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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I’m a high school science teacher.  Science instruction has moved away from rote memorization of science facts and more into science skills, analysis and critical thinking.  I have access to textbooks but choose not to use them (both AP level and freshman level).  Instead I give my students diagrams to analyze. Real data to analyze.  Labs to complete and analyze.  Modeling projects where they need to wrestle with the content and make sense of it as they go.  It often takes a while to convince students that the goal is not memorization.  No publishers textbook I’ve had access to does any justice to aligning well with the rewritten AP science curriculum or NGSS.  They claim to but don’t.  Maybe I’ve just never had access to one’s that do.  I can say in a heartbeat I’d rather have $8000 dollars in lab equipment as opposed to 80 $100 textbooks for my students to occasionally use.  [/quote]

Re-read what you wrote and realize how ridiculous it is. Unless you memorize some science facts you can’t really analyze. I couldn’t it believe when my 9th grader started bringing home assignments that said - “use a credible internet source to find…”   Or has work that is all about the process and it doesn’t matter if it is right it wrong as long as they follow the process. There is basic scientific information everyone should memorize to be an informed citizen. You can memorize first then use real data to analyze. [/quote]

I have reread what I wrote and stand by it.  Please let me know what biology facts must be memorized before  a student can start to understand a biology concept.  For example it is critically important for students to learn about evolution.  But they retain the understanding much better if they start out simulating/modeling the process with a hands on activity.  Then look at the data and develop an explanation of what is happening.  Then look at real world data and apply the simulation developed understanding to the real world data.  They learn the vocabulary and facts in context.

Maybe I’m an outlier as a teacher.  I deeply know my content.  I enjoy curriculum development. I spend far more hours than I should developing my class materials.  I teach students how to keep their work organized and reinforce organization.  I teach students how to study from their resources and test them in a way that is aligned to what they are learning.  I will say a textbook might be needed for a teacher/class that is less organized or experienced.  When I taught AP psych (a memorization heavy test) with less expertise in that field than bio the AP aligned textbook was a lifesaver for me and my students.  Each year I relied on the textbook less as I developed a deeper understanding of the content and crafted engaging materials for the students.  My textbook based class in the early years wasn’t bad.  The class did get better though in later years.

Textbooks aren’t good or bad.  There are many ways of learning.  But there is a cost trade off that at least for me is definitely not worthwhile for my teaching.[/quote]

I agree that doing science is critical to understanding.  But there are basics of experimental design and the scientific process that are consistent and the protocols and vocabulary associated with those steps and analysis processes is well-captured in textbook format.  The mastery of concepts like control group and dependent/ independent variables is limited in elementary school.  So there needs to be some baseline established when you have kids coming from all different places at all different levels.  This is what textbooks can accomplish really well.[/quote]

How? Why can't this be online? Science process, in particular can actually be not only current and relevant,  but interactive and immersive. Why would you want a Science lesson out of  book?[/quote]

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