An official website of the United States government
The Georgia Department of Education has clearly defined standards for learning about Africa in the seventh grade. However, there exists great variation in how textbooks present this material and address these standards. Using a qualitative content analysis approach, we assess the presentation of Africa in three widely used Georgia social studies textbooks. We document and analyze coverage of Africa across Georgia’s seventh grade world studies learning domains. Our research demonstrates: 1) that, despite widespread calls for decolonization of education and strengthening of multicultural education, Euro-American perspectives on Africa are still prevalent; 2) textbooks vary widely on how they choose to address the social studies standards for Africa; and 3) negative stereotypes of Africa and its peoples continue to be reaffirmed, to the detriment of Georgia students. Lastly, our research also contributes to larger conversations on the utility of content analysis as a methodology for understanding educational practices.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on June 12, 2026
Dynamic Equilibrium in Science Education: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives and Representations in Israel and United States Standards and Textbooks
Abstract: The study examines how Dynamic Equilibrium (DE) is represented in science national standards and textbooks for high-school biology, chemistry, and physics in the US and Israel. DE, a crucial concept in understanding dynamic systems, is inconsistently represented across educational materials and students encounter difficulties learning about DE. Analyzing 17 textbooks and national standards, the research combines quantitative and qualitative content analysis to assess the frequency and nature of presentation of DE-related phenomena. The study identifies 256 DE-related phenomena, comprising 14% of all phenomena that are studied in science. The primary systems approach used is System Dynamics, which focuses on stocks and rates of flow at one description level. The main representational format is verbal, and computational models are scarcely used. Differences across disciplines and between countries were found. These findings emphasize the need for powerful representations of DE to enhance students' understanding of dynamic systems and improve science education.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2240216
- PAR ID:
- 10614030
- Publisher / Repository:
- Proceedings of the 19th International Conference of the Learning Sciences
- Date Published:
- Edition / Version:
- ICLS 2025
- ISBN:
- 979-8-9906980-3-1
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1043 to 1051
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- https://repository.isls.org/handle/1/11217?mode=full
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract Understanding the world around us is a growing necessity for the whole public, as citizens are required to make informed decisions in their everyday lives about complex issues. Systems thinking (ST) is a promising approach for developing solutions to various problems that society faces and has been acknowledged as a crosscutting concept that should be integrated across educational science disciplines. However, studies show that engaging students in ST is challenging, especially concerning aspects like change over time and feedback. Using computational system models and a system dynamics approach can support students in overcoming these challenges when making sense of complex phenomena. In this paper, we describe an empirical study that examines how 10th grade students engage in aspects of ST through computational system modeling as part of a Next Generation Science Standards-aligned project-based learning unit on chemical kinetics. We show students’ increased capacity to explain the underlying mechanism of the phenomenon in terms of change over time that goes beyond linear causal relationships. However, student models and their accompanying explanations were limited in scope as students did not address feedback mechanisms as part of their modeling and explanations. In addition, we describe specific challenges students encountered when evaluating and revising models. In particular, we show epistemological barriers to fruitful use of real-world data for model revision. Our findings provide insights into the opportunities of a system dynamics approach and the challenges that remain in supporting students to make sense of complex phenomena and nonlinear mechanisms.more » « less
-
The Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) K-12 Computer Science Standards identify ‘Algorithms and Programming’ as a key CS concept across all grade bands that encompasses sub-concepts such as algorithms, decomposition, variables, and control structures. Previous studies have shown that algorithms and programming concepts often pose challenges for novice programmers, and that instruction in these areas is often superficial. We developed formative assessment tasks to investigate middle school students’ understanding of four CS standards related to algorithms and programming and collected responses from over 100 students associated with five different teachers. We found that students demonstrated a limited understanding of the standards. These findings contribute to the growing literature on middle school students’ understanding of algorithms and programming, and provide insights that can inform CS teacher development, instruction, and curriculum design.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)This study focuses on the kinds of uncertainty experienced by students in relation to the level and kind of students’ thinking during the implementation of a cognitively demanding science task. The Framework for K-12 Science Education together with the Next Generation Science Standards emphasize the integration of scientific knowledge with scientific practices as students try to figure out phenomena. During this process of sensemaking, students experience moments of uncertainty that are a key part of doing science and drive scientific pursuits. By examining video-records of a science lesson in which the teacher and the students worked on a cognitively demanding science task, and by analyzing students’ interviews about this lesson, we identify the types of uncertainty that students experienced during the implementation of this task across the trajectory of the lesson. Moving beyond an all or nothing approach to uncertainty, our analysis reveals different kinds of uncertainty that students can experience and presents cognitively demanding tasks as a means to integrate uncertainty into students’ experiences.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Research on K-12 integrated STEM settings suggests that engineering design activities play an important role in supporting students’ science learning. Moreover, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine named improvement in science achievement as an objective of K-12 engineering education. Despite promising findings and the theorized importance of engineering education on science learning, there is little literature that investigates the impact of independent engineering design courses on students’ science learning at the high school level. This sparse exploration motivates our work-in-progress study, which explores the impact of high school students’ exposure to engineering design curriculum on their interest in science through a semi-structured student focus group method. This study is a part of a National Science Foundation-funded project that investigates the implementation of [de-identified program], a yearlong high school course that introduces students across the United States to engineering design principles. The Fall 2020 student focus group protocol built on the [de-identified program] 2019-2020 protocol with the addition of a science interest item to the existing engineering self-efficacy and interest items. Approximately thirty-minute semi-structured student focus groups were conducted and recorded via Zoom, then the transcripts and notes were analyzed using an in-vivo coding method. Our preliminary findings suggest that future studies should aim to gain a deeper understanding of the influence standalone engineering design courses have on students’ science interests and explore the role engineering design teachers play in increasing students’ interest in science.more » « less
