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Macmillan/McGraw-Hill Science. Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Company, 1995

Earth Science

1.
About this Evaluation Report

2.
Content Analysis

3.
Instructional Analysis

	Categories
I.	Providing a Sense of Purpose [Explanation] This category consists of criteria for determining whether the curriculum material attempts to make its purposes explicit and meaningful to students, either in the student text itself or through suggestions to the teacher. The sequence of lessons or activities is also important in accomplishing the stated purpose, since ideas often build on each other.
II.	Taking Account of Student Ideas [Explanation] Fostering understanding in students requires taking time to attend to the ideas they already have, both ideas that are incorrect and ideas that can serve as a foundation for subsequent learning. This category consists of criteria for determining whether the curriculum material contains specific suggestions for identifying and addressing students’ ideas.
III.	Engaging Students with Relevant Phenomena [Explanation] Much of the point of science is to explain phenomena in terms of a small number of principles or ideas. For students to appreciate this explanatory power, they need to have a sense of the range of phenomena that science can explain. The criteria in this category examine whether the curriculum material relates important scientific ideas to a range of relevant phenomena and provides either firsthand experiences with the phenomena or a vicarious sense of phenomena that are not presented firsthand.
IV.	Developing and Using Scientific Ideas [Explanation] Science literacy requires that students understand the link between scientific ideas and the phenomena that they can explain. Furthermore, students should see the ideas as useful and become skillful at applying them. This category consists of criteria for determining whether the curriculum material expresses and develops the key ideas in ways that are accessible and intelligible to students, and that demonstrate the usefulness of the key ideas and provide practice in varied contexts.
V.	Promoting Students' Thinking about Phenomena, Experiences, and Knowledge [Explanation] Engaging students in experiences with phenomena (category III) and presenting them with scientific ideas (category IV) will not lead to effective learning unless students are given time, opportunities, and guidance to make sense of the experiences and ideas. This category consists of criteria for determining whether the curriculum material provides students with opportunities to express, think about, and reshape their ideas, as well as guidance on developing an understanding of what they experience.
VI.	Assessing Progress [Explanation] This category consists of criteria for evaluating whether the curriculum material includes a variety of aligned assessments that apply the key ideas taught in the material.
VII.	Enhancing the Science Learning Environment [Explanation] The criteria in this category provide analysts with the opportunity to comment on features that enhance the use and implementation of the curriculum material by all students.
	References

I. Providing a Sense of Purpose

Conveying unit purpose (Rating = Fair)

A purpose is conveyed to students for the units and lessons (roughly the equivalent of whole chapters in other textbook series, the lessons typically cover 6–10 days). In both books, the units begin with a four-page section that includes text, vivid photographs, and a Minds On! activity. The introduction to Unit 35: Earth’s Solid Crust begins with a description of the many types of processes that change the Earth and shows a photograph of Wave Rock in Australia (p. 7s). The Minds On! activity asks students to describe the effects of an Earth process that they have experienced and tell how it affected their family (p. 8s). Then, students read that “In the following lessons, you’ll take an in-depth look at much smaller components of Earth. You’ll learn about the fascinating world of minerals. You’ll find out that rocks have unique histories and origins and that rocks change over time” (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 9s). A similar purpose is presented for Unit 40: Earth Changes Through Time. Interesting and possibly motivating purposes are presented for this unit, and students are asked to think about the purpose in the Minds On! activity.

Most lessons in the two units are consistent with the stated purpose; however, the purpose is not returned to at the end of each unit, in the section called Unit Wrap Up.

Lessons usually consist of a two-page photograph, introductory text, and a Minds On! activity. Unlike the unit purposes, lessons are inconsistent in providing a purpose. Some lessons do not state one, while others provide only a statement of purpose such as “In this lesson you will learn that rocks go through continual cycles of change as the result of Earth processes” (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 50s). Some lesson purposes are incomprehensible and therefore not likely to be interesting or motivating to students, such as, “In this lesson you see the roots of the current model of Earth” (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 44s). Although most lessons begin with a Minds On! activity, this activity only occasionally has students think about the purpose of the lesson. Usually, the lesson purposes are returned to in the Sum It Up section at the end of each lesson.

