School plays an important role in the formation of children's positive attitudes towards the environment. Mathematics textbooks also play an important role in environmental education, because environmental problems have two distinct features: the quality and the quantity of environmental resources. It is well known that as students go higher in…

On June 14, 2002 this journal [Pedagogika] held a roundtable, based in the Nizhnii Tagil State Pedagogical Institute, to discuss the problem of "The Schoolbook in the System of Sources of Knowledge and Means of Training Schoolteachers." The roundtable was conducted by Prof. V.P. Borisenkov, doctor of pedagogical sciences and…

A study examined the nature and extent of the instruction, application, and practice in deriving word meanings from context in a variety of basal reading series. Seven major basal reading series at the fourth-grade level (published between 1986 and 1989 and readily available) were analyzed. Results indicated that: (1) the series differed…

A study examined the content of eight 1989 editions of the major basal reading series--those of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; D.C. Heath and Co.; Holt Rinehart and Winston; Houghton Mifflin; Macmillan; McGraw-Hill; Scott, Foresman and Co.; and Silver Burdett and Ginn. The study determined how and the extent to which lessons and activities that…

Current history textbooks include Christianity in their discussion of U.S. history. A study systematically examined the content of secondary U.S. history textbooks to evaluate the portrayal Christianity. The content of 10 of the nation's most widely used secondary U.S. history textbooks was analyzed. All excerpts dealing with Christianity in…

A study investigated the extent to which positive moral values are included in reading and social studies textbooks. Random samples of social studies textbooks (published by Harcourt Brace, D. C. Heath, Scott Foresman, Silver Burdett and Ginn, and McGraw-Hill) and reading textbooks (published by MacMillan/McGraw-Hill, Harcourt Brace, and Houghton…

A study examined the content and approaches embodied in seven popular high school literature anthology series, grades 7 through 12. The seven series examined consisted of 42 volumes with 1989 copyrights, stratified by grade level and by series. All selections in all 42 volumes were analyzed to develop a portrait of the content of literature…

In July, 1982, letters were sent to the social studies coordinators in all 50 states requesting a list of high school geography texts approved for use in those states and information on the selection process used. The response rate was 100%. Information acquired from the 20 states that have statewide adoption policies constitute the basis of this…

Designed to assess how people read and comprehend information presented in picture-text amalgams in procedural texts, this instrument presents various combinations of text information and illustrative information on slides. Subjects are assigned to one of four conditions and directed to follow the instructions presented on the slides. Videotapes…

To explore the issue of educational content in basal readers, a study analyzed 34 basal reading textbooks, representing eight of the most commonly used series in American elementary education. Educational content was defined and categorized along three dimensions: subject matter, function, and ethos. The subject matter component covered theories,…

Fry's Readability Graph was used to determine the readability levels of the 1981 Scott, Foresman and Co. basal textbook series for grades one through six. The readability levels were then compared to those established for the 1978 edition. In the 1981 edition, all stories were handscored. Poems, skill lessons, and plays were not examined in order…

The 66th and 67th Texas legislatures mandated that an economics course with an emphasis on the free enterprise system and its benefits be a required course for all students graduating from Texas high schools. This paper presents an analysis of the 1982-1988 textbooks adopted for that course. The key concepts evaluated were: definition of…

Despite scholarly disagreement about the nature and purposes of social studies education, the most widely adopted elementary social studies textbook series tend to be remarkably uniform, consisting of compendia of facts organized within the expanding communities curriculum structure. Content selection and explication tend to be guided primarily by…

The components presented in this document are general and specific recommendations for improving instruction about the Constitution, including revised versions of the seven conference papers. The papers are: "Society's Expectations for School Instruction about the Constitution: An Historical Overview" (R. Freeman Butts); "What Youth…

As part of an effort to discover what was being done with comprehension instruction in classrooms, basal reader manuals, and reading methodology textbooks, an analysis was made of the content of eight reading methods textbooks that had copyright dates at least as recent as 1983 and that were the most frequently used texts. All the pages in the…