A few phenomena are provided for other key Earth science ideas. For the idea that several processes contribute to changing the surface of the Earth (Idea b), typically the text provides only brief mentions of real-world instances where processes have made changes to the surface of the Earth. For example, the text explains that, “One way a plateau may be formed is by a slow, flat-topped fold. The Appalachian Plateau, which lies just west of the folded Appalachian Mountains, was created millions of years ago by such a fold” (p. 335s). There is no further discussion or description of a “flat-topped fold” or of the Appalachian Plateau. Since this phenomenon is only mentioned, it is not likely to make the key idea more plausible. For the idea that matching coastlines, rocks, and fossils suggest that today’s continents were once joined (Idea f), students read about Glossopteris fossils found on now widely separated continents (p. 373s), matching rock layers (p. 374s), and glacial features and rock deposits (pp. 374–375s). For the ideas related to plate tectonics (Ideas g, h), they read brief descriptions of land features that were created by the interactions of plates, such as the Appalachian Mountains, Himalayan Mountains, Japan, Indonesia, and the Aleutian islands (p. 385s).

Frequently, new and technical terms are used to define other new and technical terms. For instance, the text explains that, “A drumlin is an oval shaped mound of till” (p. 468s), with “till” being defined on the previous page. Also, the text provides the following statement about faults (with emphasis added to identify new or recently defined terms): “A special type of reverse fault is a thrust fault. A thrust fault is formed when compression causes the hanging wall to slide over the foot wall” (p. 331s). To a novice in Earth science, these types of sentences are difficult to understand. The terms are not linked to relevant experiences, and the number of terms introduced is daunting.

New and technical terminology is not restricted to what is needed to facilitate thinking and promote effective communication about the key ideas. Extraneous terms found in the text (for example, “silt,” “talus,” “pumice,” “scoria,” “myolite,” “continental shield,” “joints,” “deflation,” “oasis,” “volcanic bombs,” “cinders,” “crater,” and “caldera”) can distract students and teachers from focusing on the main concepts and processes involved in these Earth science ideas.

The text contains very few before-and-after pictures or diagrams that could help students see how the surface of the Earth has changed as a result of the various processes that act on it. Furthermore, many of the models that are used to represent certain Earth structures and processes are incomprehensible and not linked to the real thing. In Chapter 8: Earth’s Landmasses, the text describes many landforms but no representations are included. Also, some of the pictures are difficult to understand (e.g., page 285s shows the silhouette of a mountain, but the caption discusses the Colorado Plateau and the Grand Canyon).

The questions do not help students to make connections between their own ideas and their experiences or the correct scientific ideas. For example, an activity asks students to observe a new piece of chalk, break it in half, then observe the broken surfaces (p. 330t). The Teacher’s Edition includes two follow-up questions: “What did you observe?” and “What would you call a break in one of your bones?” These questions do not help students to make any sense of this activity, recognize how this experience relates to Earth science, understand what the point of the activity is, or recognize how the activity is relevant to what they were reading about. In another activity, students use clay to model compression, tension, and shearing. The questions that follow ask what happens as a result of compression, tension, and shearing (p. 330t). There are no questions about how this model is similar to, or different from, what really happens to rocks. The Teacher’s Guide at the front of the Teacher’s Edition recommends that the teacher tell students that compression pushes together or compresses the crust of the earth, tension pulls rocks apart, and shearing pushes rocks past one another—which is exactly what is stated in the reading section.

Mountains almost always appear as long, narrow, curving ranges located at the edges of continents. Mountain ranges vary greatly in age. Most scientists once thought that mountains formed because the Earth was contracting. This caused the surface to wrinkle up like a raisin. If the contraction hypothesis were correct, what would you expect to be true about the age and distribution of mountains? Explain why the theory of continental drift better accounts for the age and distribution of mountains. [p. 393s, Chapter Review, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, item 4]

The material rarely provides 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 (for example, “Accept all logical answers” [p. 326t, Using the Visuals, item 1]), often emphasize factual recall of information from the student text (for example, “The theory of plate tectonics combines the theories of continental drift and ocean-floor spreading to explain how the Earth has evolved” [p. 387t, 12–3 Section Review Answers, answer 1]), and frequently focus solely on the definitions of terms (for example, “Deformation is the breaking, tilting, and folding of rocks. [Applying definitions]” [p. 329t, Teaching Support, item 1]).

The material provides minimal support in recommending resources for improving the teacher’s understanding of key ideas. The material lists references by author, title, and publisher at the beginning of most chapters to help teachers improve their understanding of the key ideas (e.g., “Glen, Williams, Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics, Charles Merrill” [p. 370at]). However, the lists lack annotations about what kinds of information the references provide or how they may be helpful.

