High School Biology Textbooks: A Benchmarks-Based Evaluation

Modern Biology. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1999

Cell Structure and Function: Instructional Analysis

I: Providing a Sense of Purpose
Conveying unit purpose Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. A problem, question, representation (or otherwise identified purpose) is presented to students.
  2. The problem, question, representation (or otherwise identified purpose) is likely to be comprehensible to students.
  3. The problem, question, representation (or otherwise identified purpose) is likely to be interesting and/or motivating to students.
  4. Students are given an opportunity to think about and discuss the problem, question, representation (or otherwise identified purpose).
  5. Most lessons are consistent with the stated purpose and those that are not are explicitly labeled as digressions.
  6. The material returns to the stated purpose at the end of the unit.

Rating = Poor
The material meets no indicators.

Indicator 1: Not met
The unit and chapter openings do not provide a problem, question, or representation (or otherwise identified purpose) for the students. Unit and chapter openers only topically indicate what will be presented. Unit openers begin with a two-page collage of five or so photos, a list of the chapters, and a quotation. Chapters begin with a photo, a list of sections within the chapter, and a Focus Concept section. Unit and chapter titles indicate what will be covered in that portion of the material: for example, Unit 2: Cells; Chapter 4: Structure and Function of the Cell; and Chapter 5: Homeostasis and Transport. Lists of section titles and objectives also describe content. For example, section titles listed for Chapter 4: Structure and Function of the Cell include 4-1 Introduction to the Cell, 4-2 Parts of the Eukaryotic Cell, and 4-3 Multicellular Organization (p. 68s). In some cases, the Focus Concept provides a suggestion for how the chapter should be read. For example, the Focus Concept for Chapter 4: Structure and Function of the Cell says, “As you read, look for examples of how cell structures vary with their functions” (p. 68s). However, such advice serves more to inform students of what content they may expect to find in the chapter rather than why it is important for them to know this content.

Indicator 2: Not met
Since no unit or chapter purposes are provided for the students, no purposes can be considered for comprehensibility.

Indicator 3: Not met
Again, since no unit or chapter purposes are provided for the students, no purposes can be considered for interest and motivation.

Indicator 4: Not met
Since no unit or chapter purposes are provided for the students, students cannot be asked to think about such purposes.

Indicator 5: Not met
Since no unit or chapter purposes are provided for the students, lessons cannot be consistent with them.

Indicator 6: Not met
Since no unit or chapter purposes are provided for the students, the material cannot return to them.

Conveying lesson/activity purpose Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The material conveys or prompts teachers to convey the purpose of the activity to students.
  2. The purpose is expressed in a way that is likely to be comprehensible to students.
  3. The material encourages each student to think about the purpose of the activity.
  4. The material conveys or prompts teachers to convey to students how the activity relates to the unit purpose.
  5. The material engages students in thinking about what they have learned so far and what they need to learn/do next at appropriate points.

Rating = Poor
The material mostly meets indicator 1 but does not meet the other four indicators.

Indicator 1: Mostly met
The material consistently presents a purpose for the chapter sections in lists of objectives that appear at the beginning of each section. For example, the objectives for Section 4-2: Parts of the Eukaryotic Cell include “Describe the structure, composition, and function of the cell membrane” and “Name the major organelles found in a eukaryotic cell, and describe their functions” (p. 73s).

Lists of objectives also convey the purposes of the investigations that appear at the end of each chapter. For example, the investigation at the end of chapter 4 on Comparing Animal and Plant Cells has the objective: “Examine the similarities and differences between the structure of cells in animals and the structure of cells in plants” (p. 92s).

However, purposes for teacher demonstrations are suggested only occasionally. In Chapter 4: Structure and Function of the Cell, for example, no purpose is given for the following activities: Engage Students (pp. 69t, 73t); Reteaching Activity (p. 74t); and Teaching Strategy (p. 80t). In one Demonstration, a purpose is suggested: “To represent the movement of substances through a membrane, pour a few drops of vanilla extract into a balloon” (p. 73t). However, the teacher is not told to convey the purpose of this activity to students.

Indicator 2: Not met
The lesson and activity purposes presented are unlikely to be comprehensible to students because they often include terms with which the students are not yet familiar. For example, the objectives for Section 4-2: Parts of the Eukaryotic Cell include the terms “eukaryotic cell,” “cell membrane,” “nucleus,” and “organelles” (p. 73s).

