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Biology by Miller and Levine. Prentice Hall, 1998

Cell Structure and Function: Instructional Analysis

I: Providing a Sense of Purpose

Conveying unit purpose

Rating = Fair
The material meets indicators 1 and 5 and somewhat meets indicators 2, 4, and 6. Indicator 3 is not met.

Indicator 1: Met
The material presents chapter purposes to students but not unit purposes. At the beginning of each chapter, teacher notes suggest that teachers introduce students to the purpose of the chapter by posing a series of questions. For example, teacher notes for Chapter 5: Cell Structure and Function encourage teachers to:

Pose the following questions to students and have them record their responses. Point out that they will gain a better understanding of the key concepts if they read the chapter with these basic questions in mind....

• How is the invention of the microscope related to the development of the cell theory?
• Do plant and animal cells have more basic similarities or differences?
• How are internal structures related to cell functions?
• How do materials enter and leave living cells through the cell membrane?
• Why is cell specialization important to multicellular organisms?

p. 86t

However, while teacher notes in the unit introductions provide the unit purposes to teachers (e.g., pp. 84t, 806t, 1004t), no suggestions are given for teachers to present these purposes to students.

Indicator 2: Somewhat met
Some of the questions noted above may be comprehensible to students. Although the questions use terms that may already be familiar to students, such as microscopes and cells, the questions are presented as abstractions rather than in the context of familiar phenomena. For example, students may have difficulty with abstractions like how structures of cells are related to functions or the comparison of plant and animal cells.

The student text also includes a photograph at the beginning of each chapter and the teacher’s guide suggests that teachers discuss the photograph with students. However, the link to the chapter purpose is still cast in terms of abstractions. For example, the photograph at the beginning of Chapter 5: Cell Structure and Function shows human cells and Micrasterias alga cells (p. 86s). Teacher notes encourage teachers to ask students what they see happening in the picture and then to relate the photograph to the chapter purpose:

Stress the fact that though we have many cells now, we started as single cells. Both a single-celled organism and a human zygote are functional units of life in the same way that atoms are functional units of matter. In Chapter 5 the emphasis will be on relating structure and function.

p. 86t

Indicator 3: Not met
It will be difficult for students to become interested in or motivated by questions about abstractions.

Indicator 4: Somewhat met
The teacher’s notes suggest that students record responses to the questions. However, students are not given a chance to discuss why these are important questions to ask in the first place.

Indicator 5: Met
The text provides answers for the initial questions.

Indicator 6: Somewhat met
The material partially returns to the stated purpose at the end of each chapter. The teacher’s guide encourages teachers to have students revisit the questions at the end of the chapter: “Upon completion of the chapter, pose the questions again. Ask students to compare their initial responses with those they have developed after reading the chapter” (p. 86t).

The material does not ask students, however, to specifically revisit the purpose stated in their chapter opening text (e.g., p. 86s).

Conveying lesson/activity purpose

Rating = Poor
The material fully meets one indicator and somewhat meets a second.

Indicator 1: Met
The material includes four features to convey lesson purposes to students. Each chapter begins with a Guide for Reading, which states what students will be able to do after reading each section of text. For example, chapter 5 provides the following Guide for Reading:

After you read the following sections, you will be able to

5–1 The Cell Theory

• Discuss the cell theory

5–2 Cell Structure

• Identify and give the function of three basic structures of most cells.
• Distinguish between prokaryotes and eukaryotes.

5–3 Cytoplasmic Organelles

• List the major cytoplasmic organelles and describe their functions.
• Compare the structure of plant and animal cells.

5–4 Movement of Materials Through the Cell Membrane

• Describe the processes by which materials move through the cell membrane.

5–5 Cell Specialization

• Relate cell specialization to cell structure.

5–6 Levels of Organization

• Describe the four levels of organization in a complex multicellular organism.

p. 87s

Each text section recapitulates the stated objectives in the form of questions. For example, the Guide for Reading for section 5–1 presents the questions “How did van Leeuwenhoek, Hooke, Schleiden, Schwann, and Virchow contribute to the development of the cell theory?” and “What are the parts of the cell theory?” (p. 87s); and the Guide for Reading for section 5–2 presents the questions “What are the functions of the three basic structures of most cells?” and “How do prokaryotes and eukaryotes differ?” (p. 89s). Similar questions are used to introduce lab investigations. For example, the Laboratory Investigation at the end of chapter 5 begins with this Problem: “How can the process of osmosis be observed?” (p. 108s).