Conveying lesson/activity purpose (Rating = Poor)

Although most activities state their purpose, some of the purposes explain only what is to be done; but they do not provide the reason for doing the activity. Examples are: “You will construct a model of sedimentary layers…” (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 37s), and “Construct a clay model illustrating how metamorphic rocks are formed” (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 45s). Some activity purposes are too vague to be comprehensible; for instance: “How does limestone behave? Find out in this activity” (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 43s). Some purposes are not accomplished by the activity; for example, in Earth’s Solid Crust, there is this statement: “In this activity you will simulate a rock weathering process and infer the natural causes and locations of such weathering” (p. 54). Students never infer how the simulation could take place in a natural setting, nor do they infer the specific locations of such weathering. None of the purposes provided discuss how the activity is related to the unit topic or even the lesson topic, although the Sum It Up feature of some lessons includes statements that explain what has been learned and what students will study next. For instance, students read a review of the topics covered in the previous chapter—how the relationship between earthquakes and volcanoes reveals something about the inside of the Earth—and then are told: “In the next lesson, you’ll see how patterns of earthquakes and volcanoes help us understand Earth’s inner systems, the changes Earth has undergone, and the changes it will undergo” (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 83s).

Justifying lesson/activity sequence (Rating = Poor)

No rationale for a logical sequence is provided. The units and most of the lessons are fraught with sequencing problems. A few times, topics are mentioned in earlier units, long before they have been introduced (e.g., plate tectonics is mentioned in Earth’s Solid Crust [p. 45s] before it is addressed in Earth Changes Through Time [pp. 88s-95s]). Many sections do not follow any particular sequence, and the occasional folklore and career sections added throughout the lessons seem to be a distraction (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, pp. 38-39s). However, the placement of these sections within the student text (as opposed to placement in sidebar notes) may have implications for the classroom environment (see also “Supporting all students” segment below, in instructional analysis category V). Also, activities are interspersed that are not connected to the rest of the lesson. For instance, students read about how the Great Sphinx is being changed by Earth processes and is wearing away (Earth’s Solid Crust, pp. 50-51s), but the next activity has students investigate stream erosion by setting up a stream table and testing how long it takes a fishing bob to get to the bottom while varying the angle (Earth’s Solid Crust, pp. 52-53s). The next topics in the text are physical and chemical weathering—still not linked to river erosion (Earth’s Solid Crust, pp. 54-55s). However, some local sequences appear to have a somewhat logical structure, such as the historic evidence for continental drift (Earth Changes Through Time, lesson 3, pp. 44-53s) and the causes of erosion (Earth’s Solid Crust, lesson 3, pp. 50-71s).

II. Taking Account of Student Ideas

Attending to prerequisite knowledge and skills (Rating = Poor)

These textbooks do not alert teachers to specific prerequisite ideas, nor do they make connections between the ideas in a particular unit and their prerequisite ideas. However, they address some of the important prerequisite concepts. In Earth’s Solid Crust (pp. 76-79s), students read about the three major types of landforms and see vivid photographs. Unfortunately, this section follows the section on the forces of erosion and how they affect landforms. It seems that the prerequisite idea is presented after the topics it should precede. Two other prerequisite notions are addressed briefly: gravity (because of its underlying role in many erosional processes) and the unique property of water (its expansion while freezing). There is one activity on the expansion of ice (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 56s), and gravity is mentioned and defined briefly (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 66s).

The review teams were unable to reach full agreement on the material’s rating for this criterion. The rating reported above is a Project 2061 compromise based on evidence in both reports.

Alerting teachers to commonly held student ideas (Rating = Satisfactory)

In most of the lessons, there are Misconceptions and Addressing Misconceptions features. These sections attempt to alert the teacher to potential trouble spots for students. Even though the research into students’ ideas about the Earth and the processes that change it is notably shallow, some very plausible ideas are presented in these features. For example: “Many students may believe that all rocks, solid and seemingly unchanging, have been present in the same form since the formation of Earth (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 34t); “Students may think that Earth is changed only by dramatic or catastrophic events” (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 12a); and “Some students may think that once mountains are formed, they are set forever” (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 98a). Unfortunately, teachers are not made aware of the well-documented issues of students’ difficulties in understanding that the Earth changes over time and that the changes take place over long time frames. The Misconceptions and Addressing Misconceptions sections could be improved by explaining the source of the ideas they present as well as by clarifying and explaining each particular misconception further.