Indicator 3: Not met
The material does not encourage students to think about the purpose of the lesson or activity.

Indicator 4: Not met
The material does not convey or prompt teachers to convey to students how the lesson or activity relates to the unit purpose.

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

Justifying lesson/activity sequence Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The material includes a logical or strategic sequence of activities.
  2. The material conveys the rationale for this sequence.

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

Indicator 1: Somewhat met
The topics covering the key ideas about cell structure and function appear to be logically sequenced, but the presentation of ideas within each topic does not. The topic sequence for Chapter 4: Structure and Function of the Cell includes cell theory; general information about the size, shape, and internal organization of cells; more specific information about the parts of the eukaryotic cell; and lastly, multicellular 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 smooth outer membrane serves as a boundary between the mitochondrion and the cytosol. The inner membrane has many long folds, known as cristae” [pp. 76–77s]), without relating the structural details to the functions they serve.

Indicator 2: Not met
The material does not provide a rationale for its sequence of topics, chapters, or lessons.

The pages on Planning Your Curriculum (pp. 46T–47T) and the Planning Guide pages that precede each chapter (see, for example, pp. 67C–67D) list the content to be presented and the order in which it is presented. However, no rationale for the sequence of topics is offered.

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II: Taking Account of Student Ideas
Attending to prerequisite knowledge and skills Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The material alerts the teacher to specific prerequisite ideas or skills (versus stating only prerequisite topics or terms).
  2. The material alerts teachers to the specific ideas for which the prerequisites are needed.
  3. The material alerts students to prerequisite ideas or experiences that are being assumed.
  4. The material adequately addresses (provides instructional support for) prerequisites in the same unit or in earlier units (in the same or other grades). (The material should not be held accountable for addressing prerequisites from an earlier grade range. However, if a material does address such prerequisites they should count as evidence for this indicator.)
  5. The material makes adequate connections (provides instructional support for connections) between ideas treated in a particular unit and their prerequisites (even if the prerequisites are addressed elsewhere).

Rating = Poor
The material minimally meets indicator 4 but does not meet the other four indicators.

Indicator 1: Not met
The material does not alert the teacher to specific prerequisite ideas or skills needed for understanding key ideas about cell structure and function.

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

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

Indicator 4: Minimally met
The material minimally treats two of the five prerequisite ideas for cell structure and function. In the context of presenting chemical concepts and definitions, the text presents the prerequisite idea that “Atoms may stick together in well-defined molecules or may be packed together in large arrays” [4D(6-8)/1]: “Under natural conditions, most elements do not exist by themselves; most elements readily combine with other elements” (p. 33s). Although a sidebar note in the student text notes that the word "compound" is “from the Latin componere, meaning ‘to put together,’” the text does not further explain this prerequisite idea. Rather, it continues to present information about types of bonds and chemical reactions.

Although the prerequisite idea that “The rate of reactions among atoms and molecules depends on how often they encounter one another, which is affected by the concentration, pressure, and temperature of the reacting materials” [4D(9-12)/9] is not mentioned in the student text, a teacher demonstration and a student laboratory investigation address it. An Engage Students feature suggests that teachers show students how temperature affects the intensity of a cyalume light stick (p. 35t). The teacher is to place the light stick in ice water and then in boiling water to note the difference in intensity of light and point out “that temperature is critical to the speed at which a reaction occurs—low temperatures slow reactions, while high temperatures speed up reactions” (p. 35t). Furthermore, a laboratory investigation has students determine the optimal conditions for enzyme activity, including pH, temperature, and concentration (pp. 46–47s).

Indicator 5: Not met
The material does not connect prerequisite ideas to key ideas. Specifically, even though students investigate factors that affect enzyme activity (pp. 46–47s), this is not related to the key idea that “Most cells function best within a narrow range of temperature and acidity” (Idea d).

Alerting teachers to commonly held student ideas Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The material accurately presents specific commonly held ideas that are relevant to the key ideas and have appeared in scholarly publications (rather than just stating that students have difficulties with particular ideas or topics).
  2. The material clarifies/explains commonly held ideas (rather than just listing them).

