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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. 

The study investigates whether Dynamic Equilibrium (DE) can serve as a “powerful idea” (Papert, 1980) that bridges phenomena across STEM fields. Through semi-structured interviews with five scientists, we identified three themes: DE was rarely used explicitly but appeared across fields; reflection on DE prompted a more generalized framing; and DE spanned scales from molecules to human populations. These findings suggest DE’s potential as a cross-cutting concept that connects otherwise fragmented content in STEM education.