Social studies teachers utilized outmoded textbooks to assign, discuss, and test a model that allowed little time for integration of other resources besides the text. With training, the teachers began to incorporate other instructional strategies. A questionnaire administered to six social studies teachers showed that five out of the six teachers…

A new awareness of the importance of understanding Canada has made its way to U.S. public school classrooms. Canada and the Canadian-U.S. relationship have joined the spectrum of countries featured in the U.S. curriculum. As a response to this development, an investigation of leading textbooks used in U.S. classrooms was undertaken to examine the…

In the course of a longitudinal study that addressed the questions of how children learn to comprehend what they read and how they learn science concepts, many other research questions emerged. The original longitudinal study investigated how children learn to comprehend what they read. Three school districts with fairly stable student…

Earlier content analyses showed that the match between content covered by textbooks and tests varied as a function of the particular textbook and test a teacher was asked to use. This study tried to determine if the congruity in textbook-test content varied as a function of different styles of textbook use. Using year-long case studies of seven…

The content of elementary school reading methods textbooks spanning approximately 100 years was analyzed to note patterns of emphasis for selected topics. Four to six books were chosen for analysis from each of six time periods: 1890 to 1930, and each of the decades from the 1940s to the 1980s. Each book was evaluated with a checklist of 17 major…

An examination was made of a representative sample of language arts subtests on achievement test batteries and language arts textbooks to assess the skills tested and determine the material included in the instructional sequence. The four achievement test batteries were the California Achievement Tests, the Comprehesive Test of Basic Skills, the…

A model for developing instructional analogies was used to produce experimental treatments that included text from a high school biology textbook to which was added extended verbal analogies written by the researcher linking each of two biology concepts to analogous familiar concepts. The control treatment was text from the biology textbook…

Most secondary science courses in North America are designed to use textbooks as the primary or exclusive source of information about the content or processes of science, and most science teachers focus their instruction on a single text. Although there are many serious issues raised by the overwhelming reliance on text-based teaching/learning in…

Chemistry textbooks on the market during 1979-80 designated for non-majors were read and analyzed to determine references of value judgments made on social, political, or economic issues. Textbooks included those used in general education courses, first-year chemistry courses, and in terminal introductory courses such as those in allied health…

A study examined the effects of using a form of children's literature known as tradebooks on students' science achievement and attitudes. Subjects were 47 fourth grade children. For 6 weeks the experimental and control groups progressed through the objectives of a science unit on animal and plant populations. The control group used the textbook…

Research on changing attitudes toward parenthood among college students was expanded to include a study of textbooks to determine if they were reflective of the changes. A sample of 980 undergraduate female home economics students in four universities in the Midwest and West Coast areas were involved in this decade retesting of Maxwell and…

A method of evaluating the Secondary School Mathematics Curriculum Improvement Study (SSMCIS) now in its fourth year at Teachers College, Columbia University, is discussed. The main task of SSMCIS is the production and tryout of textbook materials, although teacher training is also an important component. Informal teacher feedback and sporadic…

As a link between the words in everyday use and the sophisticated language of the arts and sciences, the 1,536 words of the "Mittelstufe" or Level 2 derive in nearly equal proportion from three sources: (1) the spoken or topical language, (2) a collation of all significant word lists compiled prior to February 1965, and (3) a statistical analysis…

This report outlines basic needs to which a Latin American Studies Center in a University should address itself: community relations, student and teacher education, research (especially in values and behavior patterns of minority groups), textbook design, and upgrading students in both ethnic language and cultural background. Programs already…

The overall goal of the study was to determine if a new text in electronic communications should be written, and if so, the nature of its content, depth, and format. A review of current related studies and study objectives are presented. A questionnaire was mailed to 50 post secondary technical schools, with 40 responding. Seven major objectives…