Assisting teachers in identifying their students’ ideas (Rating = Fair)

Another feature of these textbooks, Assessing Prior Knowledge, attempts to help teachers understand their students’ ideas better before instruction begins. Unfortunately, the questions in this feature are of limited use, and very few of them focus on the key Earth science ideas. Some of the useful questions found are: “What forces of nature change rocks and landforms on Earth?” (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 50t), and “What processes might cause volcanoes to erupt?” (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 70t). Other sections, such as the Minds On! activities, could be used by teachers to find out what their students know before instruction. One Minds On! segment that could be particularly useful asks students, “How do mountains form?” and, after they identify other land features, students are asked, “How do you think these landforms came to be?” (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 76s). Most of the questions are comprehensible and a few ask students to give explanations. However, no suggestions are made to teachers of how to probe beyond their students’ initial responses or interpret them.

The review teams were unable to reach full agreement on the material’s rating for this criterion. The rating reported above is a Project 2061 compromise based on evidence in both reports.

Addressing commonly held ideas (Rating = Fair)

In the feature called Addressing Misconceptions, the suggestions are inconsistent, with some of them unlikely to help students dispel their old ideas, although others seem helpful. Most of the misconceptions and the proposals for addressing them focus on the rock cycle. For example, teachers are alerted to the possible misconception that students might believe that all of the rocks on Earth today were present when the Earth first formed (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 44t). The advice offered for addressing this misunderstanding is to ask a volunteer to define the term “metamorphic rock.” This is not likely to help students progress. Students’ misconceptions are not challenged or contrasted directly with scientifically correct ideas, and their own ideas are not taken into account. Other suggestions include having students make a poster diagram of the rock cycle (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 58t), and asking them what happens to molten lava when it cools (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 34t). It is uncertain how students will progress from their initial ideas by doing these activities. In Earth Changes Through Time (p. 17t), the Addressing Misconceptions section indicates that the teacher should lead a discussion about cataclysmic versus slow changes to the Earth’s surface. The suggestions here involve the students’ ideas and present them with a phenomenon that should challenge their ideas. Also, in Earth’s Solid Crust (p. 80t), the Addressing Misconceptions section asks the question, “Why is mapmaking an ongoing process?” Because students are likely to believe that the Earth is relatively static and unchanging, this question probably will challenge their ideas.

III. Engaging Students with Relevant Phenomena

Providing variety of phenomena (Rating = Poor)

These materials do not provide a sufficient number and variety of phenomena for the key Earth science ideas. For some key ideas, no phenomena are provided, such as the idea that the Earth is changing constantly (Idea a) and that the processes that shape the Earth today are similar to those in the past (Idea c). For other key ideas, one phenomenon is provided. For the idea that slow changes can accumulate over long time frames to produce significant changes to the Earth’s surface (Idea e), students read about how erosion over millions of years created the landforms at Bryce Canyon and that the rim of the canyon is eroding a foot every 50 years (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 59s). For some key ideas, a few phenomena are provided. For the idea that some Earth-changing processes are fast and some are slow, students read about how Mount Parícutin formed in a flat cornfield, and how, after nine years of erupting, the volcano grew to a height of 369 meters (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 80s). Students also read about rapid shoreline erosion (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 48-49s) and the creation of the arches in Arches National Park, which began 150 million years ago, a relatively slow change (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 69s). For the idea that fossils and other evidence suggest that the continents were a single vast continent long ago (Idea f), similar fossils and rock layers from now widely separated continents are discussed (Earth Changes Through Time, pp. 48–49s). For the idea that landforms and geologic events are the result of the interaction of plates (Idea g), a photograph of pillow lava that has formed at a plate boundary is reproduced (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 92s). The East African Rift Valley and the San Andreas Fault are both mentioned as examples of phenomena that can occur at plate boundaries (Earth Changes Through Time, pp. 88-91s).

The review teams were unable to reach full agreement on the material’s rating for this criterion. The rating reported above is a Project 2061 compromise based on evidence in both reports.

Providing vivid experiences (Rating = Poor)

There are no first-hand or vicarious experiences provided for this set of key Earth science ideas. Most of the phenomena are presented in text passages of varying levels of detail. None have enough detail to be considered vicarious.

The review teams were unable to reach full agreement on the material’s rating for this criterion. The rating reported above is a Project 2061 compromise based on evidence in both reports.

IV. Developing and Using Scientific Ideas

Introducing terms meaningfully (Rating = Fair)

These textbooks attempt to limit the number of terms presented to those needed to facilitate communication about key Earth science ideas discussed. The books also try to link many of the terms to relevant experiences. For example, students read about how the Great Sphinx is being changed and worn away by Earth processes (Earth’s Solid Crust, pp. 50-51s). Then, the term “weathering” is defined, and students do an activity simulating how rocks weather (Earth’s Solid Crust, pp. 54-55s). Although some terms are linked to experiences, many of the experiences themselves are confusing. For instance, students graph the increasingly deep foci of earthquakes on the west coast of South America (Earth Changes Through Time, 86-87s). Next, they read about plate motions (pp. 88-89s) and, finally, about subduction, and they are told that they “could almost see one plate being pushed beneath another” from the graph (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 90s). Although the term “subduction” is linked to a relevant experience, the activity is incomprehensible because the explanation does not immediately follow it.

