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Insights in Biology. Kendall/Hunt, 1998

Matter and Energy Transformations: Instructional Analysis

I: Providing a Sense of Purpose

Conveying unit purpose

Rating = Fair
The material meets indicators 1, 2, and 5.

Indicator 1: Met
The purpose of each module is presented to students in an opening letter at the beginning of the module. For example, the opening letter in The Matter of Life informs students that they will be learning about the characteristics and processes of life:

In this module The Matter of Life, you will be exploring the characteristics that define a substance as having “life.” What processes do living things carry on that distinguish them from nonliving matter? How do organisms carry on these processes? One of the themes of this module is that there is unity among the diverse forms of life. The characteristics of life and the processes that enable life to continue are similar among all forms of life.

front matter

Similarly, the opening letter in What on Earth? informs students that they will be learning about ecology and environmental problems:

This module, What on Earth? explores the interrelationships and interactions among organisms and their environments. Throughout the module, the questions “What relationships exist among organisms? How do organisms interact with their environments? How did the vast diversity of organisms we see on Earth come to be? What might the future hold both for the organisms on Earth and their habitats?” guide the introduction and development of the concepts of ecology. You will find that the principles that influence the continuance of life on Earth are more complex than you imagined. Ecology serves as the basis for examining the environmental problems that face us. Their possible solutions must not be left only to scientist [sic] or to industrialists; educated citizens must be involved in deciding how to maintain the earth and its resources, including living things.

front matter

The material also presents the purpose in the beginning of the first learning experience of each module. For example, the prologue to the first learning experience in What on Earth? begins as follows:

The natural world surrounds us, but we are often oblivious to it. Think about your journey to school today. What living things did you see? Why are those particular organisms living there? How and where do they get the resources to stay alive? In what ways do these organisms interact with one another and with the environment? Living things are linked to their habitat by a multitude of factors. These factors include the nonliving or physical conditions as well as the number and kinds of organisms present in the area. The science of ecology focuses on the interactions among living things and their relationships to the environment.

As you explore the concepts in this module, your responses to these questions—and other questions of your own—may change. The activities, investigations, and readings in this module will deepen and expand your understanding of the natural world.

p. 1s

The material also provides the teacher with an explicit statement of purpose and list of student learning outcomes in the Module Description section of the teacher guide (The Matter of Life, p. xxivt; What on Earth?, p. xxivt). These statements are consistent with the purposes stated in the opening letter to students.

Indicator 2: Met
The purposes given in the opening letters and prologues to the first learning experiences are likely to be comprehensible to the students. They are written with vocabulary that students should understand.

Indicator 3: Not met
The purposes in the opening letters and prologues are stated in vague terms that are not likely to be interesting or motivating to the students. The questions do not involve phenomena that are relevant to concrete experiences students have had and will want to learn more about.

Indicator 4: Not met
The questions in the opening letters and the prologues at the beginning of the first learning experiences are rhetorical. Students are not asked to stop and think about them or otherwise discuss the purposes presented.

Indicator 5: Met
The lessons are consistent with the stated purpose. For example, learning experiences in The Matter of Life that were examined for the matter and energy transformations topic are consistent with the questions posed at the beginning of the module (as described in indicator 1):

Learning Experience 1 focuses on living vs. nonliving.
Learning Experience 2 focuses on what organisms need to stay alive.
Learning Experiences 3 and 4 focus on life processes related to food and eating.
Learning Experiences 5 and 6 deal in greater depth with how life processes of food and eating work.
Learning Experience 7 explores breathing, another life process, and how it works.

Similarly, the learning experiences in What on Earth? are consistent with the stated questions:

Learning Experience 1 looks at a mini-ecosystem.
Learning Experience 2 examines a soil ecosystem for relationships such as food chains.
Learning Experience 3 examines energy relationships in food chains.
Learning Experience 4 looks at factors influencing population size.
Learning Experiences 5 and 6 are related to the next question about how organisms on Earth came to be (evolution, adaptation, variation, diversity, and new species).
Learning Experience 7 takes on the last unit focusing question about what the future holds for organisms on Earth and their habitats through an exploration of a case study about restoring the Everglades.

Indicator 6: Not met
The material does not return to the stated purpose at the end of the modules. Although passing reference to the diversity theme is made in What on Earth? in Learning Experience 6 (“You have been introduced to the diversity of life on Earth throughout this module....” [p. 63s]), this theme is only vaguely related to the purpose presented in the opening letter and prologue. The Matter of Life relates one learning experience to another in a few places (which is credited for Category I, Conveying Lesson/Activity Purpose, below), but does not return to the unit purpose stated at the beginning of the module.

Conveying lesson/activity purpose

Rating = Satisfactory
The material meets two indicators and somewhat meets a third.

Indicator 1: Met
The material consistently states the purpose of the lesson/activity to students. Each Learning Experience begins with a prologue and an introduction that explains to students what they will be doing in the Learning Experience. And activities and readings within each learning experience are framed with questions. For example, The Matter of Life provides purposes like these:

Activity: What Am I Eating Anyway?
Around the world, different cultures have developed an assortment of diets which reflect their agricultural conditions, customs, and tastes. As different as they may seem at first glance, most of these diets supply the same nutritional requirements needed by humans to sustain life. What are these nutritional requirements and how can such different food sources as beef, rice, beans, insects, and vegetables all supply them?

How can we determine whether foods that seem so different in appearance are actually made up of the same or different components? In this investigation, you will identify some of the components of food which are required to sustain life....

p. 28s

Reading: The Missing Ingredients
Why are we encouraged by parents, teachers, and the U.S. government to eat well-balanced meals? What are these foods providing us? If an organism is to sustain life it must be able to obtain building blocks and energy from the biomolecules making up its food....

p. 32s

Reading: Madam, I’m Atom
What happens to the hamburger and fries that you ate at lunch? What are the steps that occur in your body that enable you to use those delicacies in order to maintain the characteristics of life? In order to make them accessible to you, these foods must be broken down into forms your body can work with.

p. 39s

Similarly, activities in What on Earth? consistently provide a purpose:

Activity: The Flow of Energy
Think about the number of blades of grass it takes to feed a prairie dog, and the number of prairie dogs to feed a coyote. Why is there such a difference? Why are there fewer consumers in each successive trophic or feeding level?

All of life’s processes require energy. After a consumer obtains nutrients from its food source, it processes the nutrients to obtain energy. The energy is then used by the organism for growth, movement, and a variety of other activities.

