Teachers for generations have struggled with the challenge of motivating students to learn in their classes. Literature suggests that a positive way to increase student motivation and academic achievement in science is with the laboratory experience. With the lack of adequate laboratory space in our schools, teachers are having to "make do" in science classes with limited space and budget. A need exists for 9th grade Earth Science laboratory activities that meet county course objectives and yet are simple enough to be used in a classroom setting, thereby eliminating the need for extra expenses for the science department. This project has developed a set of laboratory experiences appropriate for 9th grade Earth Science courses in Duval County.

Studien syftar till att bidra med kunskap om, i vilken utsträckning läromedel i matematik föreslår laborativa aktiviteter. Forskning visar att det är gynnsamt för elever att arbeta laborativt. Metoden som valdes är en kvalitativ innehållsanalys. Det skapades ett analysschema med hjälp av tidigare forskning och läroplanen från 2011, specifikt för den här studien. Utifrån analysschemat analyserades tre olika läromedel för årskurs fyra i matematik. Studien har använt det sociokulturella perspektivet för att skapa förståelse för laborativa aktiviteter. En laborativ aktivitet genomförs antingen med ett laborerande arbetssätt eller ett konkretiserande arbetssätt. För att analysera och tolka resultaten har tidigare forskning och variationsteorin används.  Resultatet visar att laborativa aktiviteter främst förekommer inom kunskapsområde Taluppfattning och tals användning. Det visar även att det är laborerande arbetssätt som används mer än konkretiserande arbetssätt vid de laborativa aktiviteterna.  Pedagogiska material föreslås till störst andel av de laborativa aktiviteterna. Läromedlen i studien föreslår laborativa aktiviteter i olika stor utsträckning. Ett läromedel som föreslår få laborativa aktiviteter kräver mer av läraren. Det betyder att läraren själv får hitta och producera laborativa aktiviteter. Läromedel som föreslår många laborativa aktiviteter skapar förutsättningar för lärare att arbeta laborativt. Studien har bidragit till mer kunskap om laborativa aktiviteter i läromedel. / This study aims to contribute knowledge of what extent teaching materials in mathematics suggest laboratory activities. The teaching materials in the study suggest laboratory activities to various extent. The method chosen is a qualitative content analysis. An analysis scheme was created using previous research and curriculum from 2011, specifically for this study. Based on the analysis scheme, three different teaching materials for grade four, mathematics were analyzed. The study has used the socio-cultural perspective to create an understanding of laboratory activities. A laboratory activity is carried out either with a laboratory method or a concretized method. In order to analyze and interpret the results, previous research and the theory of variation have been used. The result shows that laboratory activities mainly occur in the knowledge areas of numerical understanding and the use of numbers. It also shows that laboratory methods are used more often than concretized methods in the laboratory activities. Educational materials are suggested for most laboratory activities. Research shows that it is beneficial for students to work with laboratory activities. A teaching material that suggests few laboratory activities requires more from the teacher. This means that teachers themselves have to find and produce laboratory activities. Teaching materials that suggest many laboratory activities creates conditions for teachers to work laboratory. This study has contributed to more knowledge about laboratory activities in teaching materials.

In this study, the aim has been to investigate how different educational materials in the nature science subjects are designed with the intention of how many and what types of laboratory activities the pupils will encounter to contextualize the abstract nature of science to develop their understanding of the content and working methods of science. In order for the pupils to have the opportunity to develop a scientific understanding, it is necessary that they have the opportunity to use their senses to interpret the text that is presented to them. Through various sensual, experimental, and practical activities, pupils can gain an understanding of the abstract phenomena, concepts, and explanatory models of natural science. In today's schools, there are many teachers who use educational materials as their point of departure when teaching science. Educational materials have an important role in science teaching, but depending on how the educational materials are designed, they provide different conditions for learning. In this study, the number of laboratory activities, that appear in different educational materials for science teaching, is investigated, as well as whether these laboratory activities are designed in terms of their degree of freedom and openness. The following questions have been addressed in order to achieve the purpose of the study: - How many laboratory activities can be found in the various educational materials?-  Are there more laboratory activities in any of the three nature-oriented subjects, biology, physics, or chemistry? - What types of laboratory activities do the pupils encounter in the educational materials and what degree of openness and freedom do they include? The investigation has been carried out through a qualitative and quantitative text and content analysis where various educational materials have been analyzed based on the context-based learning (CBL) theory and the theory of laboratory classification. The results of the qualitative and quantitative text and content analysis showed that certain educational materials give the pupils more opportunities to connect the scientific content to real experiences. The results also showed that some educational materials have a greater variety of different laboratory forms where the pupils have the opportunity to develop an understanding of the different working methods and content of the natural sciences. The conclusion that can be drawn after this study is therefore that it is important that teachers carefully review the various2educational materials to gain insight into their design. Through insight into the design of the educational materials, the teacher can then supplement the educational materials with, for example, laboratories of varying degrees of openness and freedom to give the pupils the opportunity to fulfill the goals in the curriculum.

