Our aim is to develop framework for science textbook (or students’ book) analysis and evaluation as well as conduct comparative evaluation on four science textbooks (three of which are Hungarian and one from Oxford University Press, UK). The focus is on 10 to 14-year-old students in upper primary or lower secondary schools. To do so, research questions are (a) what are the most effective science teaching and learning strategies, models and methods according to the international literature, (b) how can science student books best support and inspire teachers and students to apply these most effective pedagogies, and (c) coding and analysis of the four chosen textbooks.

Reflecting on research question (a) our focus was to compile teaching and learning strategies, techniques and methods that work best, according to (mainly quantitative) research evidence. Given the global nature of online sources we used, research literature from most European countries contributed to our findings together with publications from Africa, America, Asia and Australia. In our review a mixture of behaviourist, cognitivist and social constructivist teaching traditions came up. For instance, a specific balance of teacher-centred and learner-centred science instruction is proved to be most effective by an extensive amount of evidence from the literature, with a strong focus on improving metacognitive skills.

In order to identify state-of-the-art pedagogies, we have conducted an exhaustive review of publications in English and partly in German. Regarding effective science teaching and learning strategies on secondary level, a systematic analysis was carried out, using a sample of 767 articles out of 16664 search results from Google Scholar, ERIC and ProQuest publication databases. Sampling was partly built on the ranking of the search engines and partly on a random selection of all the items on the results lists. Some inclusion criteria were to be peer reviewed and/or a synthesis review (such as systematic reviews or meta-analyses) or large-scale study. We included publications based at least partially on quantitative data. Studies using measures of (the development of) student performance and improvement data were preferred. Alongside the review of research literature we also built on existing textbook evaluation and accreditation tools from Hungary, the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), Hong Kong, Germany and further sources. The language of the publications processed were English, German and Hungarian covering countries from all four inhabited continents. The research also involved a survey with a panel of experts in physics teaching and inspection.

As products of our research, an analytical frame and coding manual has been developed. Regarding question (b) how science books can inspire and support effective pedagogies we identified 5 categories for evaluation (1) content, (2) learning and teaching, (3) structure and organization, (4) language, and (5) textbook layout. Based on our results a mixed methods coding manual as well as an interpretational frame has been developed. The coding, analysis and evaluation of four science students’ books is forthcoming and we will be able to present some preliminary results at EERA conference 2018 in Bolzano.

Global perspective of this research project lies in the international research literature it has been based on, in our focus on science teaching and learning strategies, techniques and methods that are proven to be effective in various cultural and ethnic contexts, and in our comparative analysis of Hungarian and English textbooks in the first quarter of 2018.

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