Ford(2006) in key ways First, we examined the extent to which trade books made youngchildren aware of science concepts Second, instead of dividing the empirical methodssubcategories by observation and experimentation, this study examined the extent to whichtrade books demonstrated to the readers how they might do certain experiments themselves

We defined the nature of science more narrowly than Ford but examined certain aspects inmore detail including the idea that science is cumulative, involves discovery, claims,evidence, and theories (Driver et al.1996)

In addition to identifying elements of primary level scientific literacy in the trade books,the study also examined the genre in which the books are written Different genres drawupon different knowledge bases of readers and have an effect on cognitive processing andlearning (Brewer 1980; Spiro and Taylor 1987) Narrative or story-based books, forexample, tend to be easier to understand for readers than expository/informational textsbecause readers are less familiar with expository texts and how they are organized (Bereiterand Scardamalia 1982; Bock and Brewer 1985) Although expository/information stylebooks are often overlooked by teachers (Pappas 2006), they can be useful for providingvaluable facts and descriptions of science phenomena (Newton et al.2002; Pappas2006).Informational trade books can also help to foster the learning of science discourse, that is,the technical language or vocabulary of science (Wellington and Osborne 2001) Thus,exposing children to a variety of genres and sub genres (i.e., informational/expository,including explanatory and descriptive, and narrative, including fantasy and realistic fiction)

is important in supporting science learning (Johns2001)

In sum, the study focused on two goals The first goal was to examine the degree towhich science trade books complement expected science knowledge outcomes outlined inNorth American school curricula for Kindergarten to Grade 3 The second goal was tocompare trade book content to the goals of scientific literacy

Method

Sample Selection

The trade books analyzed in this study were sampled from public libraries located in a largecity of Western Canada The goal was to select a representative sample (not an exhaustive

one) of trade books that were accessible to both teachers and families of children enrolled inKindergarten through Grade 3 To ensure that there was not a selection bias, researchassistants searched the online library catalogue over the course of a month We terminatedour search when our efforts failed to turn up additional volumes after approximately 20 h ofsearching.

To narrow the scope of science topics to a manageable number, we developed a set ofcriteria for topic selection The topics selected had to meet the following criteria: (a)represent at least one of the following three categories: Life Science, Physical Science1,and/or Earth Science, (b) deal with concepts that have traditionally been viewed asimportant to science, (c) have a reasonable number of children’s publications across thetargeted age span, and (d) be of interest to children2 Some of the trade books belonged to aset that covered the same topic (e.g., space books for every planet) In this case, only onevolume was selected from the set since analyzing the entire set would present the same type

of information and skew the sample The four topics met the aforementioned criteria:Dinosaurs, Space, Inheritance (the process by which organisms reproduce or createoffspring), and Growth and Life Properties (identifying living things and understandinghow organisms change and adapt to their environment as they mature) Of the 123 tradebooks initially selected within these four topics, 116 met our selection criteria

Analytic Framework

School curricula The framework that was developed to compare trade book content toschool curricula guidelines (Kindergarten to Grade 3) was based on the Pan-CanadianProtocol for Collaboration on School Curriculum (CMEC1997), and the National ScienceEducational Standards (NRC 1996) The CMEC is the national voice for education inCanada, and is a standard from which education ministers of each province and territorydevelop common learning outcomes The science learning outcomes of the CMEC are verysimilar to the science standards of the NRC The NRC developed The National ScienceEducation Standards to support the development of a scientific literate population Thestandards map out the scientific literacy knowledge and competencies to be attained at eachgrade level Curriculum goals were grouped into three main topic areas: Life Science, Earthand Space Science, and Physical Science Under each main topic area, specific learninggoals were chosen for their consistency with both the NRC and CMEC guidelines Wethen examined each book to determine the presence or absence of each learning outcome(see Table 1)

Scientific literacy The analytic framework for determining if trade books support scientificliteracy was derived from the literature (Bisanz et al.1998; DeBoer1991; Eisenhart et al

1996; Elder2002; Goldman and Bisanz2002; Korpan et al.1997; NRC1996; Oliver et al

2001; Roberts 2007; Sandoval 2005; Zachos et al 2000) Based on this literature, weexamined three elements of scientific literacy: (a) science process (i.e., asking questions,making observations, gathering data, and describing how to conduct experiments); (b)nature of science (i.e., science is cumulative, including both established and cutting-edge

Table 1 Analytical framework

Main category Operational definition Subcategories Example

Support of formal learning

Life science In grades K-3, all students

“A seed needs many things

to grow It needs soil and water and sun If a seed has all these things, it will grow into a plant ” Book 38

Describes different ways that humans and other living things move to meet their needs.

“The caterpillar needs food

in order to grow It folds up

a leaf and sticks it together with silk The caterpillar hides inside and eats the leaf ” Book 101 Introduces vocabulary to

bring meaning to what is seen, felt, smelled, heard, tasted, and thought.

