This-essay is a7312123.htm which is available at the web-site www.essayz.com. See more notes at the bottom. Previous-Essay <== This-Essay ==> Following-Essay By-Months By-Years By-Words Webs of Like-&-Un-Like ESSAYS <==> Like-&-UN-Like This-One ========================================================== %TEXTBOOK FLOOD 731212 In recent years the flood of textbook material in the natural sciences has been so great that a person could easily spend full time trying to evaluate new text books relevant to courses he or she teaches. Spending all one's time that way would preclude being in dialogue with real students. The flood of new textbooks is symptomatic of the dominant focus upon the information content of the natural sciences. With the dominant focus upon the information and prescriptive techniques it is natural that many will seek to solve the problems of science education by developing new and different permutations and combinations of content material. Such efforts are the natural consequence of the state of consciousness of those who make the value judgments about what is essential in science education. Many of the new textbooks are helpful contributions toward more effective science education which will have carry-over values for real students. Yet, the effectiveness of science education would be furthered more if some-how it might be made profitable for a variety of scientists to prepare comprehensive descriptions of the values and weaknesses of available textbooks. The scientific societies would serve their own best interests by supporting numerous individuals in full time year-round work of this sort. The govern-mental agencies would serve the public interest by similar support. The focus of such textbook studies should be descriptive of the intent and product of the author. Such descriptions should be put into a variety of broader perspectives within which teachers may make their own value judgments. Until more effort is put into making available comprehensive reviews of textbooks, science students will be the victims of hasty decisions of their instructors who fail to uncover the unexamined assumptions built into text-books. While it is true that a good instructor can teach well even with an inadequate textbook, there are few such instructors. Too often real students are the victims of the theoretical inclinations of educators who are personally inclined to write textbooks. Some of the educators who might be able to write more helpful textbooks are not personally inclined to spend their time on verbal ensymbolments. Thus, often students are the victims of theoretical ensymbolments and rarely the beneficiaries of texts written by attractive scientists. (c) 1999 by Paul A. Smith in GO: essayz.com "Search for Integrity and Honesty" (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy) ==========================================================
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