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 Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The material includes specific questions or tasks that could be used by teachers to identify students’ ideas.
  2. The questions/tasks are likely to be comprehensible to students who have not studied the topic and are not familiar with the scientific vocabulary.
  3. The questions/tasks are identified as serving the purpose of identifying students’ ideas.
  4. The material includes questions/tasks that ask students to make predictions and/or give explanations of phenomena (rather than focus primarily on identifying students’ meanings for terms).
  5. The material suggests how teachers can probe beneath students’ initial responses to questions or interpret student responses (e.g., by providing annotated samples of student work).

Rating = Poor
The material meets no indicators.

Indicator 1: Not met
The material provides no questions or tasks that could be used by teachers to identify student ideas. Although two features, Understanding the Visual and Assessing Prior Knowledge, provide questions at the beginning of the chapter, the questions do not relate to the key ideas for cell structure and function. For example, the Assessing Prior Knowledge feature for Chapter 4: Structure and Function of the Cell provides the following suggestions:

Ask students to define the following terms: solution, suspension, colloid.

Ask students how proteins are related to amino acids, and how polysaccharides are related to monosaccharides. Then ask students what an enzyme is. Finally ask students to describe how lipids react to water.

p. 68t

These questions only ask students to recall facts or define terms rather than to express in detail their understanding about the key ideas related to cell structure and function.

Similarly, the Understanding the Visual feature of Chapter 4: Structure and Function of the Cell does not focus on these key ideas. The opening photograph shows a human bone cell and in Understanding the Visual, the teacher is told to:

Explain that this photograph shows a cell that has been sliced into a thin section to reveal the interior of the cell. Note that the colors were added by a visual artist to make the various parts clearer. Ask students how many different structures they can find inside the cell. Also ask them to look for structures that appear to be represented more than once in the cell. Explain that each structure is a cell component with a specific function.

p. 68t

These questions only ask students how many structures they can see and to look for structures that appear more than once. These questions will not help the teacher better understand what the students understand about the cell before instruction begins.

Indicator 2: Not met
Because the questions provided are not relevant to the key ideas, no questions can be considered for comprehensibility.

Indicator 3: Not met
The feature Assessing Prior Knowledge is identified in teacher material at the beginning of the text as serving the purpose of identifying students’ ideas: “Assessing Prior Knowledge helps you assess how much your students know—and what misconceptions they may have—before you begin teaching” (p. 40T). However, the questions provided for this feature do not relate to the key ideas for cell structure and function and are not likely to be helpful.

Indicator 4: Not met
The questions and tasks posed typically do not ask students to make predictions or give explanations of phenomena; instead, they focus primarily on identifying students’ understanding of terms.

Indicator 5: Not met
No suggestions are made for how teachers can probe beneath students’ initial responses or how teachers may interpret student responses.

Addressing commonly held ideas Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The material explicitly addresses commonly held ideas.
  2. The material includes questions, tasks, or activities that are likely to help students progress from their initial ideas, for example, by
    1. explicitly challenging students’ ideas, for example, by comparing their predictions about a phenomenon to what actually happens
    2. prompting students to contrast commonly held ideas with the scientifically correct ideas, and resolve differences between them
    3. extending correct commonly held ideas that have limited scope.
  3. The material includes suggestions to teachers about how to take into account their own students’ 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 Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. Phenomena could be used to support the key ideas.
  2. Phenomena are explicitly linked to the relevant key ideas.

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 one phenomenon to support only part of one of the key ideas. For other key ideas, phenomena are not provided at all.

For the idea that cells have specialized parts to carry out cell functions (Idea b), the text mentions that “mitochondria are usually more numerous in cells that have a high energy requirement. Liver cells, for instance, carry out a host of biochemical activities, and each cell may contain as many as 2,500 mitochondria. Muscle cells also contain many mitochondria” (p. 76s). However, this phenomenon is not linked to the generalization that cells have many structures to perform different functions and nothing further explains the phenomenon. No phenomena are provided for any of the other key ideas: “Every cell is covered by a membrane that controls what can enter and leave the cell” (Idea a), “The work of the cell is carried out by the many different types of molecules it assembles” (Idea c), “Most cells function best within a narrow range of temperature and acidity” (Idea d), and “Cell functions are regulated” (Idea e). Although two laboratory investigations are provided for the relevant chapters, neither focuses on these key ideas. For example, one investigation has students compare plant cells to animal cells (pp. 92–93s). However, this investigation does not ask students to think about the functions that cells need to accomplish their tasks or how the cell parts work to accomplish those tasks.