“Little roots will be growing from the big root They are like tiny white hairs They are called root hairs ” Book 18

Identifies constant and changing traits in organisms as they grow and develop

“When you compare different handprints, you can see that older people ’s hands are bigger than children ’s.” Book 56 Identifies variations that

make living things unique.

“It’s hard to believe that a tiny acorn will grow into a huge oak tree or that a small puppy can grow into

a big, strong dog Living things grow bigger as they get older ” Book 59 Physical

science

In grades K-3, all students

should develop an

understanding of (a)

properties of objects and

materials, (b) position and

motion of objects, and (c)

light, heat, electricity, and

magnetism.

Explores how characteristics

of materials may change as

a result of manipulating them.

None

Demonstrates ways we can use materials to make different sounds.

None

Describes and demonstrates ways to use everyday materials to produce static electric charges, and describe how charged materials interact.

None

materials, (b) objects in the

sky, and (c) changes in

earth and sky.

Describes changes in heat and light from the sun.

“While a planet is orbiting

around the sun, it is moving another way, too It spins, or rotates The time

it takes for a planet to rotate is its day Each planet ’s day is different While a planet is rotating, part of it faces the sun It is daytime there On the other side it is nighttime ” Book 19 Identifies object use, how

they are used, and for what purpose they are used.

“Since 1600, scientists with telescopes had been able to study Mars If they were going to learn more, the needed a much closer look.

In 1964, the American space agency, NASA, sent

a spacecraft to mars It was called the Mariner 4 It did not carry any people on board but it did carry special cameras ” Book 6 Observes and describes

changes in sunlight and how these changes affect living things.

“The asteroid will cause an enormous explosion… black soot will fill the air and block out the sun … plants won ’t grow, and millions of living things will become extinct …” Book 27

Identifies and explores ways

to use tools to help carry out a variety of useful tasks.

“The scientists at NASA were not the only ones who got to see the Pathfinder ’s pictures right away People all over the world could see them on their computers Through the Internet, people saw pictures taken

on Mars just a few hours earlier ” Book 60 Support of science literacy

expands the knowledge

typically held by readers at

a particular age level.

Raises awareness or offers detailed information

“What happens when a meteorite hits the ground?

A big meteorite can create

a crater, a hole formed when it hits the Earth Most meteorites are too small to make craters, but

Table 1 (continued)

Main category Operational definition Subcategories Example

there are exceptions ” Book 111

Science

processes

Explains science in such a

way that the reader

understands how science

progresses and evolves (e.

g., through discovery and

we find out, there is always more to learn ” Book 82 Science involves making

observations

“How can scientists tell if fossils are male or female? Scientists guess that slimmer, more delicate fossils were female, and the bigger, heavier fossils were male ….But the truth

is, we really don ’t know for sure which is which! ” Book 13

Science involves the process

of gathering data

“What happened to the dinosaurs? You look for clues Clues can help us find out what happened to the dinosaurs We get clues from dinosaur fossils.” Book 35

The text describes how readers/listeners might do certain scientific experiments.

“We have looked at how baby animals and humans grow Now you can do a whole experiment to see how a plant grows …soak a bean in a saucer of water for a day …[etc.] After a couple of days you will notice a tiny root appearing ” Book 91 Nature of

science

The nature of scientific

knowledge and how

scientists come to know

that knowledge

Science is cumulative (e.g.,

we used to think “X,” but now we think “Y”)

“We used to think all dinosaurs were very sluggish and slow Dinosaur tracks tell us that this was not really so By studying tracks scientists now have ways to figure out how fast different dinosaurs could run Some, they say, were pretty speedy ” Book 114 Science involves discovery

and experimentation

“Of course, just knowing how old the meteorites are doesn ’t tell us how the Solar System was formed.

Table 1 (continued)

Main category Operational definition Subcategories Example

But by studying the chemical elements in meteorites, we can learn something about the chemicals that combined to form the planets, moons, asteroids, and Sun ” Book 1 Science involves claims,

evidence, and conclusions

“What did dinosaurs sound like? We ’ll probably never know, but it ’s fun to guess! The hollow tube in the crests of some duck- billed dinosaurs suggest that they made loud, mooselike sounds ” Book 13 Science involves

argumentation, explanations, theories and justifications.

“When scientists found the first Maiasaura nests, they saw: crushed eggshells, showing that babies might have stayed in nests and stepped on shells Skeletons of different sizes, showing that babies might have grown bigger in nests Worn down baby teeth, showing that babies might have eaten food brought by parents ” Book 25 Identification

with scientific

community

Makes a link between

science and everyday life.

It presents science as something that is interesting, tells the story

of a scientist ’s life and their contributions, or

emphasizes the importance

of specific scientific work.

“On July 20, 1969, two American astronauts became the first living things ever to set foot on the Moon Their names were Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and their space mission was called Apollo 11 ” Book 51 Role of science

in society

Describes how science (and

technology) have impacted

our world

“What are rockets used for? Rockets are mainly used to put machines called satellites into orbit around the Earth Different kinds of satellites are launched to do many different jobs Satellites can be used by one country to spy on another Satellite photographs and maps help scientists to study the Earth and what it ’s made of…” Book 115