Study finds errors abundant in science textbooks
----------
Twelve of the most popular science textbooks used at government
middle schools nationwide are so riddled with errors that none
has an acceptable level of accuracy, according to the results
of a two-year survey, released earlier this month. (01/15/01)
http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/01/14/textbookerrors.ap/index.html

Study finds errors abundant in
science textbooks

January 14, 2001
Web posted at: 4:53 PM EST (2153 GMT)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- Twelve of the most popular science
textbooks used at middle schools nationwide are riddled with
errors, a new study has found.

Researchers compiled 500 pages of errors, ranging from maps
depicting the equator passing through the southern United States
to a photo of singer Linda Ronstadt labeled as a silicon crystal.

None of the 12 textbooks has an
acceptable level of accuracy, said John
Hubisz, a North Carolina State
University physics professor who led
the two-year survey, released earlier this month.

"These are terrible books, and they're probably a strong
component of why we do so poorly in science," he said. Hubisz
estimated about 85 percent of children in the United States use
the textbooks examined.

"The books have a very large number of errors, many irrelevant
photographs, complicated illustrations, experiments that could
not possibly work, and drawings that represented impossible
situations," he told The Charlotte Observer.

The study was financed with a $64,000 grant from the David
and Lucile Packard Foundation. A team of researchers,
including middle school teachers and college professors,
reviewed the 12 textbooks for factual errors.

"These are basic errors," Hubisz said. "It's stuff that anyone
who had taken a science class would be able to catch."

One textbook even misstates Newton's first law of physics, a
staple of physical science for centuries.

Errors in the multi-volume Prentice Hall "Science" series
included an incorrect depiction of what happens to light when it
passes through a prism and the Ronstadt photo. Hubisz said the
Prentice Hall series was probably the most error-filled.

Prentice Hall acknowledged some errors, partly because states
alter standards at the last minute and publishers have to rush to
make changes.

"We may have to change a photograph because of a new
content objection, and the caption isn't changed with the
photograph," Wendy Spiegel, a spokeswoman for Prentice
Hall's parent company, Pearson Education, told the Observer.
"But we believe we have the best practices to ensure accuracy."

Last year, the company launched a thorough audit of its
textbooks for accuracy and posted corrections on a Web site,
she said.

Textbooks are generally reviewed by teachers, administrators,
parents and curriculum specialists before the books are used in a
classroom. But Hubisz, president of the American Association
of Physics Teachers, said many middle-school science teachers
have little physical science training and may not recognize
errors.

The study's reviewers tried to contact textbook authors with
questions, Hubisz said, but in many cases the people listed said
they didn't write the book, and some didn't even know their
names had been listed. Some of the authors of a physical
science book, for example, were biologists.

Hubisz said educators need to pressure publishers to get "real
authors" for textbooks.

"They get people to check for political correctness ... they try to
get in as much cultural diversity as possible," he said. "They just
don't seem to understand what science is about."

Hubisz said the researchers contacted publishers, who for the
most part either dismissed the panel's findings or promised
corrections in subsequent editions.

Reviews of later editions turned up more errors than
corrections, the report said.