Research article

Comparative Analysis of the Presentation of the Nature of Science in U.S. High School Biology and Korea High School Science Textbooks

Young Hee Lee

Graduate School of Education, Dankook University, 152 Juckjeon Street, Yongin City, Sugi Gu, Kyunggi province, Republic of Korea

Email: regina0930@yahoo.com, leeyh@tsu.edu, Phone: 713-313-7501

Accepted 28 September, 2013

Abstract

The aim of this study was to conduct a content analysis to compare the presentation of the four themes of the nature of science in the first chapter of four U.S. high school biology textbooks and five Korea high school general science textbooks with the modified four themes of the nature of science framework, which are: (a) science as a body of knowledge; (b) science as a way of investigating; (c) science as a way of thinking; and (d) science, technology, and society. The current analyses of U.S. and Korean textbooks demonstrates with a good level of reliabilities ranging from .63 to .96 in U.S. and from .79 to 1.00 in Korea textbooks for Cohen’s kappa. While only some U.S. high school biology textbooks reflect a reasonably balanced treatment of the four themes in the first chapter, most of Korea high school general science textbooks reflect a reasonably balanced treatment of the four themes of the nature of science. Also, both authors of U.S. high school biology textbooks and Korean high school science textbooks are attempting to convey an idea of what science is by emphasizing investigation and the thinking processes of scientists -- not by presenting scientific knowledge.

Keywords: nature of science, textbook analysis, comparative analysis, high school biology, high school science, content analysis