本研究是以1980年代以後的科學教育目標來分析我國國小自然科學教科書 之課本、教學指引及習作，探討教科書的內容、實驗活動及作業問題型態 ，並調查國小自然科教師對教科書的使用意見，了解現行教科書的優缺點 ，以供編撰教科書及學校、教師選擇教科書的參考。 為達上述之目的，本研究在內容分析部份採用的工具有科學知識本質年齡 層次分類表、ＳＴＳ科學教育目標、實驗活動發現開放層次分類法、科學 過程探究技能、教科書作業問題型態評估工具、以及 Bloom的目標分類法 ，在問卷調查方面採用國小自然科學教科書之意見調查表來蒐集和分析資 料。 本研究的主要發現如下: 一、國小自然科學教科書之課本內容在文字敘述上涉及科學知識本質的僅 佔0.084%，而這些文字敘述只提到科學知識是實證性的，雖如此，但其內 容仍含有科學知識本質之正面教學功能。 二、國小自然科學教科書的每個單元都提及個人需要及學術準備的科學教 育目標，而有25.53%的單元提及與科學有關的社會議題，但無提及有關生 涯職業教育的內容。 三、國小自然科學教科書的實驗活動無屬於層次０的單元，有55.32%的單 元屬於層次１，42.55%的單元屬於層次２，2.13% 的單元屬於層次３，是 屬相當不錯的實驗活動設計。 四、國小自然科學教科書習作的作業問題型態以及層次之分佈，有1.94% 的問題屬於非經驗性問題，98.06%的問題屬於經驗或實驗性問題；且屬於 高層次問題的比例較多，亦有一些價值性問題的設計，是相當重視學生高 層次問題解決的學習。以 Bloom目標分類來看，幾乎所有的作業問題都屬 於認知領域的問題，佔了99.72%，其中以理解和應用的問題為最多。 五、國小自然科教師對教科書的整體意見為滿意。可是教師對於教科書的 內容並不滿意但尚可接受；其他各項來說，教師對教科書的組織、閱讀層 次、圖表說明、課文中的實驗活動及習作、教學指引、教科書的容貌均呈 滿意的態度。 The purpose of this study was to analyze the science textbooks used in the elementary schools of Taiwan in terms of goals for science education. The following five components were studied and analyzed:(1)the nature of scientific knowledge, (2)the interaction of science, technology and society, (3)openness and process/skills of laboratory activities, (4)type and level of questioning style, and(5)opinions of science teachers concerning science textbooks. For the purposes described above, seven methods were adopted for this study; that is, the classification of the nature of scientific knowledge, the desired state of science in the elementary school, the level of discovery/openness, science process or inquity skills, and textbook questioning strategies assessment instrument, Bloom's taxonomy classifies educational objectives and science textbook rating system. The major findings include: 1.Only about 0.084% of the narrative page space is devoted to the nature of scientific knowledge in the science textbooks used in elementary school. Only empirical scientific knowledge was presented. 2.Every unit in the science textbooks used in elementary school is associated with the goals of personal needs and academic preparation. 25.53% of units are associated with the goals of societal issues, but no unit associated with the goals of career education. 3.Most of the laboratory activities in the science textbooks used in elementary schools, which provided the problems and the procedures to student's performance, belong to level 1 or 2. 4.Most of the questions are experiential questions(98.06%). And almost of the questions are cognitive domain(99.72%), and most of them are comprehension questions and application questions. 5.Most of the elementary school science teachers are satisfied with the science textbooks used in elementary schools , and their satisfaction goes beyond the contents of the textbooks.