Does the amount of energy available in a food source depend on its trophic level?....In this activity, you will investigate the flow of energy through organisms in successive trophic levels of a food chain....

p. 23s

Activity: It’s Elemental
What resources do plants and animals need to maintain life? In this investigation, you will use snails and a simple freshwater plant known as Elodea to explore the interrelationships among animals and plants and the resources found in the environment....

p. 26s

Activity: An Infinite Loop
Organic nutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids are made up of elements including carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen. However, these elements are also present in the environment in inorganic forms.

The amounts of carbon, oxygen, and nitrogen in the present atmosphere have remained nearly the same since life came into existence about 3.8 billion years ago. That means that the oxygen you breathe could also have been inhaled by your great-grandparents or by George Washington. And the carbon in the food you ate for dinner might once have been part of a dinosaur! How is this possible?

In this activity, you will be assigned to follow the flow of one of the following cycles: carbon–oxygen, nitrogen, or water. You will read information about that cycle and discuss it with a partner to clarify your understanding. Then you will diagram the cycle.

p. 28s

Indicator 2: Met
The purposes are likely to be comprehensible to students. As shown in the above examples, purposes are framed with descriptions of and questions about everyday events.

Indicator 3: Not met
While questions are provided to frame activities and readings, students are not asked to think about them.

Indicator 4: Not met
The material rarely conveys, or prompts teachers to convey, to students how the activity relates to the unit purpose.

Indicator 5: Somewhat met
The material typically mentions to students (in the Prologue for each Learning Experience) how the learning experience connects with and extends what they have learned so far. For example, prologues in both The Matter of Life and What on Earth? relate what students have done in a prior learning experience to the one they are about to begin:

Learning Experience 3: Everything Under the Sun
What kinds of substances in the environment are essential for life? In Learning Experience 2, you determined that euglena respond to light. What other resources in the environment are required to maintain the characteristics of life in organisms?

In this learning experience, you continue to identify resources that are essential to survival, specifically in the environment of a plant, and then you explore how a plant uses these resources.

The Matter of Life, p. 15s

Learning Experience 5: The Lego of Life
What happens to food in living organisms? You may have heard the phrase “You are what you eat.” But what does what you eat have to do with what you are?....

In Learning Experience 4—Feeding Frenzy, your work with chemical indicators demonstrated that most foods are actually composites of several different components—nutrients—which include sugars and starches (carbohydrates), fats (lipids), and protein. Exactly what are these biomolecules? What are they made of? What do they contain that living organisms need?

In this learning experience, you examine the chemical composition of the biomolecules that make up food and compare their chemical components and structures.

The Matter of Life, p. 39s

Learning Experience 3: Round and Round They Go
What makes Earth able to support life? In the last learning experience, you noted how populations of producers and consumers in an ecosystem are joined in food chains that create an interlinking food web. In this learning experience, you will examine the flow of energy through the trophic (or feeding) levels of a typical food chain. Then you will identify the essential resources needed for the preservation of life and see how these resources are cycled through the larger ecosystem that is planet Earth.

What on Earth?, p. 23s

While these prologues do a nice job of conveying the relationship between one learning experience and another, they do not prompt students to process and think about these connections.

Justifying lesson/activity sequence

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

Indicator 1: Somewhat met
There appears to be a logical sequence for most activities. For example, the Annotated Table of Contents in The Matter of Life teacher guide describes a sequence of learning experiences that begins with the characteristics of life and what organisms need from their environment to maintain life, and moves to plants and how they transform things in their environment to maintain life. It then moves to what nonphotosynthesizing organisms require in their food to supply building blocks and energy, and how they transform these food molecules into building blocks. The module concludes with learning experiences on death and issues about life and death that arise from modern technology’s ability to prolong life (pp. xxv–xxvit).

However, a few of the learning experiences seem to disrupt the “tightness” of this sequence. For example, after logically moving from the characteristics of life to living things having common building blocks, the module shifts to discussing how life evolved and then introduces cells in this evolutionary context, rather than connecting cells back to photosynthesis and respiration—topics emphasized in the earlier experiences. And the introduction of issues about death at the end returns to the initial focus on characteristics of life, but it is not connected to the material in between about photosynthesis and respiration.

Indicator 2: Not met
The teacher guide provides no rationale or justification for this sequence.

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II: Taking Account of Student Ideas

Attending to prerequisite knowledge and skills

Rating = Poor
The material somewhat meets four indicators but meets none of them fully. Furthermore, prerequisites attended to in one indicator are not attended to in others. As a result, the material adequately attends to only one prerequisite.

Indicator 1: Somewhat met
The material alerts teachers to some prerequisites but not to others. The teacher guide sometimes includes a section called Assumptions of Prior Knowledge and Skills that describes “what students should be familiar with before beginning the learning experience” (The Matter of Life and What on Earth?, p. viit). For example, The Matter of Life alerts teachers to the following prerequisites to the key ideas at the beginning of Learning Experience 3: Everything Under the Sun:

Students can identify the different forms of energy.

Students understand that one form of energy can be transformed into another form of energy.

Students are familiar with the terms “element,” “atom,” and “molecule,” and are aware that molecules are made up of elements and atoms.

p. 28t

And Learning Experience 7: A Breath of Fresh Air identifies the following relevant prerequisite: “Students are aware that energy has many forms, heat, chemical, solar, and mechanical, and that energy can be transformed from one form to another” (p. 89t).

The teacher guide to What on Earth? lists all prerequisites in the Module Description. The list includes ideas and skills taught in The Matter of Life, such as

Students are familiar with the characteristics of life, the metabolic processes of organisms, and the resources needed for life.

Students understand that plants make their own food, using the light energy from the sun and carbon dioxide from the air, and water from the soil in the processes of photosynthesis.

Students are aware that food provides organisms with energy as well as nutrients.

p. xxivt

However, the material does not alert teachers to several important prerequisites from Benchmarks for Science Literacy, including the following ideas:

Arrangements of atoms have chemical energy.

Different amounts of energy are associated with different configurations of atoms and molecules....

...Energy in the form of heat is almost always one of the products of an energy transformation.

An especially important kind of reaction between substances involves combination of oxygen with something else—as in burning or rusting.

No matter how substances within a closed system interact with one another, or how they combine or break apart, the total mass of the system remains the same. The idea of atoms explains the conservation of matter: If the number of atoms stays the same no matter how they are rearranged, then their total mass stays the same.

