This article describes readability assessment methods used in science education, summarizes reported readability estimates of science textbooks, and recommends strategies for reducing the readability load of such materials. (JMF)

Discusses findings from a questionnaire survey of 622 biology teachers on: (1) how accurately they can judge readability of instructional materials; (2) what factors they consider when judging readability levels; and (3) if they considered differences in students' reading ability when selecting reading materials for them to use. (JN)

The objectives of this study were to develop a method for scoring the level of abstraction (LOA) of science reading material and explore its relationship with other methods for assessing curriculum materials. LOA is defined as the ratio of the nonconcrete concepts to the total number of concepts in a written passage expressed as a percent.…