Representing ideas effectively (Rating = Fair)

Most of the key ideas are represented in this material; however, many of them are either incomprehensible or are not linked adequately to real Earth processes. For the idea that several processes contribute to the changing surface of the Earth (Idea b), students are asked to make models of processes. Many of the models simulate the processes but do not explain how the simulation is like the real or natural event. For example, students rub rocks together to simulate physical weathering but are not told how or where this would happen in the real world (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 54s). Two ways in which glaciers change the surface of the Earth are illustrated: drawings show before, during, and after scenes of the effects of glaciers; an activity has students make models of glaciers, then simulate the action of glaciers moving over land by rubbing the models on a brick. After that, students are asked to consider how real glaciers affect the surface of the Earth (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 61s). The comprehensibility of some diagrams is questionable because of poor labeling, incomplete legends, or unclear explanations. For example, a map shows deep and shallow earthquake foci, but the legend does not explain the small black lines on the map (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 73s). Another problem is evident in a diagram showing tectonic plate interactions (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 90s). Neither the caption nor the text explains that there are three plates in the diagram. In fact, from this diagram, it is not clear what plates are.

Demonstrating use of knowledge (Rating = Poor)

Only one example of using a key Earth science idea to explain a phenomenon was found. The text explains that moving water is the most powerful agent of erosion and that water wears away the Earth’s surface by carrying rocks and other materials downhill (Earth’s Solid Crust, pp. 58-59s). Then, this information is used in a brief explanation of how water has changed the landscape at Utah’s Bryce Canyon. Although the explanation is condensed—some details and steps in the explanation are missing—students will get to read how a key idea can be put to use. Unfortunately, these textbooks do not use this important technique consistently. Modeling the use of knowledge would be particularly helpful for explaining to students how other Earth-shaping processes work and how the interactions of plates create landforms and geologic events.

Providing practice (Rating = Poor)

These materials do not provide a sufficient number and variety of questions or tasks for these key Earth science ideas. Most key ideas are practiced in at least one question or task. Typical practice questions and tasks do not involve novel situations, and some require direct recall from the text. For the idea that the surface of the Earth is changing continually (Idea a), students have only one practice question: “Would a mountainous area or a coastal area need to be remapped more often?” (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 89s). Most of the questions for the idea that several processes change the surface of the Earth (Idea b) involve little more than recall from the text and are not focused on the process of change. For example, students are asked, “What is the most effective agent of erosion in a desert?” and “How could you distinguish a valley eroded by a river from one eroded by a glacier?” (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 71s). One question does focus students on the process of change, namely: “Describe how mountains are formed” (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 109s). Only one question asks students about fast and slow processes of change (Idea d), and the idea that very slow but continual processes can make remarkable changes to the surface of the Earth eventually (Idea e). Students are asked to think of one change that takes place rapidly and another that is so slow that it is barely perceivable, and then to compare these two processes with their partners (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 99s). Only one practice task is provided for the idea that fossils and other evidence suggest that the continents are separated parts of what was long ago a single vast continent (Idea f). Students compare rock columns, coastlines, and land features of two fictitious continents on another planet (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 52s). Several tasks are given for the idea that landforms and geologic events result from the interaction of the Earth’s plates (Idea h). Although some of these questions are recall-style, there are some novel questions too. Two such questions are as follows: “Describe what would happen to a planet that had only convergent plate boundaries” (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 97s), and, “Given these plate movements and boundaries, where do you expect the next new mountain ranges to form?” (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 108s). Through the material and the questions examined, there is no progressive increase in the level of complexity of the questions, and no feedback is provided.

V. Promoting Students' Thinking about Phenomena, Experiences, and Knowledge

Encouraging students to explain their ideas (Rating = Poor)

In certain features of these books, students are given routine opportunities to express their own ideas, particularly in the Minds On! and the Discussion Strategies sections. Although these sections do not focus always on the key Earth science ideas (some ask about topics such as myths or sandblasting), some of the questions are useful for eliciting from students expressions of what they think. For example, students are asked to write about how they think mountains and other landforms are created (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 76s), to compare a rapid change to a very slow change on the Earth (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 99s), and to consider a local rock structure and how the forces of nature affect it (Earth’s Solid Crust, pp. 50-51s). The Discussion Strategies questions seem to be designed for whole-class discussion, while the Minds On! questions are accompanied occasionally by work sheets that ask students to write their ideas. Rarely are students encouraged to clarify, justify, or represent their ideas. Furthermore, no suggestions for feedback or how to diagnose student errors are provided for the teacher.

