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Textbooks consideration of students misconceptions
The reviewed earth and environmental science textbooks did not adequately address students' misconceptions abotit climate change, suggesting a need for revision.
One of the primary goals of climate change education is to assist students in developing a scientific understanding about the Earth's climate system (NOAA 2009). Despite an increase in supplemental educational materials and handson activities in science classrooms, science textbooks are still used as the general source of scientific concepts by teachers and students (FuIp 2002; Weiss et al. 2002). Students develop their understanding of scientific concepts based on their existing ideas, just as scientists rely on their existing knowledge base to acquire a better understanding about natural phenomena (Bell 2005; Duit 1991). Misconceptions, or a lack of relevant prior concepts, can hinder students from developing an understanding of scientific concepts (Duit 1991; Rickinson 2001). It is critical, therefore, that science textbook authors and publishers are aware of students' common misconceptions about climate change when developing textbooks so that their works become effective tools for facilitating students' conceptual development.
Many climate change education researchers have studied students' and teachers' conceptual understanding of climate change and the effectiveness of various teaching strategies for the teaching and learning of climate change concepts. However, few studies have focused on the representations of climate change concepts found in science textbooks. The study reported in this article sought to remedy this gap by conducting an analysis of the representations of climate change concepts found in science textbooks and examining these presentations for possible contributions to students' misconceptions about climate change. The research questions were as follows:
a) According to the education research literature, what common misconceptions about climate change are held by middle and high school students?
b) How do these commonly held misconceptions about climate change compare to accepted scientific concepts?
c) How do middle and high school science textbooks present accepted scientific concepts related to climate change?
d) What are the relationships between common misconceptions about climate change found in the research literature and science textbooks' presentation of climate change concepts?
This study defines students' concepts as their mental representations of real world processes (e.g., the greenhouse effect) and components (e.g., carbon dioxide). We use the term "misconceptions" to refer to...