What's New?

A Note from John Hubisz

This web site is for anyone with an interest in Middle School physical science textbooks, resource materials, teaching, training, and so on.

I hope to be able to provide valuable assistance to anyone and everyone interested in seeing to it that the Middle School student's experience in physical science is a positive one and one that encourages further interest in the study of science.

I have been answering many individual requests. I, however, do not provide answers to textbook questions. I am though willing, and have been commenting on answers given in Teacher’s Editions (some were right and some wrong), to respond to specific questions. The more interesting ones I have been sending to those who have signed on. You can send messages; I just have to monitor them. Several questions fall into neat boxes such as “Should we teach science in Middle School?”, “What do think of science fairs?”, and “What do think about NCLB?” I am preparing essays on the topics.

There are several reviews of new books and a few older books that had small sales at the time of the original Report, that warrant a look for anyone trying to select a text or looking for some help in preparing a course. These reviews come out of a Second Report that has been on-going for some time with a new group of reviewers who teach a bit closer to the action.

For a weekly digest so that you do not have to clutter your mailbox as I release notes send a message to: Mj2@lists.ncsu.edu and write "approve PASSWORD set mschool digest-weekly-text" in the body of the message. (If your e-mail program automatically adds a signature, delete it or you will get a message that might appear to be a rejection.) You should replace PASSWORD with your list password, which was emailed to you when you subscribed to the list. If you have misplaced your password, click on "Subscriber Interface" on the http://lists.ncsu.edu web site, and request that your password be sent to you.

Feel free to make suggestions and contributions to improve the site’s content.

My aim is to keep the tone positive. When errors are cited, there will be suggestions for improvement. I will try to influence states and school districts to see that for the most part their methods of choosing textbooks is seriously flawed and needs to be changed.

Best wishes,
John L. Hubisz
July 23, 2009

Middle-School Texts Don't Make the Grade

Physics Today (May 2003, page 50) recently published an article by Dr. John Hubisz describing the errors he has found in middle school texts as well as strategies for dealing with the problem. View the article online or download a pdf version.

Textbooks on CNN - Check out this article about middle school science texts.

Reviews

Find the reviews you are looking for quickly with the new Review Index. Reviews are listed by title to help you find what you are looking for! The newest review is of Reforming Education: The Opening of the American Mind by Mortimer J. Adler and a new section for reviews of videos.

Essay on The Laboratory Notebook

The first in a series of essays from Dr. John Hubisz.

Search

Search this web site for specific books, topics and more with our Google search engine.

Discussion

Join the online discussion on dealing with textbook errors in the classroom or start a new topic

 

F.A.Q.

If this is your first time visiting the site be sure to check out the frequently asked questions to learn what the web site is about and how to use it best.