Introduction

Your group been given the task of assisting in the selection of the "best" science textbook for your school.  Before the selection is adopted by the school it must be approved by both the School Board and the local parent's group.

You are to develop a presentation in which you summarize the results of your evaluation. Your task includes the following steps:

• You must decide on the criteria used to make the selection;
• Survey the available texts;
• Select one to evaluate;
• Determine the positive and negative aspects of the text;
• Summarize your findings;
• Create a persuasive presentation for the Board;
• Give your presentation

The format of your presentation is up to you. Your presentation should take no more than 10 - 15 minutes.  You should have additional materials/resources available to answer questions or for follow-up presentations.

You have received a lot of material related to science curriculum.  You will be receiving more related to reading which may affect your choice. 

1. First you'll be working on your own...
2. Develop a set of criteria you will use
3. Select a textbook that appears to be appropriate (if you have experience with this text it would help)
4. Email your choice to Dr W for approval.  Only 1 review of each text will be approved.
5. Evaluate the text
6. Develop your presentation
7. Give the presentation

Your presentation should include

• Criteria used in the evaluation and why it was used
• Description of why the specific text was evaluated
• Summary of evaluation
• Recommendation
• List of additional resources on text

Describe to the learners how their performance will be evaluated. Specify whether there will be a common grade for group work vs. individual grades.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Criteria used	Description of identified criteria reflecting a beginning level of performance.	Description of identified criteria reflecting development and movement toward mastery of performance.	Description of identified criteria reflecting mastery of performance.	Description of identified criteria reflecting the highest level of performance.
Appropriate textbook	Stated characteristics of book reflect a beginning level of performance.	Stated characteristics of book reflect development and movement toward mastery of performance.	Stated characteristics of book reflect mastery of performance.	Stated characteristics of book reflect the highest level of performance.
Evaluation of text	Evaluation incomplete and unfair	Evaluation fair but incomplete	Evaluation complete and fair	Evaluation complete, fair and all encompassing
Presentation	Presentation incomplete and poorly done	Presentation complete but poorly done	Presentation complete and done acceptably	Presentation complete and well done
Additional resources provided	Additional resources poorly selected and presented	Additional resources presented clearly but not well chosen	Additional resources well chosen and presented clearly	Additional resources well chosen, complete and presented clearly

The most common way in which teachers design the curriculum is by their choice of a textbook.  Teachers do not always get to choose the text they use but it can be a critical factor in determining how well students will perform in a course.  Hopefully, the experience you have gained will help you make your future decisions.

A quick search of online resources related to science textbooks has yielded the following.  There are many more available that you may wish to use.

Textbook Companies
Kendall Hunt
Addison Wesley
Prentice Hall
Glencoe
Holt Rinehart

Resources related to textbook design and evaluation

http://www.nsrconline.org/curriculum_resources/middle_school.html

http://ustimss.msu.edu/coherentscience.pdf

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/science/index.html

http://www.nsta.org/textbooks

http://www.textbookleague.org/index.html

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/11/03/badbooks/

http://www.usatoday.org/news/ndssun04.htm

http://www2.nsta.org/recommends/

http://www.forefrontcurriculum.com/CASEL105.pdf

http://www.amasci.com/miscon/miscon.html

http://www.ems.psu.edu/~fraser/BadScience.html