AAAS Project 2061 Biology Textbooks Evaluation
Graphic Summary of Content Findings
For each topic, reviewers looked to see whether textbooks addressed a coherent
set of ideas. Those key ideas are displayed in maps that also show how the
ideas relate to one another. In the list of maps that follows, the coherent
"story" the reviewers looked for is contrasted with the treatment actually
found in the textbooks. The following is a guide to reading the maps:
- black boxes contain the target ideas that served directly as the
basis for the analysis
- red boxes contain prerequisites needed for the target ideas (from
the same or even an earlier grade range)
- blue boxes contain ideas that are closely related to the target
ideas and that could strengthen students' understanding of them
- lines with arrowheads: an arrow between two ideas implies that
understanding one contributes in some way to understanding the other.
- lines without arrowheads: a line between two ideas implies that
they are related, though no conceptual sequence seems necessary.
These maps summarize
the content findings for four topics:
Cell Structure and Function 
(118
KB Adobe PDF document)
Matter and Energy Transformations (273 KB Adobe
PDF document)
Molecular Basis of Heredity
(141 KB Adobe PDF document)
Natural Selection and Evolution (160
KB Adobe PDF document)
Continued: View Charts Outlining the Results of the Evaluation