See map “Matter and Energy Transformations:
What the Reviewers Looked For”

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

Indicator 3: Somewhat met
The list of prerequisites presented in the Module Description are all assumed for the module in which they are listed. However, other prerequisites appear to be assumed but are not on the list. For example, the material assumes students are familiar with the idea that an especially important reaction involves combination of oxygen with something else—as in burning or rusting—but this prerequisite is not listed.

Indicator 4: Somewhat met
The material addresses one prerequisite but not others. The Matter of Life does a nice job of addressing the prerequisite idea that food provides the molecules that serve as building materials for all organisms. Students read about photosynthesis and observe that plants make starch in the presence of light (pp. 16–20s). They are then told that this “food” that plants make is the source of fuel and building material for all organisms (p. 23s). Then they test foods from both plant and animal sources and find that the sources are made up of the same components (pp. 28–32s), which lends support to the idea that food made by plants provides building material for all organisms.

However, the material does not address the following grades 9–12 physical science prerequisites from Benchmarks for Science Literacy:

Different amounts of energy are associated with different configurations of atoms and molecules. Some changes of configuration require an input of energy whereas others release energy.

...Energy in the form of heat is almost always one of the products of an energy transformation.

See map "Matter and Energy Transformations:
What the Reviewers Looked For"

Indicator 5: Somewhat met
The material makes connections between some prerequisites and key ideas but not others. The Matter of Life text relates the idea that food provides fuel and building material for all organisms to the ideas that sugar is made from carbon dioxide and water (Idea a₁) and the idea that the sun’s energy is stored in “energy-rich” sugar molecules (Idea a₂):

The chemical energy obtained during the light-dependent part of photosynthesis (called the “light reaction”) is then used in the light-independent process (called the “dark reaction”). During this process, the atoms in carbon dioxide and water are rearranged to form new molecules of sugar, the substance that makes up starch. The sugar molecule contains carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms, all of which were originally found in the carbon dioxide and water....The sugar molecule also contains chemical energy in the bonds between atoms. Thus, the sugar molecule becomes the primary source of both energy and building materials for the plant.

p. 23s

The text also relates the food-making of plants and what food is to the dietary requirements of humans:

Why do we eat? Why do we eat what we eat? Using only air, sunlight, water, and a dash of minerals and vitamins, plants and other photosynthetic organisms can obtain all of the energy and manufacture all of the materials they need to maintain the characteristics of life. Animals, however, are not so independent. They depend on plants to supply them with many of the resources required to sustain life....

The sugars and other carbohydrates that plants synthesize serve as the source of energy and building blocks (that is, food) for the plant. Organisms that do not carry out photosynthesis must obtain all their nutritional needs by eating photosynthesizing organisms (plants) and other organisms in order to obtain the building blocks and energy necessary to maintain the characteristics of life.

p. 27s

The Matter of Life also relates the prerequisite idea that carbon and hydrogen are common elements of living matter (and the related idea that the chief elements that make up the molecules of living things are carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus) to photosynthesis (Idea a₁). After its presentation of atoms, elements, and the periodic table, the text states:

All living organisms must obtain building blocks for making new molecules and energy to carry out the essential processes of life. These building blocks and energy are found in the biomolecules that make up food and that also make up all living things: carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins. These nutrients in turn are made up of only six elements, which are used to build a tremendous diversity of living things by being arranged in different ways. In living organisms atoms of the six elements (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, phosphorus, and nitrogen) are joined in different arrangements and in different quantities to form all of the different biomolecules.

How do different organisms obtain these nutrients? For most organisms, there are only two possible ways: by constructing them during photosynthesis, or by feeding on other organisms. During photosynthesis, plants take in water and carbon dioxide from their environment. Using solar energy, the elements (hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon) in these molecules are “recycled” and used to make a new, energy-containing molecule: sugar. Since plants do not “eat” and, therefore, do not take in biomolecules such as protein and lipid, plants must use this sugar molecule to construct all the carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins they require to sustain life. The sugar, in conjunction with vitamins and minerals which the plant obtains from the soil, provides all the essential nutrients a plant needs.

Organisms that do not carry on photosynthesis are required to take in complex biomolecules from their environment by eating plants (with the nutrients the plants have manufactured) or other animals (that have eaten plants or still other plant-eating animals). Ultimately, all the nutrients animals take in can be traced back to plants. Thus, the phrase “You are what you eat” is a very literal one. In plants and other photosynthetic organisms, food is manufactured by the process of photosynthesis. In animals, complex biomolecules are taken in as food and the elements which make them up are recycled into biomolecules which make up the animal. Six elements—carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, phosphorus, and nitrogen—joined in different arrangements and in different quantities, are the main ingredients of life.

pp. 43–44s

However, no connections are made between key ideas and the following prerequisites, even though one of them was even identified in the material as a prerequisite:

Arrangements of atoms have chemical energy.

Energy can only change from one form into another.

An especially important kind of reaction between substances involves combination of oxygen with something else—as in burning or rusting.

No matter how substances within a closed system interact with one another, or how they combine or break apart, the total mass of the system remains the same. The idea of atoms explains the conservation of matter: If the number of atoms stays the same no matter how they are rearranged, then their total mass stays the same.

Alerting teachers to commonly held student ideas

Rating = Poor
The material meets indicator 1 for only some of the commonly held student ideas and does not explain them.

Indicator 1: Met for only some commonly held ideas
The material alerts teachers to some, but not to most, of the following commonly held student ideas, which are identified in the research literature and may interfere with students learning the key ideas:

