Although textbooks structure from 75 to 90 percent of classroom instruction, they are often criticized for contributing to American students' appalling ignorance and for being compendia of inadequately treated topics. This article explores deficiencies in science, social studies, and history and offers remedial actions. The key is a careful…

Textbooks have traditionally been the focus of classroom instruction, however, the role of textbooks has been increasingly challenged by various groups. They have raised questions about the quality and content of textbooks in U.S. classrooms. This document provides a program of a 1989 conference that addressed issues related to the role and…

The eight books examined in this study were the most recent editions of: Observing People and Places; Exploring Our Needs; At Home in Our Land; The Social Sciences: Concepts and Values; Communities and Social Needs; Learning About Communities: One Plus One; Investigating Man's World: Local Studies; and, Communities and their Needs. A group of six…

Most social studies methods course textbooks concentrate on planning, assuming the teacher will operate as his own curriculum developer and packager. Curriculum development projects prepackage materials and often include specific instructions on how to use them. Only a few textbooks and projects incorporate selecting/adapting skill development the…

If public education is going to attempt to meet children's needs in our present and future ever-changing society, teachers must continually review the material they use in their classrooms. Considers this factor in teaching the concept of family in a social studies lesson. (Author/RK)

Describes the nature and form of knowledge that should be in social studies textbooks. Argues that substantial knowledge can be used by academic reviewers and teachers as a framework for analysis of social studies texts and to encourage dialogue about the purpose and structure of social studies lessons. (BSR)

This annotated bibliography provides elementary and junior high teachers with a list of up-to-date social studies textbook materials. The texts are arranged topically according to 95 social studies categories and include works published from 1962 through 1974. Each annotation includes the text title, source of publication, subject matter…

This essay is written for the secondary school teacher who is organizing that first course hoping to suggest some of the answers to the question: where to begin. The author begins by very briefly describing the discipline in terms of its central concerns with some history and some prediction for tomorrow. Against this historical background,…

Author suggests criteria that can be weighted mathematically for computing comparable strengths and weaknesses in textbooks. (MB)

Discusses the evaluations of U.S. history textbooks conducted by People for the American Way. Concludes that the higher-rated textbooks are useful only for college-bound students and the lower-ranked textbooks seem to be aimed at children with reading difficulties, thus pointing out some of the problems facing selection committees. (KO)

Discusses and presents data from an examination of coverage and treatment of Native Americans in 20 secondary United States history textbooks published in the 1970s. Findings indicate that publishers are moving away from the more established historical interpretations of U.S. history and including content which promotes multiethnic education. (DB)

A technique is presented for evaluating textbooks, using graphic organizers to represent textbook material so that it can be evaluated according to familiarity, interest, and structural coherence. Two sixth-grade social studies textbooks are graphically represented, and suggestions on using the technique are offered to publishers, state adopters,…

This comprehensive, annotated resource list is designed to assist in selecting resources authorized by the Alberta (Canada) Education Department for the elementary social studies classroom. Within each grade and topic, annotated entries for basic learning resources are listed, followed by support learning resources and authorized teaching…

Faced with a market that puts a premium on newness, artwork, and copyright date, the textbook industry seems to have been forced into a hectic textbook revision cycle in which improvement in instructional quality takes a poor second place to more superficial changes. While educators think they are getting newer, different, and, therefore better…

A model of social studies textbook analysis and evaluation is developed in this paper and is applied to the analysis and evaluation of the content on Hawaii in selected elementary school social studies textbooks. Innovative methods of content analysis and evaluation of textbook presentations were developed and applied to the subject of Hawaii to…