Do textbooks provide opportunities to develop meaningful botanical literacy? A case study of the scientific model of plant nutrition

ABSTRACT

Botanical literacy is a crucial component of science education, particularly in light of the contemporary socio-ecological challenges. However, the literature reports that, due to the phenomenon known as Plant Awareness Disparity (PAD), average botanical literacy is scant. Multiple factors influence the effectiveness of botanical education, including the quality of instructional materials teachers employ to support their instruction. Therefore, this study assesses the treatment of the Scientific Model of Plant Nutrition (SMPN) in seven commonly used Spanish Biology textbooks for secondary education to determine whether they foster a meaningful botanical literacy and empower students with the scientific competence needed to understand and make informed decisions regarding plant-related global challenges. The investigation evaluates four fundamental aspects: structure, conceptual content, images, and activities. Findings reveal that the analysed textbooks present PAD features; promote reproductive and superficial learning that fails to foster the construction of interrelated and scientifically accurate mental models of plant nutrition; include visual representations that do not always enhance learning; and propose tasks which are insufficient to develop the scientific skills and competence pursued by current science teaching-learning. The implications of this research on botanical literacy and teaching-learning of the SMPN are discussed, and measures to enhance educational materials are proposed.

KEYWORDS:

• Science teaching-learning
• textbook analysis
• botanical literacy
• plant awareness disparity
• plant nutrition

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This study has been partially supported by the Predoctoral Researcher Training Program of the UPV/EHU [PIF20/65] and the Basque Government through the IKASGARAIA (Education, Culture and Sustainable Development) Research Group [IT1637-22].