A microethnography of a secondary earth science classroom: A focus upon textbooks and reading

Roger Alan Stewart, Purdue University

Abstract

Although textbooks have been repeatedly shown to be a dominant instructional device in science classrooms, more specification of how the textbook is used in science classrooms is needed to better understand the role of the textbook and reading in science instruction. The primary research question was how does the textbook and reading contribute to the construction of meaning within the culture of a single earth science classroom? Roles of the textbook and reading in the classroom construction of meaning were explored in a high school earth science classroom. Microethnographic methodologies of participant observation, artifact collection, audio and video taping of classroom dialogue, and interviewing were conducted for 60 days in a large midwestern high school. Data were analyzed using constant comparison. Categories and properties were inductively derived from the multiplicity of data sources. The multiplicity of data sources allowed for extensive data triangulation thus establishing the reliability and validity of the coded categories and properties. Results of the study added to a growing body of literature illustrating that reading and textbook usage become subordinate to more dominant concerns within the classroom. Although reading was assigned, the content structure and its classroom delivery were such that extended text processing was not always necessary to success in the classroom.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

O'Brien, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Literacy|Reading instruction

COinS