Oak Ridge National Lab to help check textbook facts

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. -- The chemical makeup of water. H2O, two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. Check. Light moves at a faster speed than sound. Check.

Some of the nation's top scientists will soon make sure scientific facts like these are right in Tennessee textbooks.

Physicists, chemists and biologists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory volunteered for the fact-checking in response to a national concern over error-filled textbooks in public schools.

"The intent is that we would provide some help in checking for accuracy of equations, mathematics and concepts," said Lee Riedinger, the lab's deputy director for science and technology.

High school teachers still will review new textbooks for content, presentation and value in the classroom.

"But sometimes it is better for another set of eyes to be reading the textbooks -- those who are not using the books every day -- in order to check for accuracy," said Riedinger, who taught physics for 29 years at the University of Tennessee.

Survey shows problem

The national debate on textbook accuracy flared last year when North Carolina State University physics professor John Hubisz released a survey that said a dozen of the most popular middle school science texts were riddled with errors -- from factual mistakes to faulty experiments.

Larry Gregory, director of textbook services at the Tennessee Department of Education, said the magnitude of the problem was overstated and publishers are "redoubling their efforts to be sure that the books are as error-free as they can make them."

Still, he said, Tennessee found enough errors last year in middle school social studies texts to warrant a more extensive review this year as the state textbook commission considers a six-year contract for new high school science books.

"They did not find a boxcar-load of errors, but they found enough that we felt that we may need to continue the process" of fact-checking, Gregory said.

Haskell Greer, an assistant principal and longtime U.S. history teacher in McMinnville, headed the social studies textbook review.

He found errors ranging from getting the president's salary wrong to crediting the Emancipation Proclamation, instead of the 13th Amendment, with freeing 4 million blacks after the Civil War.

"The textbook publishers have been very receptive," said Candace Lett, chairwoman of the Tennessee Textbook Commission, which decides which books will be offered to the state's schools. "To my knowledge, every publisher corrected the errors we found."

Offer needed

But Lett, who also directs the 1,400-student school system in Harriman, said the offer by Oak Ridge's scientists to check formulas and equations is needed and welcome.

"We already have regular classroom teachers reviewing these texts. We have some higher education people reviewing these texts. And now we've got renowned scientists reviewing these texts," she said.

"Now if that doesn't help us get quality textbooks for the kids in Tennessee. ... Well, I really think we have gone a long way."

The lab's scientists may be more familiar with high school texts than one would think, Riedinger said.

"It is the nature of Oak Ridge that parents are very involved in their children's education," he said.

"If you are an Oak Ridge scientist and your child takes high school chemistry, it often is a family project.

"So I think a lot of parents are familiar with at least the recent K-12 texts," he said.

Riedinger said the 24 scientists who will join him in reviewing textbooks have no preconceptions about what they will find.

"We see no problem that we can put our finger on in Tennessee," he said.