1. Students think that food is whatever nutrients organisms must take in if they are to grow and survive rather than those substances from which organisms derive the energy they need to grow and the material of which they are made (American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS], 1993, pp. 120, 342; Driver, Squires, Rushworth, & Wood-Robinson, 1994, p. 27).
2. Students think that food is a requirement for growth rather than a source of matter for growth (AAAS, 1993, p. 343; Driver et al., 1994, p. 60).
3. Students think that plants get their food from the environment (mainly from the soil) rather than manufacture it themselves (AAAS, 1993, p. 342; Driver et al., 1994, p. 30).
4. Students think that plants have multiple sources of food rather than that plants make food from water and carbon dioxide in the air, and that this is their only source of food (AAAS, 1993, p. 342; Driver et al., 1994, pp. 31, 60).
5. Students may think that organisms and materials in the environment are very different types of matter and are not transformable into each other (AAAS, 1993, p. 342).
6. Students may not believe that a plant’s mass may increase mainly due to the incorporation of matter from carbon dioxide (a gas) (Driver et al., 1994, pp. 32, 39).
7. Students may think that plants do not respire, or that they respire only in the dark (Driver et al., 1994, p. 34).
8. Students tend to regard food that is eaten and used as a source of energy as belonging to a food chain, while the food that is incorporated into the body material of eaters is often seen as something different and is not recognized as the material that is the food at the next level (Driver et al., 1994, p. 35).
9. Students may think that dead organisms “rot away”; they do not realize that the matter from the dead organisms is converted into yet other materials (AAAS, 1993, p. 343).
10. Middle school students seem to know that some kind of cyclical process takes place in ecosystems. Some students see only chains of events and pay little attention to the matter involved in processes such as plant growth or animals eating plants. They think of the processes in terms of creating and destroying matter rather than in terms of transforming matter from one substance to another. Other students recognize one form of recycling through soil minerals but fail to incorporate water, oxygen, and carbon dioxide into matter cycles. Students may see no connection between the oxygen/carbon dioxide cycle and other processes involving the production, consumption, and use of food (AAAS, 1993, p. 343; Driver et al., 1994, p. 65).
11. Students may think that matter and energy are converted back and forth in everyday (non-nuclear) phenomena (Schneps & Sadler, 1988).

The Matter of Life teacher guide includes the following statement and list of commonly held student ideas in a Teaching Strategy for Learning Experience 3: Everything Under the Sun:

Even if students seem to know the equation for photosynthesis and have worked with it before, they still may not make the connection that carbon dioxide, water, and energy from the sun are all converted into a substance (sugar—a simple carbohydrate) that ultimately makes up the components of a plant. Some common ideas students have about plants and photosynthesis include the following:

• – Plants get food from the soil.
• – Plants eat food and take it into their bodies.
• – Plants take food in through their roots.
• – Plants need sunlight to grow and be green.
• – Water and carbon dioxide are used by plants but do not change inside the plant.
• – Plants drink water.
• – Plants make oxygen for people.
• – Plants are important for animals, but animals can also eat other animals.

p. 31t

No information is provided about commonly held ideas in other Learning Experiences in The Matter of Life or in any Learning Experience in What on Earth?

Indicator 2: Not met
Even the commonly held ideas that are noted are not adequately explained. No framework is provided to help teachers use this information to diagnose students’ conceptual difficulties.

Assisting teachers in identifying their students’ ideas

Rating = Fair
The material provides some questions that meet indicators 1, 2, and 3, but the questions are aimed at finding out what students know about the key ideas rather than what their misconceptions might be.

Indicator 1: Somewhat met
Several features of this material could be used to identify students’ initial ideas. Both the Introductory Questionnaire and the Discussion Questions include questions relevant to the key ideas. But none of the questions are well focused on helping teachers find out whether or not their own students have any of the commonly held ideas in the research literature.

The teacher guide for each module includes an Introductory/Final Questionnaire, which is “designed to help determine which, if any, of the module’s basic concepts and skills students already understand; which concepts and skills they understand partially; and which ones they do not know at all” (The Matter of Life and What on Earth?, p. ivt). However, none of the questions appear to be designed to elicit commonly held student ideas and only the following questions are relevant to the key ideas:

Resources are those materials which an organism requires to sustain life. They provide the necessary building blocks and energy needed by all living things.

1. Create a concept map that shows the resources necessary for sustaining life and how these resources are used by living things.
2. Describe in a short paragraph how resources and energy are reused among organisms within their environment.

The Matter of Life, p. xxxviiit, number 4

Earth may be considered one large ecosystem.

1. Explain what is meant by an “ecosystem.”
2. Choose an ecosystem. Describe the living and nonliving factors within this ecosystem and explain, using appropriate terms and concepts, how they interrelate and interact.

What on Earth?, p. xxxvit, number 4

Other questions, such as “Explain what is meant by ‘biodiversity’” or “Why is the maintenance of biodiversity important?” (What on Earth?, p. xxxvit, number 3) are not relevant to the key ideas on matter and energy transformations.

The teacher guides also include Discussion Questions at the beginning of some learning experiences that can be used to find out what their students know about the key ideas. For example, the following questions provided in The Matter of Life are relevant to the key ideas:

What kinds of resources do you think plants require to maintain the characteristics of life?
Where do you think plants get resources?
How do you think plants use each of the resources mentioned?
How do plants take in these resources from their environment? (p. 30t)
What does the word “nutrient” mean? Name some nutrients.
Do you think a diet without meat can provide the same essential nutrients as a diet containing meat? Explain your answer.

p. 44t

What would be the effects on animal life if all the plants disappeared?
If plants were missing, would any basic resources that you identified in Learning Experience 2 also be missing? Could animals acquire these resources somewhere else?
Envision a world without animals. Do you think the ability to sustain plant life would be affected? Why or why not?

p. 44t

However, these questions are not well directed to help teachers uncover their own students’ commonly held ideas.

Indicator 2: Somewhat met
The questions above are likely to be comprehensible to students who have not studied the topic and are not familiar with the scientific vocabulary. However, even if they are able to read the questions and respond appropriately, students still may not reveal their commonly held ideas because the questions do not probe sufficiently.

Indicator 3: Somewhat met
At several points, the teacher guide notes that questions provided are to help teachers determine what students already know. However, the emphasis is on finding out if students know the correct answer rather than on eliciting students’ ideas (and possible misconceptions). For example, the teacher guides to both The Matter of Life and What on Earth? indicate that the Introductory Questionnaire “is designed to help determine which, if any, of the module’s basic concepts and skills students already understand; which concepts and skills they understand partially; and which ones they do not know at all” (p. ivt). (Additionally, as noted above, only two of the questions are relevant to the key ideas and none are likely to elicit common misconceptions.) Similarly, the notes to teachers that accompany the Discussion Questions emphasize finding out whether students already know the correct answer:

In Learning Experience 3, students explored how plants obtain the nutrients and energy necessary for sustaining life. In this learning experience, students begin to think about the nutrients organisms require to survive. The intent of the following discussion is to see what the students already know about nutrients and food groups. Most students are conscious of diets, and many will have read food labels.

The Matter of Life, p. 44t

Indicator 4: Not met
The questions provided do not ask students to make predictions about or explain phenomena.