Guiding student interpretation and reasoning (Rating = Poor)

Several activities (usually three to four) are provided for each lesson, but only a few offer students any help in making sense of them. Although there are follow-up questions for each activity, very few of them will be useful to students trying to understand the model or demonstration. One consistent lack is that many of the activities do not include questions that link the model to a real world process. For instance, one activity has students rub rocks together and collect the sediment. However, none of the follow-up questions ask students how the process of rubbing rocks together to produce sediment might occur in the real world (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 54s). Another activity has students place a container of water in a freezer to see what happens to the volume of the water compared to an unfrozen sample of water of the same size (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 56t). Students are asked what happened to the water and what kind of weathering was simulated. Unfortunately, this question may be confusing to them because no weathering is being simulated. All students see is that water expands when it is frozen. There are no questions that would help them understand where water freezes and expands on the surface of the Earth and how this expansion could change the surface of the Earth. Some of the questions following activities are helpful. For example, after students make model glaciers and rub them over a brick, one follow-up question asks how real glaciers affect the Earth’s surface (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 61s).

Most of the questions provided to guide students’ understanding of the text are found in the feature called Discussion Strategies. Some of the questions in this section are recall-style, based on the text, such as, “Ask a volunteer to define erosion,” and then, “Discuss reasons for the erosion of soil during the Dust Bowl” (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 57t). The answers can be found on the previous page. The questions provided to guide student understanding do not include helpful characteristics such as enabling students to make connections between their own ideas and the outcome of the activity, and none of the questions appear in supportive sequences that increase in complexity.

The review teams were unable to reach full agreement on the material’s rating for this criterion. The rating reported above, a Project 2061 compromise, is based on evidence in both reports.

Encouraging students to think about what they have learned (Rating = Poor)

Students are not encouraged to think about what they have learned or given opportunities to revisit and revise their initial ideas. There are a few activities in which students are asked to make a prediction of what will happen, and then compare the results to their prediction. For example, students use sand, pebbles, soil, and water to model how sedimentary layers form. Before they begin, they are asked to predict the order of the layers. At the end, they are asked, “Did your prediction match what actually happened?” (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 37t). But they are not asked to revise their ideas, give reasons for them, or state why their ideas have changed. In only one other case are students asked to review a list of the changes on the Earth that they made at the beginning of the unit and compare it to the list they make at the end of the unit (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 99s). Even so, they are not asked to think about how their ideas have changed.

VI. Assessing Progress

Aligning assessment to goals (Rating = Poor)

For the end-of-instruction assessment, this material provides performance assessment and lesson and unit tests in a separate Teacher’s Resource Book. In addition, the Teacher’s Planning Guide includes an Oral Assessment for each lesson (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 12d). These components of Earth’s Solid Crust and Earth Changes Through Time, the units that treat the key Earth science ideas most extensively, have been examined in terms of this criterion and the following one (“Testing for Understanding”).

While there are some tasks that target the key Earth science ideas, the number of assessment items for each key idea varies. No assessment items are provided for two of the key ideas—that Earth-shaping processes range in their rates (Idea d) and that slow but continuous processes can bring about significant changes over very long times (Idea e). Two other key ideas—that the Earth’s surface is continually changing (Idea a) and the concept of uniformitarianism (Idea c)—are not assessed adequately. Only one task targets the idea of continuous change (Idea a), namely, students are asked what eventually happens to three types of rocks (Earth’s Solid Crust, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 11, item 12). However, this question focuses on rocks and not specifically on the surface of the Earth or land features. Likewise, only two assessment items target the concept of uniformitarianism (Idea c). Students are asked to explain what geologists mean when they say that the present is a key to the past (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 12d, Oral Assessment, item 1) and to hypothesize whether continental drift took place before Pangaea broke apart (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 44c, Additional Portfolio Assessment Options, item 2).