In addition, each text section begins with a red-lettered title and introductory paragraphs that help to convey the lesson purposes.

Indicator 2: Not met
The questions and text are not stated in ways that are likely to be comprehensible to students. Many use technical terms—for example, section titles and objectives include technical vocabulary such as “prokaryotes,” “eukaryotes,” “cytoplasmic organelles,” “osmosis,” and “endocytosis”—that may not be comprehensible to students who have not already studied the topic.

Indicator 3: Not met
Students are not asked to think about the Guide for Reading questions. Sometimes the teacher’s guide encourages teachers to have students think about the Problem at the beginning of the lab investigation, but this did not occur in the main chapter relevant to cell structure and function.

The Focus/Motivation features also do not encourage students to think about lesson purposes since these features are not well-linked to the purposes provided in the Guide for Reading questions or the section introductions (e.g., pp. 87t, 104t).

Indicator 4: Somewhat met
Occasionally, the Guide for Reading questions include questions listed at the beginning of chapters, which could help students see the relationship between the chapter purpose and the material presented. For example, one of the three questions at the beginning of the Guide for Reading for Section 5-3: Cytoplasmic Organelles, “How does the structure of a plant cell differ from that of an animal cell?” (p. 94s), is similar to one of the questions at the beginning of the chapter (p. 86t). However, neither the text nor the teacher’s guide conveys to students how the section relates to the chapter purpose.

Indicator 5: Not met
The material does not engage students at appropriate points in thinking about what they have learned so far and what they need to learn next.

Justifying lesson/activity sequence

Rating = Fair
The material somewhat meets the first indicator but does not meet the second.

Indicator 1: Somewhat met
While the teacher’s guide indicates that “the textbook’s 10 units are sufficiently self-contained to be taught in almost any order” (p. T11), the Alternative Approaches Grid does not include any sequences in which the suggested order of units is reversed (p. T7).

The sequence of chapters within each unit appears logical. For example, Unit 2: Cells: The Basic Unit of Life moves from presenting the structure and function of cells (chapter 5) to the processes that enable cells to carry out life functions: obtaining and using energy (chapter 6), making proteins according to specifications in the genetic code (chapter 7), and reproducing themselves (chapter 8).

Topic sequences of sections within the chapters also seem logical. The topic sequence for Chapter 5: Cell Structure and Function includes: cell theory, cell structure, organelles, the movement of materials through the membrane, cell specialization, and levels of organization. However, the presentation of key ideas within each topic is interrupted by more sophisticated and/or tangential information. For example, the section on the organelles of the cell focuses mostly on the names and details of the structures of the organelles (e.g., “The mitochondrion contains two special membranes. The outer membrane surrounds the organelle, and the inner membrane has many folds that increase the surface area of the mitochondrion” [p. 94s]), without relating the structural details to the functions they serve.

Indicator 2: Not met
The material does not convey a rationale for the sequence of units or chapters or for the sequence of readings or other activities within chapters. The statement in the teacher’s guide that “the textbook’s 10 units are sufficiently self-contained to be taught in almost any order” (p. T11) argues against there being a rationale for sequencing units. And no rationale is provided for the sequence of chapters within units or for sections within chapters.

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II: Taking Account of Student Ideas

Attending to prerequisite knowledge and skills

Rating = Poor
The material minimally meets indicator 4, and does not meet indicators 1–3 and 5.

Indicator 1: Not met
The material does not alert the teacher to specific prerequisite ideas or skills that are needed for each unit. This is particularly troubling for a material that indicates that the sequence of units does not matter:

Miller and Levine Biology is organized to let you choose which chapters to teach and in which order to teach them. Though the authors suggest you teach the chapters in order, you will discover that the textbook’s 10 units are sufficiently self-contained to be taught in almost any order.

p. T11

Indicator 2: Not met
The material does not alert teachers to the specific ideas for which prerequisites are needed.

Indicator 3: Not met
The material does not alert students to prerequisite ideas or experiences that are being assumed.

