Criticizes the organization, emphases, scope, and intellectual challenges of basal social studies textbooks widely used in elementary schools. Includes recommendations for improving such textbooks and social studies curricula. (MCG)

Examines shortcomings of the predominant elementary social studies curriculum approach, expanding environments. Analyzes a fourth-grade text to illustrate the ways that materials reinforce this approach. Suggests that freeing the curriculum from the developmental theory of expanding environments would foster a variety of organizational patterns…

Elementary social studies textbooks in the United States were analyzed to determine the sort of information they contained about Australia. Only those texts which made substantive references to Australia were analyzed; these included 4 books for level 3, 2 for level 4, and 4 for level 6. Books examined were all published by major textbook…

Continues a discussion of the state of secondary social studies in Saudi Arabia. Discusses the preparation of textbooks and their use by Saudi teachers. Notes problems with the texts and teachers' use of nontext materials in their teaching. Offers conclusions and recommendations for improving social studies education in Saudi Arabia. (DSK)

Stating that the primary function of textbooks is to transmit quantity and quality of knowledge, Woodward argues that photographs and other design features should be relevant to the topic, extending learning beyond the written text. Presents recommendations for evaluating the instructional quality of textbook photographs. (GEA)

This project sought to improve the utility of science and social studies textbooks used by mainstreamed handicapped children, by considering the special needs of children who are sensorily or cognitively impaired. The project reviewed the literature, developed a text analysis tool to determine if textbooks contain effective teaching strategies,…

An organizational framework consisting of the following four components is useful in exploring questions about improving textbooks: learner characteristics, learning activities, the critical task (for measuring student performance), and the nature of the materials. In considering learning characteristics and the materials, it is important to…

Curricular materials of the past have much to offer researchers and educators today. In this article, I examine two pieces of instructional material, a textbook entitled "People of Denver" and a unit on the inequalities of opportunities available to minority groups in Denver. Both these items were written in Denver, by Denver teachers at…