More assessment items target the idea that several processes contribute to the changing of the Earth’s surface (Idea b). However, these items typically assess students on individual processes, and students hardly consider how several processes contribute to the changing of the Earth’s surface. Specifically, students choose the appropriate terms to complete a concept map about changes in rocks (Earth’s Solid Crust, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 5), name two different agents of erosion and explain what they do (Earth’s Solid Crust, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 12, item 13), identify and explain ways in which rocks are changed into tiny particles (Earth’s Solid Crust, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 12, item 14), make a filmstrip showing Earth processes that form different rocks (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 30c, Additional Portfolio Assessment Options, item 1), theorize about what happens to the topsoil from Iowa given that Iowa borders on the Mississippi River (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 50d, Oral Assessment, item 3), discuss three ways in which mountains can be formed (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 72d, Oral Assessment, item 1), formulate a hypothesis that connects mountain building with plate tectonics (Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 14, item 8), and complete the following multiple-choice items:

Mountains may be formed when two continental plates _______.
a. move apart
b. collide
c. undergo subduction
d. slide past each other
[Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 14, item 1; the answer is b]

If you see a mountain, you will know that it is an old rather than a new one if it is _______.
a. tall and rounded
b. short and jagged
c. tall and pointed
d. short and smooth
[Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 14, item 2, p. 22, item 16; the answer is d]

Mountains wear down mainly because of _______.
a. erosion
b. the thrust of plates
c. volcanoes
d. earthquakes
[Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 14, item 4; the answer is a]

Which Earth change would most likely happen due to an earthquake? _______
a. mountain building
b. volcanoes erupting
c. rock formation breaking
d. new oceans forming
[Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 22, item 21; the answer is c]

Mid-ocean ridges are formed by _______.
a. plates separating
b. subduction
c. mountain building
d. colliding plates
[Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 22, item 22; the answer is a]

Ideas related to continental drift and plate tectonics (Ideas f–h) are assessed adequately. The evidence for continental drift is assessed by four items. Students describe and explain the evidence for continental drift (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 44d, Oral Assessment items 1, 2; Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 6, item 9), explain why the point at which the fossil record on two different continents begins to differ is important (Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 6, item 8) and how the discovery of fossil remains in both Africa and South America can be explained by continental drift (Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 23, item 28), and choose a phrase from a list that completes the statement, “Fossils of the same small reptile are found in both Europe and America. This is evidence for _______” (Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 6, item 1; the answer is “continental drift”).

The ideas that the Earth’s Solid Crust consists of continually moving plates (Idea g) and that the plates’ motion results in landforms and major geological events (Idea h) are addressed by six items. Students use a tectonic map to predict the locations of mountain ranges (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 98c, Additional Portfolio Assessment Options, item 1); complete a relevant concept map using phrases from a list (Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 11); decide whether the statement, “The best model to explain why boundaries of plates are the same as the pattern of earthquake foci is continental drift,” is correct (Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 12, item 7); describe a model of the Earth’s system of plates (Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 18, item 14); formulate a hypothesis that connects mountain building with plate tectonics (Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 14, item 8); and choose the best phrase to complete the statement, “Mountains can form because of the upward thrust when two _______” (Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Resource Book, p. 17, item 11; the answer is “continental plates collide”).

Testing for understanding (Rating = Poor)

The assessment items provided do not require students to apply the key Earth science ideas in explaining phenomena, identifying examples for the general principle, or making predictions. Of the assessment tasks described above in the previous criterion, only five focus on understanding (so at best a single application task is included for each key Earth science idea).

Application questions ask students to hypothesize whether continental drift took place before Pangaea broke apart, to theorize what happens to the topsoil from Iowa given that Iowa borders on the Mississippi River, to explain how the discovery of fossil remains in both Africa and South America can be explained by continental drift, to use a tectonic map to predict the locations of mountain ranges, and to choose the phrase that best completes the statement, “If you see a mountain, you will know that it is an old rather than a new one if it is _____” (the answer is “short and smooth”).

Using assessment to inform instruction (Rating = Poor)

This material does not provide assessment items that are aimed at finding where students are in order to modify the instruction accordingly. To keep track of students’ progress, the Teacher’s Resource Book identifies as assessment opportunities all Review Sheets, performance assessments, and portfolios (p. viii). These components in Earth’s Solid Crust and in Earth Changes Through Time, together with all the Checkpoint sections in the text, were examined.

Some questions could be used to diagnose students’ difficulties with respect to the key Earth science ideas that are included in these components. For example, students make a filmstrip showing Earth processes that form different rocks (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 30c, Additional Portfolio Assessment Options, item 1), theorize what happens to the topsoil from Iowa given that Iowa borders on the Mississippi River (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 50d, Oral Assessment, item 3), discuss three ways in which mountains can be formed (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 72d, Oral Assessment, item 1), explain what geologists mean when they say that the present is a key to the past (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 12d, Oral Assessment, item 1), hypothesize whether continental drift took place before Pangaea broke apart (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 44c, Additional Portfolio Assessment Options, item 2), and describe and explain the evidence for continental drift (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 44d, Oral Assessment, items 1 and 2).