Indicator 4: Minimally met
The material does not adequately address prerequisites in the same unit or in earlier units. The material minimally treats only one prerequisite idea, and does not mention any of the others. The only prerequisite idea mentioned in this material is the first part of the idea that atoms may stick together in well-defined molecules or may be packed together in large arrays [4D(6-8)/1]. Following a discussion of atomic structure, the text states that:

When elements combine to form substances consisting of two or more different atoms, chemical compounds are produced. A chemical compound involves the combination of two or more different atoms in definite proportions.

p. 51s

Although the text continues by explaining how to interpret the chemical symbols in a chemical formula, this prerequisite idea is not further explained.

Indicator 5: Not met
The material does not make connections between key ideas and their prerequisites. The one prerequisite idea mentioned in the text is not used to explain the related key idea. The prerequisite that atoms may stick together in well-defined molecules would be helpful in understanding the key idea that the work of the cell is carried out by the molecules it assembles, mostly proteins (Idea c).

Alerting teachers to commonly held student ideas

Rating = Not rated
For the topic of cell structure and function, materials were not rated on this criterion because no research base outlines commonly held student ideas.

Assisting teachers in identifying their students’ ideas

Rating = Poor
The material minimally meets indicators 1 and 2, and does not meet indicators 3, 4, and 5.

Indicator 1: Minimally met
While the material includes several features at the beginning of chapters or units that provide questions for students to answer, few of these questions are likely to help teachers identify their own students’ ideas relevant to the key ideas or anticipate common learning difficulties. The Guided Enquiry feature includes questions most relevant to the key ideas, but the questions focus on abstract notions to be taught in the chapter rather than on eliciting student explanations of familiar phenomena. For example, the Guided Enquiry at the beginning of Chapter 5: Cell Structure and Function provides the following questions:

• How is the invention of the microscope related to the development of the cell theory?
• Do plant and animal cells have more basic similarities or differences?
• How are internal structures related to cell functions?
• How do materials enter and leave living cells through the cell membrane?
• Why is cell specialization important to multicellular organisms?

p. 86t

Questions that relate more directly to student experiences are also included, but the questions don’t focus students on the key ideas related to cell structure and function. For example, the Journal Activity feature provides the following:

When did you first learn about cells? How did you feel when you found out that you were made of cells? More than 100 trillion of them, in fact! Describe your thoughts and feelings in your journal.

p. 87s

The Using the Visuals feature also provides questions, but these seem to focus on factual recall rather than questions that could be used to elicit students’ ideas. For example:

• Can you tell what basic life function is occurring in the photographs?
• Do you recall the “parts” of an atom?
• Can you name any parts of a cell?
• What scientific instrument has made the study of cell structure possible?

pp. 86–87t

These questions provided little help in probing possible misconceptions students may have on this topic.

Indicator 2: Minimally met
The questions in the Guided Enquiry feature use language students are likely to understand, but the questions focus on abstract ideas to be taught in the chapter rather than on eliciting student explanations of familiar phenomena. The other questions provided do not focus on the key ideas for cell structure and function.

Indicator 3: Not met
The questions are not identified as serving the purpose of identifying students’ ideas. Furthermore, teachers are not encouraged to look at or think about the student responses. Instead, the Guided Enquiry questions are for students rather than for teachers, as indicated by the following teacher notes:

Pose the following questions to students and have them record their responses. Point out that they will gain a better understanding of the key concepts if they read the chapter with these basic questions in mind. Upon completion of the chapter, pose the questions again.

p. 86t

The Guided Enquiry provides you with a set of questions that you may want to ask students prior to reading the chapter. As such, it will key students into the main points they are to garner from the chapter and can be used as a pre-reading feature. When students have completed the chapter, have them answer the questions again and compare their new answers to their initial answers. In this way, the Guided Enquiry can be used for pre- and post-assessment.

p. T15

Although some teachers might interpret these notes as suggesting that Guided Enquiries be used to help teachers identify students’ ideas, this purpose is not explicitly stated.

Indicator 4: Not met
None of these questions asks students to give explanations and none asks students to make predictions.

Indicator 5: Not met
The material offers no suggestions for how teachers can probe beneath students’ initial responses to questions.

Addressing commonly held ideas

Rating = Not rated
For the topic of cell structure and function, materials were not rated on this criterion because no research base outlines commonly held student ideas.