Providing vivid experiences Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. Each firsthand experience is efficient (when compared to other firsthand experiences) and, if several firsthand experiences target the same idea, the set of firsthand experiences is efficient. (The efficiency of an experience equals the cost of the experience [in time and money] in relation to its value.)
  2. The experiences that are not firsthand (e.g., text, pictures, video) provide students with a vicarious sense of the phenomena. (Please note that if the material provides only firsthand experiences, this indicator is not applicable.)
  3. The set of firsthand and vicarious experiences is sufficient.

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. None of the firsthand experiences is related to the key ideas about cell structure and function. And the one text explanation of a phenomenon provided is not sufficiently explained to provide a vicarious experience for students.

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IV: Developing and Using Scientific Ideas
Introducing terms meaningfully Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The material links technical terms to relevant experiences that develop the idea as the term is used (rather than just having students learn definitions of terms).
  2. The material restricts the use of technical terms to those needed to communicate intelligibly about key ideas.

Rating = Poor
The material meets no indicators.

Indicator 1: Not met
The material does not link technical terms to relevant student experiences. New terms are usually defined in the text, but the definitions are not reinforced with student experiences. Sometimes a representation is also provided, but the representations are usually little more than graphic depictions of the narration, which is not a relevant experience for students.

Indicator 2: Not met
The material does not restrict the use of technical terms to those needed to communicate intelligibly about the key ideas. The text includes many terms that are unnecessary, such as “actin,” “spindle fibers,” “nuclear matrix,” “nuclear envelope,” “chromatin,” “nuclear pores,” “nucleolus,” “plastids,” “thylakoids,” “cristae,” “fluid mosaic model,” “integral proteins,” “peripheral proteins,” “phospholipids,” and “hydrolytic enzymes.”

Representing ideas effectively Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. Representation is accurate (or, if not accurate, then students are asked to critique the representation).
  2. Representation is likely to be comprehensible to students.
  3. Representation is explicitly linked to the real thing.

Rating = Fair
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.

Although a few representations are accurate and comprehensible, they are not explicitly linked to the real thing. For example, the teacher demonstrates that a balloon is semipermeable by putting a few drops of vanilla in a balloon, blowing it up, and passing it around the room for the students to smell (p. 73t). This analogy to the cell membrane is useful, but the students are never told what the balloon is modeling. Similarly, a demonstration of how water will pass through a semipermeable membrane from a higher concentration to a lower concentration does not explain how this model represents what happens to a real cell (p. 97s).

Most representations that are related to the ideas include needless details about the structures within cells, which are likely to confuse rather than help students understand their functions (e.g., structure of cell membrane, p. 74s; structure of mitochondria, p. 77s; structure of endoplasmic reticulum, p. 78s; structure of Golgi apparatus, p. 79s; structure of nucleus, p. 81s; and structure of chloroplasts, p. 83s).

Demonstrating use of knowledge Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The material consistently carries out (or instructs teachers to carry out) the expected performance (e.g., the student text explains a particular phenomenon using the kinetic molecular theory). (Teacher’s guides often include responses to questions posed in the student text. If the material does not instruct the teacher to use the answers to model the use of knowledge, such responses do not count as instances of modeling.)
  2. The performance is step-by-step.
  3. The performance is explicitly identified as a demonstration of the use of knowledge or skill.
  4. The material provides running commentary that points to particular aspects of the demonstration and/or criteria for judging the quality of a performance.

Rating = Poor
The material meets no indicators.

Indicator 1: Not met
The material does not demonstrate the use of key ideas or suggest how teachers could do so.

Indicator 2: Not met
Since no demonstrations of knowledge are provided, none can be assessed for being step-by-step.

Indicator 3: Not met
The material does not explicitly identify any explanations as being a demonstration of the use of knowledge.

Indicator 4: Not met
There is no running commentary demonstration of the use of knowledge and the material does not provide criteria for judging the quality of the performance.