However, the material does not include suggestions for teachers about how to probe beyond students’ initial responses or better diagnose their responses, nor does it include specific suggestions about how to use students’ responses to make decisions about instruction.

VII. Enhancing the Science Learning Environment

Providing teacher content support (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., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 84a, Lesson Background), focus on interesting details (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 72t, Science Background) and terms (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 77t, Science Background) rather than key ideas, or contain inaccuracies (for example, Earth Changes Through Time, p. 101t, Science Background, where the statement that “[a] good explanation of mountain building did not exist until the plate tectonics theory was developed in the 1960s” is not entirely accurate as the geosynclinal model was previously useful for a long period of time). Overall, the teacher content support is brief, localized, and fragmented.

The material does not usually provide sufficiently detailed answers to questions in the student text for teachers to understand and interpret various student responses. Most answers are brief and require further explanation (e.g., the answer to a question asking students how they describe the process they observed in an activity is given simply as “Sedimentation” [Earth Changes Through Time, p. 18t, Activity Log, item 5]), emphasize a “right answer” approach (for example, “Mountains, plains, and plateaus are the three main types of landform” [Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 77t, Discussion Strategies, item 1]), or are incomplete (for example, “Matching shapes, features, and fossils” [Earth Changes Through Time, p. 47t, Activity Log, item 2]).

The material provides minimal support in recommending resources for improving the teacher’s understanding of key ideas. The Teacher’s Planning Guide includes a list of “Outside Resources” (books, computer software, films, filmstrips, videos, laserdiscs, field trips, speakers and visitors, and resource addresses) at the beginning of each unit (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 4t). Limited descriptions for some of the references identify topics addressed in them, but none of the references are explicitly linked to specific text sections or key ideas.

Encouraging curiosity and questioning (Some support is provided.)

The material provides no suggestions for how to encourage students’ questions and guide students’ search for answers.

The material provides many suggestions for how to respect and value students’ ideas. Teacher’s notes state that multiple student answers should be acceptable for some questions (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 50t, Assessing Prior Knowledge) and ask students to record their own ideas in many tasks, including some Discussion Strategies and Activity Log tasks. For example, in one activity, students work together in small groups to propose further tests of the continental drift model. The Activity Log asks students to individually record both their own group’s ideas and the ideas from all other groups (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 50t, Activity Log). Each Activity Log also includes a blank page following each activity page entitled “My Notes” in which students may record additional ideas they may have (see the separate Activity Log booklet for each unit).

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?” But 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., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 15s, Explore Activity! and p. 15t, Activity Log, What Now? item 2; Earth Changes Through Time, p. 24t, Activity Log, item 4). In some instances, however, the material first asks students about their observations (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 53t, Activity Log, What Happened?), and then asks them to make inferences (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 53t, Activity Log, What Now?) without explicitly linking the two kinds of tasks.

The material provides many suggestions for how to avoid dogmatism. For example, the material includes the work of many cultural groups (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 9s, Legend of Earth’s Winds) as well as of particular practicing scientists (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, pp. 49–50s, Minds On! and p. 63s, An Ancient Earthquake Reporting Device) and describes changes over time in scientific thinking (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 51s). In addition, the student text portrays the nature of science as a human enterprise in which students may participate (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, pp. 46–47s, Explore Activity!). However, the material also contributes to dogmatism with some text sections written in a static, authoritative manner (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, pp. 54–56s), and single, specific responses expected for many student tasks (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 47t, Activity Log).

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, etc. However, a limited sense of desirable student-student interactions may be gained from procedural directions for laboratory and cooperative group activities (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 56st, Try This Activity!; Earth Changes Through Time, pp. 14–15st, Explore Activity!).

Supporting all students (Considerable support is provided.)

The material generally avoids stereotypes or language that might be offensive to a particular group. For example, photographs include a diverse cultural mix of students, mainly in the Activity! features (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, pp. 52–53s, 64s; Earth Changes Through Time, p. 91s), but few photographs of any adults are included (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 54s). In addition, the material’s use of multiple writing genres, including traditional expository text (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, pp. 76–77s), fiction and nonfiction trade books (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, pp. 10–11st), short stories (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Anthology with Classroom Library Lessons, pp. 3–4), and poetry (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Anthology with Classroom Library Lessons, p. 5) may support the language use of particular student groups.