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III: Engaging Students with Relevant Phenomena

Providing variety of phenomena

Rating = Poor
Since the rating scheme depends on how many phenomena meet both of the indicators, the report for this criterion is organized to reflect the overall rating rather than each indicator judgment.

The material provides almost no phenomena to support the key ideas. With respect to the key idea that cells have specialized parts for specific functions (Idea b), the material provides a phenomenon for the mitochondrion and explains that “[t]he liver performs many vital functions—much work—for the body. Liver cells contain huge numbers of mitochondria—as many as 1000 per cell” (p. 95t). However, the relevant key idea was not used in an explanation of this phenomenon. Furthermore, no other phenomena are provided for any of the other key ideas about cell structure and function.

Providing vivid experiences

Rating = Poor
Since the rating scheme depends on how many phenomena meet all of the indicators, the report for this criterion is organized to reflect the overall rating rather than each indicator judgment.

The material meets no indicators. The one phenomenon provided for the key idea that cells have specialized parts for specific functions (Idea b)—the teacher’s guide mention of the number of mitochondria in liver cells—is neither first hand nor explained in enough detail to be considered vicarious for students.

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IV: Developing and Using Scientific Ideas

Introducing terms meaningfully

Rating = Poor
The material meets no indicators.

Indicator 1: Not met
The material does not link new technical terms to relevant experiences. With few relevant phenomena, there seems to be little point to using the terms other than to have students learn their definitions. Terms are identified in bold and defined within the text typically without further explanation or examples. Many definitions provided in the text are not likely to be comprehensible to students because new terms are defined using other new technical terms: “Ribosomes are composed of RNA and protein. Some ribosomes are attached to membranes; some are found free in the cytoplasm” (p. 95s) and “Many plastids are involved in the storage of food and pigments. Some examples of plastids are leucoplasts (LOO-koh-plasts), which store starch granules, and chromoplasts (KROM-muh-plasts), which store pigment molecules” [italics added] (p. 97s).

Indicator 2: Not met
The material does not restrict the use of technical terms to those needed to communicate intelligibly about the key ideas. Although the editors acknowledge that the textbook authors “did not want to write an encyclopedic biology tome that stressed memorization of terminology” (p. T6), many terms are included that go beyond those needed for science literacy. For the key ideas for cell structure and function, unnecessarily introduced terms include “gluey pectin layer,” “primary cell wall,” “secondary cell wall,” “nucleolus,” “nuclear pores,” “nuclear envelope,” “plastids,” “leukoplasts,” “chromoplasts,” “centrioles,” “cytoplasmic streaming,” “facilitated diffusion,” “phagocytosis,” and “pinocytosis.”

Representing ideas effectively

Rating = Poor
Since the rating scheme depends on how many representations meet all of the indicators, the report for this criterion is organized to reflect the overall rating rather than each indicator judgment.

Essentially no representations are accurate, comprehensible, and explicitly linked to the key idea being represented. As a result, little support is provided to clarify the key ideas for students.

Although the material includes many colorful diagrams, none of them is likely to clarify the key ideas about cell structure and function. For example, diagrams show details of a typical animal cell (p. 89s), a typical plant cell (p. 90s), and the cellular organelles (pp. 93s, 94s, 95s, 96s, 98s) that are unlikely to clarify the functioning of these cells and their components.

Only one analogy is provided, comparing the cell membrane to the walls of a house (p. 90s). Ways in which the cell membrane is similar to the walls of a house are presented, but the dissimilarities are neither explained nor discussed. Thus this analogy may mislead students.

Demonstrating use of knowledge

Rating = Poor
The material meets no indicators.

Indicator 1: Not met
The material does not consistently demonstrate the use of key ideas or suggest how teachers could do so. No phenomena are explained in the text, nor are teachers provided with explanations.

Indicator 2: Not met
No performances are provided.

Indicator 3: Not met
No performances are identified as demonstrations of the use of knowledge.

Indicator 4: Not met
No running commentary that points to particular aspects of the demonstration is provided. Nor does the material provide criteria for judging the quality of a performance.

Providing practice

Rating = Poor
Since the rating scheme depends on how many practice tasks meet all of the indicators, the report for this criterion is organized to reflect the overall rating rather than each indicator judgment.

