Great strides have been made in providing textbooks in Asian schools, and these books are increasingly good. However, problems exist when teachers depend too heavily upon textbooks. Teachers are learning to develop instructional materials, and new techniques are being introduced, but the impact of these changes is not yet certain. (IS)

A survey found that secondary U.S. history textbooks provided the most coverage of propaganda and included the largest number of examples for student analysis. Very little coverage of propaganda was found in world geography and world history texts. A few government texts provided excellent coverage, but most gave the subject little attention. (RM)

A study followed up and elaborated upon the college textbook section of Glenn S. Pate's (1987) study of "The Holocaust in American Textbooks." After surveying elementary, high school, and some college textbooks to determine both the extent and the nature of their Holocaust coverage, Pate concluded that across the educational spectrum…

This volume of an annual collection presents nine essays relating to instruction in the basic communication course. The essays are: "Three Metaphors for the Competencies Acquired in the Public Speaking Class" (Michael Osborn); "Perceptions of Basic Communication Texts: Factors in Student Learning and Textbook Adoption…

Initial textbook investigations indicate that more new words/phrases are introduced than in a similar time frame in which foreign languages are studied. Reviews these initial studies, studies of vocabulary mastery in foreign languages, and general research concerning vocabulary development. Reports on occurrence of technical/special words in 25…

Georgia state history textbooks published from 1917 to 1982 were analyzed to determine how they interpreted the Reconstruction Era. A traditional interpretation, a pro-Southern viewpoint, was used in textbooks until the 1960s. Since then, the most widely adopted texts have taken a revisionist perspective--a more neutral point of view. (IS)

Ten Oklahoma reading textbooks from five publishers contained 462 stories, of which 28% were multicultural. A survey of 148 teachers from 10 rural Oklahoma schools found that only 4% of books used in classrooms addressed cultural diversity. Tradebooks address cultural diversity better than textbooks, but are less available to rural teachers.…

Reports a study designed to encourage classroom teachers to use research-based criteria in evaluating curriculum materials for middle school economics. Criteria used for material selection stressed (1) product characteristics, (2) economic content, (3) middle school student focus, and (4) pedagogy. Found that materials were not particularly suited…

Raises issues concerning pupils' interactions with mathematics textbooks. Discusses problems related to effective reading and the ability to interpret graphs, diagrams, and symbols. (NH)

Focuses on the content and presentation of instructional sequences on the American Revolution in four commercial fifth-grade social studies textbook series. Discusses problems with content, learning objectives, background, and explanation. (FMW)

Reports on a content analysis of four popular first-grade basal series, examining decoding and comprehension instruction in teachers' manuals, student texts, workbooks, and supplementary activity packages. Reports that none of the programs present a balanced approach to teaching decoding and comprehension with very comprehensible stories. (MM)

Objectives of this study were to create a prototype of an interactive hypermedia textbook and to explore the relationships between learners' performance and use of available learning tools (i.e., textbook glossary and navigation map). The effects of prior knowledge on textbook use and performance were also investigated. (11 references) (EA)

Ten randomly sampled college reading/study skill texts published since 1987 were analyzed based on external text aids and validated research recommendations. Many articles exist that contain a detailed description of one specific skill such as mapping, underlining, sequencing, etc., but only one recent article, "Ten Recommendations from Research…

This report examines the portrayal of the Second Amendment of the Constitution (the right to keep and bear arms) in U.S. history and U.S. government textbooks. The document contends that not only were there numerous errors and misrepresentations of facts, but also there were many omissions of various events throughout history. Further research…

This study investigated the effect of the development of mastery learning on the curriculum of preservice teacher education programs and the content of inservice professional development programs. Nine educational psychology textbooks, published since 1990, and three other texts used as supplementary textbooks were analyzed. The study found that…