Indicator 5: Not met
The material offers no suggestions for how teachers can probe beneath students’ initial responses to questions. For example, the teacher guide does not tell the teacher to listen for his/her students’ responses or to avoid correcting their ideas at this time. Without these warnings, it is unlikely that the questions provided will be used to elicit student ideas. And no suggestions are given that might help teachers interpret student responses in light of the published misconceptions.

Addressing commonly held ideas

Rating = Poor
The material meets no indicators.

Indicators 1 and 2: Not met
The material does not explicitly address any of the commonly held student ideas or include any questions, tasks, or activities that are likely to help students progress from their initial ideas. While The Matter of Life includes a reading about van Helmont’s experiment (in which the increase in the weight of a willow tree could not be accounted for by the weight loss of the soil), the module does not use this reading to address the commonly held student idea that plants get their food from the soil (pp. 21–22s). Teachers are not alerted to this opportunity to help students progress from their initial ideas to the idea that plants make sugars from carbon dioxide and water, and that this sugar is their only source of food. The Analysis questions provided at the end of the reading focus on aspects of experimental design and the legitimacy of van Helmont’s conclusion (that the increase in weight came from water).

Indicator 3: Not met
The material does not include suggestions to teachers about how to take into account their own students’ 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 few phenomena to support the key ideas, providing phenomena for some ideas but not others.

For the idea that “Plants make sugar molecules from carbon dioxide (in the air) and water” (Idea a₁), The Matter of Life provides one phenomenon that is explicitly linked to the use of carbon dioxide to make sugar and another that is somewhat linked to the use of water. In the learning experience on photosynthesis, students compare the amount of starch found in leaves of plants grown with and without carbon dioxide (pp. 16–20s). The analysis questions help students make the connection between their observations and the idea that carbon dioxide is needed to make starch. Students then read about the classic van Helmont experiment and answer five analysis questions (pp. 20–22s). The teacher is given one sentence of guidance in using this reading: “Conclude the discussion by having students discuss their responses to the Analysis questions following ‘How Does Your Garden Grow?’ and asking volunteers to describe how they would redesign van Helmont's experiment based on their understanding of photosynthesis” (p. 34t). Even so, the students will probably realize that water contributes to the mass of the plant.

The idea that “Plants transfer the energy from light into ‘energy-rich’ sugar molecules” (Idea a₂) is also supported in The Matter of Life, where students compare the amount of starch found in leaves of plants grown with and without light (pp. 16–20s). The discussion questions focus on the importance of light for the synthesis of starch and the connection to starch being “energy-rich” is made in the subsequent reading (p. 24s).

For the ideas that “At each link in a food web, some energy is stored in newly made structures but much is dissipated into the environment as heat” and that “Continual input of energy from sunlight keeps the process going” (Idea d₂), What on Earth? includes an activity in which students read about an ecosystem, represent the energy transfer in a way that makes obvious the amount of energy being transferred, and calculate the loss of available energy to each successive trophic level in an ecosystem (pp. 23–24s).

A phenomenon is included in What on Earth? that could be used to support the idea that the chemical elements that make up the molecules of living things pass repeatedly through food webs and the environment, and are combined and recombined in different ways (Idea d₁), but it is not used to do so. Students investigate what happens when snails and Elodea are grown separately and together (pp. 26–27s). Students should observe that (a) Elodea maintains the color indicator in its blue form, (b) snails turn the indicator yellow (indicating carbon dioxide has been produced), and (c) snails and Elodea together result in an intermediate, green color. However, the analysis questions do not focus on the combining and recombining of elements or how the activity illustrates the cycling of carbon.

No phenomena are provided that could support the idea that “Plants break down the sugar molecules they have synthesized into carbon dioxide and water, use them as building materials, or store them for later use” (Idea b₁), or the idea that plants and other organisms get energy by breaking down the sugars, releasing some of the energy as heat (Idea c₂).

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.

While most of the relevant phenomena are observed firsthand, or will otherwise provide students with a vivid sense of the phenomena, there are too few of them.

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IV: Developing and Using Scientific Ideas

Introducing terms meaningfully

Rating = Satisfactory
The material somewhat meets indicator 1 and mostly meets indicator 2.

Indicator 1: Somewhat met
This material sometimes introduces new terms in the context of some relevant experience. For example, when the term “ecosystem” is introduced in What on Earth? (p. 4s), students have already had two experiences with ecosystems: Students observed their own schoolyard square-meter plots and then were asked to think about life in a pond (pp. 2–4s). Similarly, the introduction of the term “food chain” is preceded by an example and followed by another example (What on Earth?, p. 17s). And the term “photosynthesis” is introduced in the context of introducing an activity in which students test leaves for starch: After describing the resources plants need to carry out photosynthesis, the text defines photosynthesis as “the process in which plants use the resources of sunlight, carbon dioxide (CO₂), and water (H₂O) to fulfill their needs for energy and food. The components of the word—‘photo’ meaning light and ‘synthesis’ meaning putting together—refer to its functions” (The Matter of Life, p. 16s).

However, other terms are either not introduced in the context of relevant experiences or not linked to them. For example, The Matter of Life introduces terms about organic molecules (“glucose,” “galactose,” “lactose”), “catabolism,” “anabolism,” “oxidized,” “metabolism,” and “ intermediate pathways”; and an accompanying diagram adds additional terms such as “polysaccharide” and “pyruvate” in the context of a recycling analogy to Julie Lewis’s recycled shoe company. The analogy is helpful in getting at the idea of the breakdown, rearrangement, and rebuilding of molecules; but most of the terms used in this section are not linked to the analogy (pp. 50–55s).

Indicator 2: Mostly met
In comparison with other high school biology texts, this material introduces many fewer technical terms. In general, the material selects only those terms that are essential for conveying the key idea (“producer,” “consumer,” “photosynthesis,” etc.). However, the material also includes technical terms such as “xylem,” “phloem,” “disaccharides,” “polysaccharides,” “autotrophs,” and “heterotrophs” that are not needed to develop the key ideas.

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.

The material provides few representations that are likely to be helpful in clarifying the key ideas. Most of the representations that are included are either incorrect or misleading. For example, the metabolic pathways in The Matter of Life show more ATP being produced than used, suggesting that matter has been created from nothing (pp. 54s, 64–66s). It would have been clearer to indicate, for example, that energy previously stored in bonds of the starch molecule was transferred to a more mobile energy carrier. The same figure also misrepresents the fate of a starch molecule (with four glucose molecules strung together), since only one sugar molecule is shown being broken down to a 3-carbon intermediate (pyruvate). If an accounting of carbon atoms is important to the story, it should be adequately represented. If not, why refer to something as a 3-carbon intermediate? And the representation of the light dependent and light independent reactions of photosynthesis does not make clear that the sugar and starch produced contains a portion of that energy (p. 23s).