The material provides a few suggestions for how to respect and value students’ ideas. Introductory student notes about concept mapping state that responses may vary. Maps are correct if they show important concepts and relationships, are meaningful to the student, and help the student understand the text (p. 1s). In addition to concept mapping, the material explicitly elicits and values students’ ideas in journal writing and some other activities. For example, the Teacher’s Guide instructs the teacher to “[a]ccept all logical answers” for selected tasks (e.g., p. 372t, Using the Visuals).

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. 371st, Journal Activity; p. 393st, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, item 3a).

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 students can participate (pp. 5–19s). The material later illustrates changes over time in scientific thinking leading to the theory of plate tectonics (pp. 371–387s). In the plate tectonics chapter, a Section Review question addresses dogmatism by asking students to explain why “Wegener’s lack of formal training in geology…hurt him in getting his ideas accepted” and to give their opinion about the reasoning behind this view of Wegener (p. 375s, 12–1 Section Review, question 3). However, the teacher’s notes simply state, “Students’ answers will vary” (p. 375t, 12–1 Section Review Answers, answer 3), and they do not give teachers suggestions for how this question may facilitate a discussion of dogmatism in science. In addition, the material 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 by expecting single, specific responses for most student tasks.

The material does not provide examples of classroom interactions (e.g., dialogue boxes, vignettes, or video clips) that illustrate appropriate ways to respond to student questions or ideas. However, a limited sense of desirable student-student interactions may be gained from procedural directions for laboratory and cooperative group activities (e.g., p. 372st, Activity: Discovering; p. 390t, Laboratory Investigation: Mapping Lithospheric Plates; Teacher’s Desk Reference, Cooperative-Learning Strategies).

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 a separate essay entitled Science Gazette at the end of each unit. For example, one such Science Gazette describes both the accomplishments and struggles of NASA scientist Joanne Simpson, who was “the first American woman to receive a PhD in meteorology” (pp. 582–583s). The material also includes related features entitled Careers, Multicultural Strategy, and Connections. The Careers feature briefly describes a scientific occupation related to the chapter content, provides information on how students can learn more about the career, and includes a photograph of a scientist, who in some instances is a woman or minority (e.g., p. 385s). The Multicultural Strategy feature consists of general directions in teacher’s notes for projects related to the chapter content in which students often research particular characteristics of a cultural group (e.g., p. 277t). Connections are essays in the student text that sometimes address scientific contributions of particular cultures and relate to one of the text’s overarching themes: energy, evolution, patterns of change, scale and structure, systems and interactions, unity and diversity, or stability (e.g., p. 341s). Teacher’s notes associated with the essays provide suggestions for student discussion or research projects (e.g., pp. 340–341t). All of these sections highlighting cultural contributions are interesting and informative, but may not be seen by students as central to the material because they are presented in sidebars and teacher’s notes.

The material suggests multiple formats for students to use to express their ideas during instruction, including individual journal writing (e.g., p. 347s), cooperative group activities (e.g., p. 325t, Discovery Activity), laboratory investigations (e.g., p. 366s), whole class discussions (e.g., p. 280t, Develop), essay questions (e.g., pp. 305s, 304t, Concept Mastery, question 2), concept mapping (e.g., p. 392st), and making models (e.g., p. 286t, Reteach). In addition, multiple formats are suggested for assessment, including essay (e.g., Teaching Resources, chapter 10 booklet, pp. 38–39, item 4), performance (e.g., Teaching Resources, Performance-Based Assessment booklet, pp. 39–41), and portfolio (e.g., p. 305t, Keeping a Portfolio). 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 and supplemental Teaching Resources (which includes activities, review and reinforcement work sheets, laboratory investigation work sheets, science reading skills work sheets, and a Laboratory Manual) provide additional activities and resources for students of specific ability levels. Each chapter in the Teacher’s Edition includes ESL Strategy, Enrich activities, and Going Further: Enrichment activities. The ESL Strategy activities provide English-as-a-second-language students with practice in writing tasks often emphasizing vocabulary related to a chapter topic (e.g., p. 314t), and Enrich and Going Further: Enrichment activities allow interested students to further study a specified topic from the chapter (e.g., pp. 367t, 386t). One of the Teaching Resources booklets is a Spanish glossary that provides Spanish speakers with pronunciation assistance and definitions of key text concepts in Spanish. However, placing such supplemental resources in individual booklets separate from the main text may discourage their use.

The material provides some strategies to validate students’ relevant personal and social experiences with scientific ideas. Many text sections intersperse brief references to specific, personal experiences students may have had that relate to the presented scientific concepts (e.g., p. 328s). In addition, some tasks—including Journal Activity (e.g., p. 307s) and Multicultural Strategy (e.g., p. 309t)—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 and sometimes does not adequately link the specified personal experiences to the scientific ideas being studied (e.g., p. 371s, Journal Activity). Overall, support is brief and localized.