The material provides many illustrations of the contributions of women and minorities to science and as role models. At the beginning of each unit, a feature in the teacher’s notes entitled “Science for Everyone: Culture in the Classroom” briefly describes the contributions of different cultural groups to the topics studied (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 5t). In addition, some discussion of the contributions of particular cultural groups as well as individual women and minority scientists is integrated into the main student text. This may affect the sequence and flow of the presentation of the key Earth science ideas within lessons (see also the “Justifying lesson/activity sequence” segment above, in instructional analysis category I). For example, the introductory lesson in the Earth’s Solid Crust unit concludes with a Native American legend about the personification of wind and provides commentary about how “[a]n understanding of Earth processes has long been important in many different cultures over the centuries” (Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 9s). Some contributions, however, appear in separate features, particularly Multicultural Perspective and Careers. The Multicultural Perspective feature discusses contributions of particular cultural groups, sometimes with suggestions for further student research (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 70t). The Careers feature highlights various science professions related to the lesson topics, and some of the scientists identified are women (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 38s). The material also references related trade books (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 11s) and includes readings in the Teacher’s Anthology with Classroom Library Lessons (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Anthology with Classroom Library Lessons, pp. 6–8), some of which are authored by or describe the experiences of women and minorities. However, the features highlighting cultural contributions that are separated from the main text may not be seen by students as central to the material.

The material suggests multiple formats for students to express their ideas during instruction, including individual log writing (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 55s, Minds On! and p. 55t, Activity Log), cooperative group activities (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 63t, Developing Critical Thinking Processes: Research/Inquiry), laboratory investigations (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, pp. 52–53st, Explore Activity!), whole class discussions (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 23t, Discussion Strategies), creative writing (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 112s, Language Arts Link), oral and written reports (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 80t, Literature Link), and visual projects (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, Teacher’s Anthology with Classroom Library Lessons, p. 20, Integrating Science and Art). In addition, multiple formats are suggested for assessment, including oral (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 50d, Oral Assessment), concept mapping (e.g., Assessment Guide and Masters, Earth Changes Through Time, p. 5a), performance (e.g. Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 59t, Performance Assessment), group project (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 110c, Project Ideas), and portfolio (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 30c, Portfolio Assessment). 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 Planning Guide and supplemental resources (including Teacher’s Resource Book, Teacher’s Anthology with Classroom Library Lessons, Audio Tapes for Student Books, Activity Cards, Science On-Line Masters, and Problem Solving Software) provide additional activities and resources for students of specific ability levels. Each lesson in the Teacher’s Planning Guide includes a Meeting Individual Needs feature that provides activities for students related to the lesson topics. These activities are specifically designated for learning English, various learning modalities, challenge, reinforcement, or reading comprehension (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 5t, Meeting Individual Needs; Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 38t, Meeting Individual Needs). However, the placement of supplemental resources in materials separate from the main text may discourage their use, and the special needs codes within chapters may discourage teachers from using those activities with all students.

The material provides many strategies to validate students’ relevant personal and social experiences with scientific ideas. Some text sections relate specific personal (sometimes hypothetical) experiences students may have had to the presented scientific concepts (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 16s). In addition, some tasks—including Minds On! (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 50s), Multicultural Perspective (e.g., Earth Changes Through Time, p. 98t), and Meeting Individual Needs (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 79t)—ask students about personal experiences they may have had or suggest specific experiences they could have. For example, following a discussion of the use of index fossils to determine the relative age of rock layers in the Earth, a Minds On! task asks students to list examples of objects in their own communities that show relative ages and to explain (for two examples) what each shows about the community (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 26s). Associated teacher’s notes emphasize students understanding “the concept that relative ages of events in a community can be determined…. Since objects within the community vary in age, some parts of the community must be older than others” (Earth Changes Through Time, p. 26t, Developing Critical Thinking Processes: Concept Formation). The text then discusses a practical application of relative dating—the use of relative age and index fossils to locate potential fuel resources such as coal, gas, and oil within the Earth. For a few tasks, however, the material does not adequately link the specified personal experiences to the scientific ideas being studied (e.g., Earth’s Solid Crust, p. 5t, Meeting Individual Needs, item 3).

1.	About this Evaluation Report
2.	Content Analysis
3.	Instructional Analysis

Middle Grades Science Textbooks: A Benchmarks-Based Evaluation