Similarly, the figure in What on Earth? depicting the overlapping of matter cycles (p. 32s) is another potential source of confusion. It shows oxygen being produced by trees but not being used by them. And the conversion of urea to ammonia, ammonia to nitrite, and nitrite to nitrates does not take place spontaneously but rather is due to chemical reactions that occur in particular kinds of organisms.

Demonstrating use of knowledge

Rating = Poor
The material meets no indicators.

Indicator 1: Not met
The material does not demonstrate how to use the key ideas to explain phenomena or suggest how teachers could do so. The material does not carry out (or instruct teachers to carry out) the expected performance. While the teacher guide sometimes includes answers to discussion questions, it does not instruct the teacher to model the use of knowledge.

Indicator 2: Not met
No demonstrations are provided.

Indicator 3: Not met
No demonstrations are provided.

Indicator 4: Not met
No demonstrations are provided.

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.

The material provides very few questions that give students a chance to use the key ideas and only occasionally are novel questions provided. The primary source of practice questions was the Applying section found in some of the Learning Experiences in the teacher guides. Occasionally, Processing for Meaning questions in the teacher guides or Analysis questions in the student modules were considered under practice if the ideas had been taught in prior lessons and the suggested answers made explicit that one or more of the key ideas were to be used. While many questions are provided in these features, only a few questions involve students in using the key ideas. Some questions are not on target, such as the following in an Applying section in The Matter of Life:

After reading “The Missing Ingredient,” students discuss their ideas and understandings about eating disorders and the dangers of diets that may not provide the necessary nutrients.

Students share menus created and examine the reasons why it might be difficult for a young person to achieve a diet that consistently fulfills all of his or her dietary requirements.

p. 43t

Only the following questions/tasks provide sample responses that indicate what ideas are to be used:

Have students create a concept map of “life” which includes the relationship among the concepts of metabolism, photosynthesis and respiration.

The Matter of Life, p. 96t

For millions of years plants and animals have been living on the earth and using resources. Explain why the earth has not exhausted its supply of nutrients, minerals, carbon dioxide, water, and oxygen.

The Matter of Life, p. 114s

Choose one major biotic or abiotic factor in each of your cycles and describe the consequences if this factor were not present. Explain. [sic] your response.

What on Earth?, p. 31s, question 3

Kamo no Chomei, a Japanese author, wrote, “The flow of the river is ceaseless and its water is never the same.” Using your knowledge of the water cycle, explain this quotation.

p. 31s, question 4

All of the elements in these cycles are finite (of limited amounts). How is this fact important in your thinking about the cycles?

p. 31s, question 5

However, even though these questions are novel, they give students a chance to apply only a few of the key ideas.

The following questions, which could involve students in using the key ideas, have no suggested responses in the teacher guide:

Do you think that the photosynthetic organisms carry out this [respiration] process? Why or why not? Where would the glucose come from?

The Matter of Life, p. 67s, question 2

In 1772, Joseph Priestley observed that “good air” supported the burning of a candle flame. He also observed that “good air” supported the breathing of an animal. If a mouse was placed under a jar it would live for a while and then die. If a plant was placed under the jar with a mouse, the animal lived longer than it would have without the plant. Explain the science in each of these results.

p. 67s, question 3

Describe how the process of respiration might cause the changes in the air that you observed in “What Goes In...” and “...Must Come Out.”

p. 67s, question 5

Consequently, students could focus on ideas peripheral to the key ideas (e.g., students could answer questions 3 and 5 by talking only of gas exchange between organisms).

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

Encouraging students to explain their ideas

Rating = Fair
The material meets two indicators and somewhat meets a third.

Indicator 1: Met
This material includes several features for students to express their ideas. The student modules include Analysis questions at the end of readings and investigations, and the teacher guides to the modules include Discussion Questions in the Processing for Meaning section. Typically, these Discussion Questions do not include recommended responses, indicating that students’ own ideas are being sought (in contrast to the Discussion Questions in the Applying section, which often specify what a correct response should include). Some of the questions in The Matter of Life relate to the key ideas, as shown below. After students observe that plants grown with light and carbon dioxide produce starch, whereas plants grown without either light or carbon dioxide do not, they respond to the following questions:

What do you think would eventually happen to the plants grown in the dark? to those growing without carbon dioxide? State your reasons.

p. 19s, question 4, and similar question on p. 33t

Based on the experimental design, describe how you know starch is a product of photosynthesis. What would happen to those plants that were unable to synthesize starch?

pp. 19s, question 5, and 33t

On the basis of this activity, list the resources that a plant requires, and speculate as to what each resource provides for the plant and how the plant uses each resource.

p. 20s, question 6, and similar question on p. 33t

After students read about van Helmont’s experiment, they respond to the following question: “Based on your understanding of photosynthesis, redesign van Helmont’s experiment and predict the results” (p. 22s, question 5).

After students study the features of particular biomolecules, a class discussion includes the following question: “Where do animals obtain carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids?” (p. 59t).

Indicator 2: Somewhat met
In a few questions students are asked to clarify or represent their ideas. For example, after reading about photosynthesis, students are asked to represent their ideas with a concept map:

Create a concept map from the above reading that shows how photosynthesis occurs and how its products enable a plant to survive and maintain the characteristics of life. Include the following terms: photosynthesis, plants, sunlight, energy, chlorophyll, carbon dioxide, water, sugar, starch, leaf, stem, oxygen, root, biomolecules....

Add to your map how the plant and other organisms might use the products of photosynthesis.

The Matter of Life, pp. 24–25s

After reading about catabolism and anabolism, students are asked to

Create a metabolic pathway flow chart that begins with corn and includes concepts from the reading. Use the illustrations to guide you in your diagram and as an aid in annotating what is happening in each step.

p. 55s

But this is not routinely done across the set of key ideas.

Indicator 3: Met
Many of the questions require written responses, so that each student will consistently have opportunities to express his or her ideas.

Indicator 4: Not met
The teacher guides do not include specific suggestions to help the teacher provide explicit feedback to students. Nor does the student text provide feedback to students.

Indicator 5: Not met
The material does not include suggestions on how to diagnose student errors, explanations about how these errors might be corrected, or recommendations for how students’ more limited ideas might be further developed.

