The longitudinal treatment and structure of plate tectonics in introductory college-level physical geology textbooks : 1974-2005

• Main Author: Fowler, Philip A.
• Other Authors: Grigsby, Jeffry D.
• Format: Others
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Plate tectonics > Study and teaching (Higher); Physical geology > Study and teaching (Higher) > Textbooks.
• Online Access: http://cardinalscholar.bsu.edu/handle/handle/176217; http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1325992

The objective of this study was to determine if trends were present in the longitudinal treatment of concepts of plate tectonics in introductory college-level physical geology textbooks. In addition, a method was designed to convey the structure of these concepts of plate tectonics by determining the location in the textbook where they occur.Eighteen textbooks were selected from the time period of 1975 through 2004. The total narrative area was determined by measuring the height and width of each column of text in each textbook. Individual concepts of plate tectonics were determined using the constant comparative method. Nine concepts were identified. The treatment of each concept was expressed as a concept's percentage of the textbook's total narrative area. The structure of plate tectonics in each textbook was determined by creating scatterplots and pie graphs of the location within the text and the area devoted to each concept. Furthermore, a measure of the structure of the textbook over the study period was determined by comparing the proportion of chapters containing concepts of plate tectonics with the publication date.A strong positive correlation (r=.638) was found between the treatment of the theory of plate tectonics and the publication date of the textbook. This correlation was significant to the 0.01 level. Two of the nine identified concepts of plate tectonics were also found to have significant correlations.Similarly, a strong positive correlation was found between the proportion of chapters containing concepts of plate tectonics and the publication date. Thus, concepts of plate tectonics are found in more chapters in textbooks published during the latter parts of the study period.A concern arising from this study is the treatment of the concept identified as "The evidence for and the development of plate tectonics." This is the only identified concept of plate tectonics that showed a marked decrease during the study period. Furthermore, this concept corresponds with other studies that found many of America's textbooks reporting the end results of science while omitting the nature of science. === Department of Geology