Two kinds of questions and tasks were considered for this criterion. These included Chapter Review questions, and student tasks and questions within the chapter requiring application of ideas presented in the text. The material does not provide a sufficient number and variety of practice tasks for any of the key ideas. For the most part, it provides a few questions that focus on direct recall of information presented in the text instead of giving students opportunities to practice using some of the key ideas on cell structure and function.

For the idea that every cell is surrounded by a cell membrane that controls what can enter and exit the cell (Idea a), students are asked “What is the function of the cell membrane?” (p. 93s). Another question for this idea requires more than a rote answer from the text: “Why is it important for the cell membrane to be selectively permeable?” (p. 111s). A few other questions focus on the idea that cells have specialized parts for specific functions (Idea b), such as “What are organelles?” (p. 99s) and “What structure is the site of protein synthesis?” (p. 110s). Some questions, such as “What is its [a mitochondrion’s] function?” (p. 111s), focus on individual organelles and their functions. However, no questions are provided for students to practice using the other key ideas.

The material does not provide a sequence of questions or tasks in which the complexity is progressively increased.

The material does not provide students first with opportunities for guided practice with feedback and then with practice in which the amount of support is gradually decreased.

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V: Promoting Students’ Thinking about Phenomena, Experiences, and Knowledge

Encouraging students to explain their ideas

Rating = Poor
The material meets no indicators.

Indicator 1: Not met
The material provides almost no opportunities for students to express their own ideas about cell structure and function. The teacher’s guide provides answers to all Section Review and Chapter Review questions found in the student text (as noted for Category IV, Providing Practice criterion) and to questions posed in the teacher’s guide in Content Development (e.g., pp. 92–93t, 96t). The intention of these questions is clearly to see if students have learned the correct answer rather than to stimulate their thinking about the key ideas.

Occasionally, the teacher’s guide provides a more open-ended task, but these questions seldom focus on the key ideas about cell structure and function. For example, students are asked to “Think of other inventions or discoveries that were the result of human curiosity” (p. 87t). A few questions allow students to express their ideas about the idea that cells have specialized parts for specific functions (Idea b). For example:

Suggest a possible function for the cytoplasm.

p. 93t, Content Development

Just for fun, have students hypothesize the relationships between lysosomes and (a) the development of a frog from a tadpole and (b) the process of aging.

p. 97t, Skills Development

However, teacher notes that accompany the tasks do not always focus on the key ideas. Teacher notes accompanying the former task indicate that “Answers may vary but may include shape of cell, protection for the nucleus, as a buffer, and so on” (p. 93t), which may help students to think of the function of the cytoplasm. But there are no suggestions in the teacher’s guide for the discussion of the latter task.

Indicator 2: Not met
Students are not encouraged to clarify, justify, or represent their ideas about cell structure and function.

Indicator 3: Not met
The material does not provide opportunities for each student to express his or her ideas. The tasks noted for indicator 1 involve oral discussions.

Indicator 4: Not met
The material does not include specific suggestions to help the teacher provide explicit feedback to students nor does the text provide feedback.

Indicator 5: Not met
The material does not include suggestions to diagnose student errors, explanations about how those errors may be corrected, and recommendations for how students’ ideas may be further developed.

Guiding student interpretation and reasoning

Rating = Poor
The material somewhat meets the first indicator.

Indicator 1: Somewhat met
The material includes a few specific questions to guide student interpretation of readings and the laboratory investigation. Section Review questions in the student text typically ask students to repeat factual information:

What are the three basic structures found in most cells?

p. 93s, 5–2 Section Review, question 1

What are organelles? Give two examples of organelles.

p. 99s, 5–3 Section Review, question 1

However, most of the questions do not focus on the key ideas:

Distinguish between prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Why is this distinction important?

p. 93s, 5–2 Section Review, question 3

What components make up the cytoskeleton?

p. 99s, 5–3 Section Review, question 4

What is diffusion?

p. 104s, 5–4 Section Review, question 1

The Laboratory Investigation in the student text contains questions that mainly focus on the laboratory procedures and observations, but not on the key ideas. Although the Laboratory Investigation “Observing Osmosis” could be used to help students understand the idea that the cell membrane controls what can enter and exit the cell (Idea a), none of the questions or answers mentions the role of the cell membrane (as indicated by suggested responses in the teacher’s guide, given in parentheses below):