Guiding student interpretation and reasoning

Rating = Fair
The material meets indicator 1 but only somewhat meets indicators 2 and 3.

Indicator 1: Met
The material includes specific questions at the end of readings and investigations that are relevant to the key ideas. For example, after testing milk and corn for various food components, students are asked the following questions:

1. What biomolecules are present in milk and corn? What biomolecules make up a cow? How do you know this?

2. What chemical elements (atoms) make up these biomolecules?

3. What chemical elements are needed to make a protein? Might it be possible to make proteins if you don’t take in proteins? How might this be possible?

4. How can two different substances—corn and milk—be composed of many or possibly all (depending on your results) of the same biomolecules?

5. Based on the results of your experiment, create a diagram, in words or drawings, illustrating the pathways by which a cow uses corn to make milk.

The Matter of Life, p. 50s

After reading about respiration, students are asked to explain how the equation for respiration occurs metabolically, including in their answer “where the glucose came from,” “the fate of the glucose molecule as it is catabolized,” and “where the energy for the catabolism is obtained” (p. 67s). The teacher guide for The Matter of Energy includes the following questions for discussion:

How do plants capture the sun’s energy?

How do nonphotosynthesizing organisms release the chemical energy in food?

How do organisms transfer the energy into a form that they can use in order to grow and to respond to the environment?

What happens when the food is broken down?

How do these changes in food turn into a form that can be used by the organism?

What are the gases in the air used for in photosynthesis? in respiration?

pp. 95–96t

Indicator 2: Somewhat met
As illustrated above, questions provided after the investigations help students relate their experiences with phenomena to their own ideas and to the scientific ideas. Questions after the readings help students relate the readings to the scientific ideas. However, the questions typically do not frame important issues or anticipate common student misconceptions. An example of this deficit is the lack of questions before or after the van Helmont reading that help students appreciate that plants do not take in their food from the soil. Students are never asked to consider what food is (or what it is not), or whether the small amount of weight lost from the soil is food for the plant (in that the plant can use it for energy and building material).

Indicator 3: Only rarely met
The questions following the corn to milk activity are scaffolded to move students from their observations to the key ideas, but this is one of the rare times when scaffolded questions are provided. More often, questions are single questions, or relevant questions are interspersed with questions about experimental design.

Encouraging students to think about what they have learned

Rating = Poor
The material somewhat meets the first indicator.

Indicator 1: Somewhat met
These materials could have asked students to revise their initial ideas, but they missed the opportunities to do so. For example, each unit includes an Introductory/Final Questionnaire which, if used appropriately, could help students think about what they have learned. However, even though the questionnaires exist, there never is any prompt to the teacher about when or how to use them. The teacher guide explains that the same questionnaire is to be used at the end of the module as at the beginning, but the purpose appears to be for the teacher to assess progress rather than for the students to monitor their ideas: “The repetition of the same questions allows you to evaluate the degree of change that has occurred during the module” (The Matter of Life and What on Earth?, p. vit). As was mentioned earlier, the questions that students are asked are not ones that can easily be used to help students see progress in their understanding. They are neither thought-provoking nor motivating and they rarely relate to the key ideas.

Another missed opportunity occurs in The Matter of Life in Learning Experience 3: Everything Under the Sun. Students are asked to “construct a concept map which illustrates the resources plants require and how the resources might be obtained and used” (p. 15s). At the end of the lesson, students are asked to compare the original map with one they made while doing a reading (p. 39t). At the end of the module, students could have been asked to return to their original concept map and make corrections, changes, or additions using another color ink/pencil, but they are not asked to do so.

Indicators 2 and 3: Not met
The material does not engage students in monitoring how their ideas have changed.

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VI: Assessing Progress

To assess students’ understanding of concepts, each of the teacher guides of Insights in Biology includes an Introductory/Final questionnaire that typically consists of four questions. When used at the end of instruction, the questionnaire serves “to evaluate the degree of change that has occurred during the module” (The Matter of Life and What on Earth?, p. vit).

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.

None of the questions relate to key ideas on energy transformation and only one of the eight questions in the two modules is related to the key ideas on transformation of matter:

Resources are those materials which an organism requires to sustain life. They provide the necessary building blocks and energy needed by all living things.

1. Create a concept map that shows the resources necessary for sustaining life and how these resources are used by living things.
   
   - An example of one possible concept map is shown at the top of page xlii.

2. Describe in a short paragraph how resources and energy are reused among organisms within their environment.
   
   - Resources are recycled and reused during metabolic processes in which organisms break down components of food, reuse these molecules to form new biomolecules and to obtain energy. During these metabolic processes, waste products are generated which are released into the environment and are available to be reused as resources by other organisms. For example, an animal will eat a plant; it will then use the carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids in the plant to obtain building blocks and the energy it requires for the synthesis of the biomolecules it needs to sustain life. During the course of this metabolic process, carbon dioxide is released as a byproduct or waste product and returned to the environment. Plants use this carbon dioxide in photosynthesis to make sugar. During photosynthesis, oxygen is released as a byproduct into the air. This oxygen is then taken in by animals and other organisms to be used in respiration.

The Matter of Life, pp. xli–xliit, question 4

Testing for understanding

Rating = Poor
Since no 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.

No assessment items are provided that require the application of the key ideas, for example, to explain relevant phenomena.

Using assessment to inform instruction

Rating = Poor
Since the material provides few tasks for this criterion, this report is organized to reflect the overall rating rather than each indicator judgment.

The developers of Insights in Biology emphasize in the introduction to the teacher guides that assessment strategies in their material are designed “to assist in informing instruction by providing insight into student progress through each learning experience” and that “[t]he primary purpose of assessment in education should be instructional decision-making” (The Matter of Life and What on Earth?, p. ivt). They then identify a variety of tools in the material that can be used to evaluate student progress to inform instruction (Teacher Guide, pp. iv–vi; Implementation Guide, pp. 51–52). These include informal ways—such as using the student notebook as an ongoing record of student progress, or evaluating student presentations andresponses to the questions in the module—as well as formal Embedded Assessment with scoring rubrics (found in the teacher guide for some of the learning experiences). In addition, Assessment components (found in the margin of each of the learning experiences) focus the teacher on what to pay attention to in student responses.

Only a small number of the suggested items probe students’ understanding of key ideas:

Have students construct a concept map on the [photosynthesis] reading.

