Contends that if textbooks are to be improved it is essential that teachers, administrators, and textbook selectors become more demanding and discriminating consumers. Examines various textbook components that need improvement such as: (1) photographs; (2) basic skills exercises; (3) worksheets; and (4) content. (BSR)

Examines the state of economic education with respect to the natural environment, discussing the role of textbooks in the formation of public policy and the effect of environmental economics on classroom literature. Surveys widely-used college texts, assessing their strengths and weaknesses, and notes possible directions in the field's future.…

Discusses the assessment criteria, methodology, findings, and onclusions of Gilbert T. Sewall's 1987 report: American History Textbooks: An Assessment of Quality (SO 018 768). Contends that the report reveals that standard research procedures were implemented poorly, if at all. Criticizes the selection of the review panel and concludes that the…

Presents opposing views concerning the effects of the publishing industry on the English curriculum. (JL)

Observes that U.S. history textbooks include vast numbers of illustrations, but that authors and publishers seldom integrate the pictures with the historical narrative. Advises images be incorporated into lessons to examine the events illustrated, why the picture was created, how it was received, and what it meant to contemporaries. (DSK)

Concentration on the role of educators in curriculum development has ignored the power of the producer/publishers. Canada's elhi (elementary/high school) publishing is dominated by very large multinational publishers. Learning materials in language arts, social studies, and science reflect the business interests of the multinational publishers in…

Contends that, as publishers integrate international issues into professional writing textbooks, analysis is necessary about how curricular globalization is presented to students. Examines textbooks that position international students as clients, consumers, and exotics who present barriers to effective communication; most contain catalogs of…

Narrates an imaginary dream in which an instructor, newly crowned King of Composition, institutes, while providing rationales based on current research, these changes in the composition program: (1) have all teaching done in conference; (2) eliminate textbooks; (3) do not require grammatical and mechanical correctness; and (4) make writing part of…

The creation/evolution controversy has gained renewed popularity in the last few years. This has resulted in serious implications for science teachers. All classroom teachers need to protect themselves by learning the distinctions between scientific law and theory and to acquire knowledge of the various theories of evolution. (JN)

Discusses the need for a global approach to world history to help students at all levels understand social, economic, and ecological change. The author evaluates one example of a secondary global world history textbook--"People and Civilization: A World History" (Lexington, MA: Ginn and Company, 1977). (AM)

Discusses science education in India, arguing that a contextualized curriculum is a powerful means of improvement. The paper presents results from an analysis of the treatment of the nature of science and technology in current Indian textbooks and uses India's controversial Sadar Sarovar Hydro-Electric Project as a case example. (SM)

Examines the thinking of social scientists, politicians, and others who write on the subject of intervention. Summarizes the past and present treatment of intervention in social studies textbooks, stating that teachers must go beyond their texts in identifying intervention as a problem with which society should be concerned. (GEA)

Presents a dream in which a student, a teacher, a curriculum specialist, a publisher, a scholar, an author, and a culture critic discuss the uses and abuses of a college rhetoric. (AEA)

Frances FitzGerald's critique of American social studies and history curricula in "America Revised" is reviewed. The conclusion drawn is that censorship, special interests, and marketability exercise too great an influence on the textbook industry. (JMF)

Because textbooks are essential instructional tools, they should play a major role in educational reform for excellence. Despite improvements in response to ethnic and women's movements, deterioration in textbook quality has occurred through competition for markets. Former Secretary of Education Terrel Bell observed in 1984 that educators should…