2020 Volume 44 Issue 4 Pages 375-383
This study aimed to examine the history and current state of elementary school childrens’ textbook descriptions regarding the management after breeding an alien species, specifically crayfish, in living environmental studies. The study analyzed 112 childrens’ textbooks and 60 teachers’ guides.
Three main points were identified.
(1) Childrens’ elementary school textbooks have evolved from having no mentions of crayfish or recommending that they be abandoned outdoors to recommending continued breeding over the past 30 years.
(2) Regarding the teachers’ guide description, recommendations to abandon crayfish outdoors have decreased and recommendations to continue breeding have increased over the past 20 years.
(3) The description of the childrens’ textbooks sometimes differs from the teachers’ guides, including those published simultaneously by the same publisher.
In those cases, both descriptions complement each other to facilitate smooth teaching.