1. What is the purpose of the Lugol solution? (To stain the cells and make the structures more visible.)
2. Which beaker contained the higher concentration of water? (The beaker of tap water.)
3. Relate the degrees of flexibility of the potato and the onion dry, in water, and in the sodium nitrate solution to the process of osmosis. (The potato and onion in the sodium nitrate became soft and the cytoplasm in their cells shrank because water left the cells by osmosis. The potato and onion in the tap water became stiff because water entered the cells by osmosis.)
4. Relate the differences in degrees of flexibility of the onion to the appearance of the cells observed under the microscope. (Onion cells become more stiff and less flexible when they fill with water. Cells appear full under the microscope. Onion cells appear to have shrunk under the microscope, again due to osmosis, when placed in the sodium nitrate solution.)

pp. 108s, 109t, Analysis and Conclusions

The teacher’s guide includes a few questions in Content Development and Reinforcement/Reteaching sections that focus on the key ideas:

• Would you expect to find more mitochondria in a skin cell or a muscle cell? (Muscle.)
• What is the source of the energy produced by the mitochondria? (Food.)

p. 95t, Content Development

But as with the Section Review questions in the student text, most questions do not focus on the key ideas.

The total number of questions that relate to the key ideas is insufficient to guide student interpretation and reasoning about them.

Indicator 2: Not met
None of the questions noted above has helpful characteristics such as framing important issues, helping students make connections between their own ideas and the presented scientific ideas, or anticipating common student misconceptions.

Indicator 3: Not met
None of the questions noted above involves scaffolded sequences of questions, which could guide students from phenomena or their own ideas about phenomena to the scientific ideas. Instead, Section Reviews, Laboratory Investigations, and questions in the teacher’s guide provide only individual questions on a particular idea.

Encouraging students to think about what they have learned

Rating = Poor
The material minimally meets indicators 1 and 2, and does not meet indicator 3.

Indicator 1: Minimally met
The material provides minimal opportunity for students to revise their initial ideas about the key ideas. Teacher notes at the beginning of each chapter include questions about the information to be learned in the chapter. For example, teacher notes for Chapter 5: Cell Structure and Function encourage teachers to:

Pose the following questions to students and have them record their responses. Point out that they will gain a better understanding of the key concepts if they read the chapter with these basic questions in mind. Upon completion of the chapter, pose the questions again. Ask students to compare their initial responses with those they have developed after reading the chapter.

• How is the invention of the microscope related to the development of the cell theory?
• Do plant and animal cells have more basic similarities or differences?
• How are internal structures related to cell functions?
• How do materials enter and leave living cells through the cell membrane?
• Why is cell specialization important to multicellular organisms?

p. 86t

However, the questions are not likely to serve the purpose of having students revise their initial ideas. First, the questions ask for factual information unlikely to be known by students before they read the chapter. (For example, students are not asked to explain phenomena before and after studying the key ideas.) Second, informing students that the answers will be found in the chapter will not encourage them to get their own ideas out on the table. Third, few of the questions address the key ideas for the topic of cell structure and function.

Indicator 2: Minimally met
To some extent, the material engages students in monitoring how their ideas have changed. Guided Enquiry instructions suggest that students “compare their initial responses with those they have developed after reading the chapter” (p. 86t), but the instructions do not explicitly ask students to monitor how their ideas have changed. In addition, very few of the questions address the key ideas analyzed.

Indicator 3: Not met
The material does not engage (or provide specific suggestions for teachers to engage) students in monitoring how their ideas have changed periodically in the unit.

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VI: Assessing Progress

To assess students’ understanding of concepts at the end of instruction, Biology by Miller and Levine provides a test for each chapter in a separate Assessment Resources book and CD-ROM. Question categories include multiple choice, true or false, completions, using science skills, and critical thinking and application. The test for chapter 5, the chapter that treats the cell structure and function key ideas most extensively, was examined for the first two assessment criteria.

Aligning assessment to goals

Rating = Poor
Since the rating scheme depends on how many assessment tasks meet both of the indicators, the report for this criterion is organized to reflect the overall rating rather than each indicator judgment.

