The presentation of metallic bonding in high school science textbooks during three decades: Science educational reforms and substantive changes of tendencies

Fifty‐eight Spanish high school chemistry textbooks from 1974 to 1998 were analyzed in relation to their treatment of metallic bonding (grade 9–11 textbooks include physics and chemistry in the same subject). The sample was made with the broadest variety of textbooks that could be found including those most widely employed. A questionnaire containing 12 items was designed to explore what is usually taught, how it is taught, and the potential that textbooks have to produce meaningful learning in students. Finally, the textbook authors' and publishers' roles as agents of change in the Spanish science pedagogical reform are examined. Results show that nearly half of the textbooks virtually define the metallic bonding model; thus, the relationship among models and experimental facts cannot be understood by students. The theoretical models employed by textbooks in their explanations are metaphorical in nature and they are as open to misinterpretations as standard analogies; nevertheless, textbooks are not sensitive to this characteristic of the theoretical models. Textbooks must be more convincing in their explanations and clarify explicitly some important aspects of metallic bonding. Drawings in textbooks must show, in a more accurate way, the nature of the metallic models proposed. There is a lack of integrative reconciliation among different topics, which are needed to provide students with meaningful learning. New LOGSE textbooks (which comply with the General Act for the Educational System of 1990) have a more careful and attractive presentation than older LGE textbooks (which comply with the General Act for Education of 1970); however, only a few textbooks have a clearly constructivist orientation in accordance with the guidelines given by the Education Ministry. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 83: 423–447, 1999.