Providing practice Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The material provides a sufficient number of tasks in a variety of contexts, including everyday contexts. (In order to determine whether the task/question addresses the actual substance of the key idea, reviewers will need to consider both the question and the expected response in the teacher’s guide.)
  2. The material includes novel tasks.
  3. The material provides a sequence of questions or tasks in which the complexity is progressively increased.
  4. The material provides students first with opportunities for guided practice with feedback and then with practice in which the amount of support is gradually decreased.

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 practice questions and tasks that target the key cell structure and function ideas. For the idea that the cell membrane controls what can enter and leave the cell (Idea a), one question asks students “Why is the cell membrane said to be selectively permeable?” (p. 91s, question 20). Most questions that seem to be related to this idea instead focus on the structure of the membrane and not the function, such as “How is the structure of cell membranes influenced by the reaction of phopholipids to water?” (p. 91s, question 19) and “How does the lipid bilayer of a membrane form a barrier to molecules?” (p. 106s, question 20).

Several practice questions are provided for the idea that cells have specialized parts for cell functions (Idea b). For example, students are asked, “If a cell has a high energy requirement, would you expect it to have many or few mitochondria? Explain your answer” (p. 91s, question 21). A few novel questions that seem to be related to this idea focus more on the structure of cellular organelles than on their functions: for example, “The coils of a radiator provide a large surface area from which heat is radiated into a room. Which cell organelles have a structure similar to that of a radiator? How is their structure related to their function?” (p. 91s, Critical Thinking, question 2).

No practice questions and tasks are provided for the other key ideas, such as the idea that the work of the cell is carried out by the many different types of molecules it assembles (Idea c), that most cells function best within a narrow range of temperature and acidity (Idea d), and that cell functions are regulated (Idea e). The tasks provided for Ideas a and b involve only recalling information from the text. Furthermore, there is no gradual increase in the complexity of tasks and no feedback is provided.

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V: Promoting Students’ Thinking about Phenomena, Experiences, and Knowledge
Encouraging students to explain their ideas Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. Material routinely encourages students to express their ideas.
  2. Material encourages students not only to express but also to clarify, justify, and represent their ideas (a material is not expected to encourage students to clarify, justify, and represent ideas each time they are asked to express their ideas; however, in the course of teaching a particular key idea the material should provide students with opportunities to clarify, justify, and represent ideas).
  3. Material provides opportunities for each student (rather than just some students) to express ideas.
  4. Material includes specific suggestions on how to help the teacher provide explicit feedback to students or includes text that directly provides students with feedback.
  5. Material includes suggestions on how to diagnose student errors, explanations about how these errors may be corrected, and recommendations for how students’ ideas may be further developed.

Rating = Poor
The material meets no indicators.

Indicator 1: Not met
No examples were found where the material encourages students to express their own ideas as they relate to the key biology ideas.

Indicator 2: Not met
No examples were found where students were asked to clarify, justify, or represent their own ideas about the key science ideas related to cell structure and function.

Indicator 3: Not met
Since no opportunities for students’ explanation of their own ideas are given, whether each student is involved is not relevant.

Indicator 4: Not met
No suggestions are given to help the teacher provide explicit feedback to students.

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

Guiding student interpretation and reasoning Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The material includes specific and relevant tasks and/or questions for the experience or reading.
  2. The questions or tasks have helpful characteristics such as
    1. framing important issues
    2. helping students to relate their experiences with phenomena or representations to presented scientific ideas
    3. helping students to make connections between their own ideas and the phenomena or representations observed
    4. helping students to make connections between their own ideas and the presented scientific ideas
    5. anticipating common student misconceptions
    6. focusing on contrasts between student misconceptions and scientific alternatives.
    Please note that while a single high quality task or question sequence might have only one of these characteristics, the set of sightings should exhibit several of them.
  3. There are scaffolded sequences of questions or tasks (as opposed to separate questions or tasks).

Rating = Poor
The material meets no indicators.

Indicator 1: Not met
This material includes some specific and relevant questions about the readings and the laboratory activities. The reading sections are followed by Section Review questions. However, these questions offer very little help for students in interpreting and understanding the readings. Mostly the questions provided do not focus on these key ideas and ask only for students to recall facts from the text, such as “Name the three main components of a eukaryotic cell” (p. 83s) and “What role do carrier proteins play in facilitated diffusion?” (p. 100s). The laboratory activities end with Analysis and Conclusion questions. However, few of the questions relate to the key ideas. For example, following an activity in which students observe and compare animal and plant cells, the only questions that are relevant to the topic of cells do not focus on any of the key ideas. For instance, the following question focuses on the difference between plant and animal cells, not the function of organelles (Idea b):

Question: According to your observations in this investigation, list several ways that plant and animal cells are structurally similar and several ways that they are different.

