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Representations of Nature of Science in Science Textbooks

A Systematic Review

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Abstract 

This systematic review summarized 42 selected empirical studies on the representations of nature of science (NOS) in science textbooks guided by three theoretical frameworks, which are the four-theme scientific literacy (SL), the consensus view on nature of science (CV), and the family resemblance approach to the nature of science (FRA). This review aimed to identify research trends, research foci, and research results of the reviewed studies under each framework. Concerning research trends, the most prevalent and widely used framework was CV framework, followed by SL, and the least was FRA. Moreover, it took an increasing trend in the application of CV and FRA framework while there was a decreasing tendency for the application of SL framework. With regard to research foci, articles that utilized the SL framework exclusively concentrated on “the balance of four scientific literacy themes.” Articles that applied the CV framework identified four research foci: “the quality of and approach to addressing NOS aspects,” “the quantity and distribution of addressing NOS aspects,” “the factors that influenced NOS representations,” and “the content relation of NOS aspects.” Studies that applied the FRA framework included three foci: “the quantity and distribution of addressing NOS aspects,” “the quality of and approach to addressing NOS aspects,” and “the category differentiation of FRA.” In respect of research results, NOS was poorly represented in science textbooks, irrespective of the NOS framework utilized, country, discipline, and educational level. Some recommendations concerning future research and practice in this field are provided.

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Data Availability

The data and materials used and analyzed for the report were obtained through searching the electronic databases (Scopus, Web of Science, and ERIC), and related journal information is available directly from these journals’ websites.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Macau, Taipa, Macau, China

    Riping Su, Zhimeng Jiang & Bing Wei

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  1. Riping Su
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  2. Zhimeng Jiang
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  3. Bing Wei
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Contributions

SRP was the major contributor in writing the manuscript. JZM and WB contributed to analyze data, interpret data, and review the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Bing Wei.

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All study procedures met the ethical guidelines for protection of human participants and received an approval by ethical committees in the University of Macau. This study involves no human participants. It meets all the ethics requirements at the time the data were collected.

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Su, R., Jiang, Z. & Wei, B. Representations of Nature of Science in Science Textbooks. Sci & Educ (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-023-00475-y

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