Biology by Miller and Levine provides few questions relevant to the key ideas, which is far from sufficient. Mostly the questions ask students to provide the appropriate term for the function described. But these questions do not assess students’ grasp of the key ideas, only if they know the appropriate term. For example:

The cell structure that modifies, collects, packages, and distributes molecules made at one location of the cell and used at another is the

1. mitochondrium.
2. Golgi apparatus.
3. lysosome.
4. ribosome.

Assessment Resources, pp. 54 and 534, question 359

The structures in which proteins are made are the ribosomes.

Assessment Resources, pp. 55 and 534, question 375

One question that requires students to explain the function of a specific organelle also requires that students know the specific term “lysosome”; thus the question requires information beyond the key idea:

Question: The tail of a tadpole degenerates as the adult frog develops. How are lysosomes essential to this degeneration?

Suggested Response: Lysosomes break down organelles that have outlived their usefulness. The organelles in the tail are no longer needed, so they are broken down by the enzymes in the lysosomes.

Assessment Resources, pp. 59 and 535, question 407

To provide the suggested response, students will need to understand the idea that cells have specialized parts for specific functions (Idea b), but students would also have to know that the lysosome is the name of the cell part involved with the process of waste removal and that enzymes in the lysosomes break down other structures, both of which are beyond this key idea.

Testing for understanding

Rating = Poor
Since few assessment tasks were aligned to the key ideas, the report for this criterion is organized to reflect the overall rating rather than each indicator judgment.

Since there were no relevant assessment items (that met both indicators) described under the previous criterion, no assessment items were analyzed for this criterion.

Using assessment to inform instruction

Rating = Poor
Since the material provides no tasks for this criterion, the report is organized to reflect the overall rating rather than each indicator judgment.

Biology by Miller and Levine does not make any claims about assessing students throughout instruction to diagnose difficulties students are having with the concepts and then to modify instruction accordingly.

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VII: Enhancing the Science Learning Environment

Providing teacher content support

Rating = Minimal support is provided.
The material provides minimal support in alerting teachers to how ideas have been simplified for students to comprehend and what the more sophisticated versions are. Content background notes usually summarize the student text (e.g., pp. 89–90t, Content Development), briefly elaborate on one or a few student text concepts (e.g., p. 91t, Background Information), briefly explain peripheral information (e.g., p. 89t, Background Information), or offer tidbits of questionable relevance (e.g., p. 96t, Facts and Figures). Overall, the teacher content support is brief, localized, and fragmented.

The material does not usually provide sufficiently detailed answers to questions in the student book for teachers to understand and interpret various student responses. While most answers include expected scientific responses, little, if any, additional information is provided for teachers to field potential student questions or difficulties (e.g., p. 93t, Section Review 5-2, answer 2; p. 104t, Section Review 5-4, answer 3). In addition, some answers are brief and require further explanation (e.g., p. 86t, Using the Visuals, answer 1). Some questions go unanswered (e.g., p. 86t, Guided Enquiry).

The material provides minimal support in recommending resources for improving the teacher’s understanding of key ideas. While the material lists references in the “Teacher Resources” section at the beginning of most chapters that could help teachers improve their understanding of the key ideas (e.g., “Sheeler, Phillip, and Donald Bianchi. Cell and Molecular Biology, 3rd ed. Wiley, 1987” [p. 112At]), the lists lack annotations about what kind of information the references provide or how they may be helpful.

Encouraging curiosity and questioning

Rating = Minimal support is provided.
The material provides no suggestions for how to encourage students’ questions and guide their search for answers.

The material provides a few suggestions for how to respect and value students’ ideas. Teacher notes state that multiple student answers should be acceptable for some questions (e.g., p. 86t, Using the Visuals, item 1). Journal Activities ask students to discuss their own ideas about particular concepts and issues (e.g., p. 87st). In addition, a question in the chapter review asks students to design their own experiment to study the effects of temperature on the rate of diffusion (e.g., p. 111s, Critical and Creative Thinking, item 2).

The material provides a few suggestions for how to raise questions such as “How do we know? What is the evidence?” and “Are there alternative explanations or other ways of solving the problem that could be better?” However, it does not encourage students to pose such questions themselves. Specifically, the material includes a few tasks that ask students to provide evidence or reasons in their responses (e.g., pp. 108s, 109t, Analysis and Conclusions, items 3–4).