Suggested Response: Both animal and plant cells are bound by a cell membrane and have a cytoplasm, nucleus, and other organelles. Plant cells have a cell wall, chloroplasts, and large vacuoles, but animal cells have none of these. Plant cells are more consistent in shape than animal cells.

p. 93st, question 1

Indicator 2: Not met
None of the Section Review questions includes helpful characteristics such as framing important ideas or helping students to make connections between their own ideas and the activity. And while some of the Analysis and Conclusion questions are intended to help students think about or organize their data, the questions do not focus on the key ideas.

Indicator 3: Not met
No scaffolded sequences of questions were provided.

Encouraging students to think about what they have learned Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The material gives students an opportunity to revise their initial ideas based on what they have learned (without asking them explicitly to think about how their ideas have changed).
  2. The material engages (or provides specific suggestions for teachers to engage) students in monitoring how their ideas have changed, but does so infrequently in the unit.
  3. The material engages (or provides specific suggestions for teachers to engage) students in monitoring how their ideas have changed and does so periodically in the unit.

Rating = Poor
The material meets no indicators.

Indicator 1: Not met
No instances were found in which students were given an opportunity to revise their initial ideas.

Indicators 2 and 3: Not met
No instances were found in which students were asked to consider how their ideas have changed during instruction.

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VI: Assessing Progress

To assess students’ understanding of concepts at the end of instruction, Modern Biology recommends using the Modern Biology Chapter Tests and the Chapter Reviews (pp. 44T–45T). These components of Chapter 4: Structure and Function of the Cell, and Chapter 5: Homeostasis and Transport—the chapters that treat the key ideas related to cell structure and function most extensively—were examined for the first two criteria.

Aligning assessment to goals Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The specific ideas in the key ideas are necessary in order to respond to the assessment items.
  2. The specific ideas in the key ideas are sufficient to respond to the assessment items (or, if other ideas are needed, they are not more sophisticated than key ideas and have been taught earlier).

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

Modern Biology provides no assessment items that align with any of the key ideas for cell structure and function. Typically assessment items related to these key ideas only require knowledge of terms rather than ideas about cell structure and function. For example, several questions ask students to match an organelle name with its function (e.g., Chapter Tests, p. 13, questions 1–8). These types of questions do not require the student to understand how the organelle functions to benefit the cell.

Other questions go beyond the focus of the key ideas. The questions that are related to the idea that the cell membrane controls what can enter and exit the cell (Idea a) focus on specific processes for crossing the cell membrane. For example, the following questions focus on active and passive transport and the role of carrier proteins:

Name three types of passive transport and three types of active transport.

Chapter Tests, p. 19, question 24

What is the fundamental difference between carrier proteins that participate in facilitated diffusion and carrier proteins that function as pumps?

Chapter Tests, p. 19, question 26

Testing for understanding Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. Assessment items focus on understanding of key ideas.
  2. Assessment items include both familiar and novel tasks.

Rating = Poor
Since no assessment tasks are aligned to the key ideas for cell structure and function, none could be examined as to how they test for understanding of the key ideas.

Using assessment to inform instruction Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The material uses embedded assessment as a routine strategy (rather than just including occasional questions).
  2. The material assists teachers in interpreting student responses to diagnose what learning difficulties remain.
  3. The material provides specific suggestions to teachers about how to use the information from the embedded assessments to make instructional decisions about what ideas need to be addressed by further activities.

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.

The material meets no indicators and does not claim to provide embedded assessments to inform instruction.

The material does not (a) use embedded assessment as a routine strategy, (b) assist the teacher in interpreting student responses to the end-of-chapter questions to diagnose what learning difficulties remain, or (c) provide specific suggestions to teachers about how to use the information from the end-of-chapter questions to make instructional decisions about what ideas need to be addressed by further activities.