The Matter of Life, p. 34t

Can students follow the flow of elements from the initial intake into the system, through its breakdown, and then to biosynthesis?

p. 75t

Do students understand that the carbon in the exhaled CO₂ comes from the glucose molecule?

p. 94t

Most of the questions do not. For example, Assessment items in margins ask,

Are students able to identify the resources that plants require?
Are students properly relating the results to the resources present?
Can students deduce that plants make their own food using these resources?

The Matter of Life, p. 33t

Do lab reports demonstrate that students were able to identify correctly the components of the foods they tested?

p. 47t

Can students explain the necessity for a particular nutrient in their diet?
Do students realize the importance of a well-balanced diet?

p. 50t

Are students able to determine correctly the nutrient composition of corn and milk by using the chemical indicators?

p. 73t

How complete are students’ explanations about the data on inhaled and exhaled air?

p. 92t

Furthermore, the material does not include suggestions for teachers about how to interpret students’ responses, nor does it include specific suggestions about how to use students’ responses to make decisions about instruction.

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VII: Enhancing the Science Learning Environment

Providing teacher content support

Rating = Some 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. Science Background notes provide sophisticated versions of ideas for selected student text and activity sections. The advanced explanations often do not explicitly alert teachers to how ideas have been simplified for students (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 38t) or briefly elaborate on one or a few student text concepts (e.g., What on Earth?, pp. 41–42t). Overall, the Science Background notes may be used as a selective but not a comprehensive content resource by the teacher.

The material provides some sufficiently detailed answers to Discussion Questions in the Teacher Guide and tasks in the student book for teachers to understand and interpret various student responses (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 39t, Discussion Questions; What on Earth?, pp. 42–43t, Homework). However, the material is limited in often omitting responses to student tasks (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 33t, Discussion Questions; What on Earth?, p. 45t, Discussion Questions).

The material provides minimal support in recommending resources for improving the teacher's understanding of key ideas. A reference list with some annotations subdivided by learning experience is provided at the end of the Teacher Guides (e.g., The Matter of Life, pp. 213–219t, Appendix C, Resource List). In addition, some learning experiences include a Technology Tools feature, which specifies particular software, videos, or CD-ROMs to supplement the concepts studied (e.g., What on Earth?, p. 39t, Technology Tools). The limited descriptions for some of the references identify topics addressed, but few of the references are explicitly linked to specific text sections or key ideas.

Encouraging curiosity and questioning

Rating = Some support is provided.

The material provides a few suggestions for how to encourage students' questions but not guide their search for answers. The module introductory letter to students states that the developers "hope that this curriculum encourages you to ask questions." (The Matter of Life, Student Manual, Introductory Letter). Occasionally, the material asks students what questions they have related to the activities in the learning experience (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 50t, Discussion Questions).

The material provides some suggestions for how to respect and value students' ideas. Introductory teacher notes state that discussions should be facilitated "ensuring that students listen and consider the viewpoints of others, and that no comments or opinions are cut off, ignored, or unfairly dismissed" (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. xvi, Facilitating and Creating a Safe Environment). Within the learning experiences, teacher notes state that multiple student answers should be acceptable for some tasks (e.g., The Matter of Life, pp. 30–31t, Setting the Context; p. 38t, Processing for Meaning). In addition, students are sometimes asked to redesign experiments (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 22s, Analysis item 5; p. 58s, Task, item 5).

The material provides some 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?" The material includes some tasks that ask students to provide evidence or reasons in their responses (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 19s, Analysis, items 4–5; p. 50s, Analysis, item 1; p. 149t, Discussion Questions, item 3).

The material provides some suggestions for how to avoid dogmatism. Throughout the material, the writing avoids dogmatism by being explicitly directed to students (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 57s, Prologue) and including accessible excerpts from trade books (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 27s, Prologue). In addition, the material discusses historical contributions of scientists (e.g., The Matter of Life, pp. 20–22s, Reading; pp. 39–42s, Reading) and presents descriptions of related science careers that may be of interest to students (e.g., The Matter of Life, pp. 37s and 77–78s, On the Job).

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, some sense of desirable interactions may be gained from general guidelines (e.g., The Matter of Life, pp. ix–xt and xv–xixt, Teaching Strategies) and particular directions for cooperative group activities (e.g., The Matter of Life, pp. 103–104t, Experimenting and Investigating; What on Earth?, p. 45t, Processing for Meaning).

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, the material's use of multiple writing genres, including traditional expository text (e.g., The Matter of Life, pp. 22–24s, Reading), narrative (e.g., What on Earth?, pp. 33–34s, On the Job) and excerpts of nonfiction trade books (e.g., What on Earth?, pp. 73–78s, Bringing Back the Everglades) may support the language use of particular student groups.

The material provides a few 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 a separate career feature entitled On the Job. For example, one career feature describes the education and forecasting responsibilities of a woman meteorologist named Melinda (What on Earth?, pp. 33–34s, On the Job). While these sections highlighting science careers are interesting and informative, they may not be seen by students as central to the material because they are presented in separate features.

The material suggests multiple formats for students to express their ideas during instruction and assessment, including pair work (What on Earth?, p. 40t, Setting the Context), cooperative group activities (e.g., The Matter of Life, pp. 109–110s, Activity), laboratory investigations (e.g., What on Earth?, pp. 26–27s, Activity), whole class discussions (e.g., The Matter of Life, pp. 73–75t, Discussion Questions), essay questions (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 94t, Homework; pp. xli–xliit, item 4), oral reports (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 58t, Processing for Meaning), research projects (e.g., What on Earth?, pp. 11–15t, Long-term Project), concept mapping (e.g., What on Earth?, p. 42t, Homework), diagrams (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 50s, item 5), and making models (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 38t, Teaching Strategy). For a few activities, the material provides alternatives for the same task (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 27s, Prologue).

The material does not routinely include specific suggestions about how teachers can modify activities for students with special needs. However, the student text and Teacher Guide provide some additional activities for students. At the end of the learning experiences, there are sometimes For Further Study (e.g., The Matter of Life, pp. 77–85t) and Extending Ideas (e.g., The Matter of Life, pp. 36–37s) features in which students may further study a related interest.

The material provides some strategies to validate students' relevant personal and social experiences with scientific ideas. Some text sections relate specific personal experiences students may have had to the presented scientific concepts (e.g., The Matter of Life, pp. 32–35s). In addition, some tasks (e.g., The Matter of Life, p. 32s, Analysis, item 8; p. 45t, Discussion Questions) ask students about particular personal experiences they 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, the tasks are well integrated with students' personal and social experiences with scientific ideas.

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