Do Earth and Environmental Science Textbooks Promote middle and Hight School Student's Conceptual Development about Climate Change?

摘要

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 hands-on activities in science classrooms, science textbooks are still used as the general source of scientific concepts by teachers and students (Fulp 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 pvorks become effective tools for facilitating students' conceptual development.