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VII: Enhancing the Science Learning Environment
Providing teacher content support Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. Alerts teachers to how ideas have been simplified for students to comprehend and what the more sophisticated versions are (even though students are not required to understand the more sophisticated versions).
  2. Provides sufficiently detailed answers to questions in the student book for teachers to understand and interpret various student responses.
  3. Recommends resources for improving the teacher’s understanding of key ideas.

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 briefly summarize the student text (e.g., p. 73t, Section Overview), briefly explain peripheral information (e.g., p. 80t, Quick Fact), or offer tidbits of questionable relevance (e.g., p. 72t, Quick Fact). 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. 72t, Answers to Section 4-1 Review, answers 2 and 4; p. 105t, Chapter 5 Review Answers, answer 20).

The material provides minimal support in recommending resources for improving the teacher’s understanding of key ideas. The material lists technology resources at the beginning of each chapter (e.g., “Inside the Living Cell CD-ROM. Available from WARD’S (item 197R0004)” [p. 67Dt]) and references for essays about current biology research (e.g., p. 67Bt, Trends in Biology; p. 85t, Further Readings). While these resources might help teachers improve their understanding of the key ideas, the lists lack annotations about what kind of specific information the resources provide.

Encouraging curiosity and questioning Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. Includes suggestions for how to encourage students’ questions and guide their search for answers, respect and value students’ ideas, raise questions of evidence, and avoid dogmatism.
  2. Provides examples of classroom interactions—e.g., dialogue boxes, vignettes, or video clips—that illustrate appropriate ways to respond to student questions or ideas, etc.

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 no suggestions for how to respect and value students’ ideas.

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., p. 93s, Analysis and Conclusions, item 2; p. 109s, Analysis and Conclusions, item 3).

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. 14–20s). A feature in the student text, Literature & Life, presents excerpts from popular science books related to the chapter content (e.g., p. 132s). In addition, Research Notes in the student text (e.g., p. 152s) and teacher notes discuss recent research findings (p. 74t, Recent Research) and trends (e.g., p. 67Bt, Trends in Biology). 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.

Supporting all students Indicators of meeting the criterion (click to show/hide)

Indicators of meeting the criterion

  1. The material avoids stereotypes or language that might be offensive to a particular group.
  2. The material illustrates the contribution of women and minorities to science and brings in role models.
  3. The material suggests alternative formats for students to express their ideas during instruction and assessment.
  4. The material includes specific suggestions about how teachers can modify activities for students with special needs.
  5. The material provides strategies to validate students’ relevant personal and social experiences with scientific ideas.

Rating = Some support is provided.
The material generally avoids stereotypes or language that might be offensive to a particular group. For example, photographs and illustrations include a diverse cultural mix of students and adults (e.g., pp. 39s, 85s, 92s), 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 Great Discoveries and Cultural Connections. Great Discoveries provide essays, discussion questions, and additional readings about the major contributions of a particular scientist, including women and minorities. For example, one Great Discoveries feature discusses the work of African American scientist Charles Drew to improve preservation of blood products for transfusions (pp. 38–39st). Cultural Connections provide information about particular cultural groups related to the chapter content (e.g., p. 103t). All of these sections highlighting cultural contributions are interesting and informative, but some 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, including laboratory investigations (e.g., pp. 92–93s), whole class discussions (e.g., p. 68t, Understanding the Visual), essay questions (e.g., pp. 91s, 90t, Review, item 21), making models (e.g., p. 82t, Inclusion Activity), oral reports (p. 91s, Extension, item 1), written reports (p. 91s, Extension, item 2), and research projects (e.g., p. 87t, Gifted Activity). 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 provides additional activities and resources for students of specific ability levels. Inclusion Activities (e.g., p. 83t) are designated as “alternative ways to teach the main concepts” (p. 41T). Reteaching Activities provide suggestions for reviewing the section concepts (e.g., p. 74t). Extensions (e.g., p. 107s) and Gifted Activities (e.g., p. 79t) provide opportunities for students to investigate topics beyond the textbook material. In addition, supplemental program resources provide further additional activities and resources for students (for a description, see pp. 34T–35T).

The material provides some strategies to validate students’ relevant personal and social experiences with scientific ideas. Some tasks (e.g., p. 87t, Reteaching Activity; p. 107s, Extension, item 3) 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, support is brief and localized.

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