Nan Wang , Xiaojian Ma , Wangyi Xu *
Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang , China
*Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 2026-4-15 / Accepted: 2026-6-3 / Published: 2026-7-17
DOI: https://doi.org/10.37906/real.2026.4
Abstract Understanding the nature of science (NOS) is crucial for cultivating students’ scientific literacy. This study examined the extent, representation (explicit or implicit), accuracy, and completeness of NOS in junior high school science textbooks from China, Korea, Japan, and the United States. Five textbook editions across these four countries were analyzed to identify overall consistency and variations in their treatment of NOS. The findings revealed that NOS representations across selected textbook sections were generally inadequate, with only textbooks from three countries satisfactorily addressing certain NOS aspects. Among these, textbooks from three countries covered all selected content sections, while only one textbook effectively represented all aspects of NOS. Furthermore, NOS representations were unevenly distributed within each textbook, and over half of the NOS content was only partially informed. It is recommended that future textbook revisions adopt more comprehensive and evenly distributed coverage of NOS and explicitly emphasize NOS components to enhance students’ scientific literacy.
Research Areas: Instructional meterials development
Keywords: nature of science, textbook analysis, multicultural, representation
