Models of electricity in physics textbooks: Enabling or constraining inquiry based instruction?

Models of electricity were investigated in a series of commonly used secondary school physics textbooks. Earlier studies indicated that students need a basic theoretical model in an inquiry context in which conceptual understanding is important. The way such a model is presented and used should afford conceptual and experimental inquiry activities and should respect insights from NOS. Based on a selection of articles on models in science, models in physics education, and models in textbooks, a list of 16 criteria was compiled to evaluate the extent to which textbook models are in line with NOS. Eight criteria applied to descriptive text, and eight criteria applied to student tasks. The criteria were qualitative in nature and needed to be interpreted and evaluated qualitatively. These criteria were then used to evaluate the models of electricity in a set of grade 7 to 12 physics textbooks in the Netherlands.