The material provides a few suggestions for how to avoid dogmatism. The first chapter portrays the nature of science as a durable yet dynamic human enterprise in which all people can participate (e.g., pp. 11s, 15–18s). The material also describes early developments in scientific thinking about cell theory (pp. 87–88s) and illustrates processes of particular experiments (p. 171s, Science, Technology, and Society Breakthrough and pp. 88t, 93t, 97t, Historical Notes). In addition, at the end of each unit, one of the authors writes a personal essay to the students describing his views on the material presented (e.g., p. 177s, From the Authors). However, the material also contributes to dogmatism by presenting most of the text in a static, authoritative manner with little reference to the work of particular, practicing scientists and expecting single, specific responses for most student tasks.

The material does not provide examples of classroom interactions (e.g., dialogue boxes, vignettes, or video clips) that illustrate appropriate ways to respond to student questions or ideas. However, a limited sense of desirable student-student interactions may be gained from general guidelines (pp. T17–T18, Cooperative Learning) and particular directions for cooperative group activities (e.g., p. 87t, Cooperative Learning).

Supporting all students

Rating = Some support is provided.
The material generally avoids stereotypes or language that might be offensive to a particular group. For example, photographs include a diverse cultural mix of students and adults (e.g., pp. 105s, 176s, 177s), but the number of photographs that include people throughout the material is few.

The material provides some illustrations of the contributions of women and minorities to science and as role models. Most of the contributions of women and minority scientists, however, appear in separate sections entitled Science, Technology, and Society within each chapter. For example, one Science, Technology, and Society Breakthrough discusses the contributions of a research team including two women scientists, Jenny Hinshaw and Bridget Carragher, who constructed a three-dimensional model of nuclear pores (p. 105s). The material also includes related features entitled Careers in Biology and Multicultural Strategies. The Careers in Biology feature briefly describes scientific occupations related to the unit content, provides information on how students can learn more about the careers, and includes photographs of scientists, some of whom are women or minorities (e.g., p. 176s). Multicultural Strategies provide suggestions related to the chapter content in which students often research contributions of a particular cultural group (e.g., p. 160t). All of these sections highlighting cultural contributions are interesting and informative, but may not be seen by students as central to the material because they are presented in sidebars and teacher notes.

The material suggests multiple formats for students to express their ideas during instruction and assessment, including individual journal writing (e.g., p. 87s, Journal Activity), cooperative group activities (e.g., p. 87t, Cooperative Learning), laboratory investigations (e.g., p. 108s), whole class discussions (e.g., pp. 104–105t, Focus/Motivation), essay questions (e.g., pp. 108s, 109t, Analysis and Conclusions, items 3–4; pp. 110t, 111s, Concept Mastery, item 2), and visual projects (e.g., p. 98t, Enrichment). However, the material does not usually provide a variety of alternatives for the same task in either instruction or assessment.

The material does not routinely include specific suggestions about how teachers can modify activities for students with special needs. However, the Teacher’s Edition gives general suggestions in introductory notes (p. T10, Teaching “Special” Students) and provides additional activities and resources for students of specific ability levels. Each chapter in the Teacher’s Edition includes ESL Strategies, Reinforcement/Reteaching activities, Enrichment activities, and Going Further: Enrichment activities. ESL Strategies provide ESL students with additional content or tasks often emphasizing vocabulary related to a chapter topic (e.g., p. 90t). Reinforcement/Reteaching activities are additional teaching suggestions to help students having difficulties with particular chapter sections (e.g., pp. 98–99t). Enrichment and Going Further: Enrichment activities allow interested students to study further a specified topic from the chapter (e.g., pp. 98t and 109t). In addition, supplemental program resources provide further additional activities and resources for students (for a description, see pp. T4–T5).

The material provides some strategies to validate students’ relevant personal and social experiences with scientific ideas. Some Teaching Strategies ask students about specific personal experiences students may have had that relate to the presented scientific concepts (e.g., pp. 104–105t, Teaching Strategy 5-5). In addition, some student tasks—including Journal Activities (e.g., p. 159s) and Multicultural Strategies (e.g., p. 161t)—ask about particular personal experiences students may have had or suggest specific experiences they could have. However, the material rarely encourages students to contribute relevant experiences of their own choice to the science classroom. Overall, support is brief and localized.

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