Describes how social studies teachers can help students interact with textbooks to promote better comprehension and retention of information. Suggests methods for linking existing knowledge to concepts in the text, for organizing information to encourage retention, and for making the expository style of texts more accessible. (LS)

Using the Fry Readability approach and a ten percent random sample of all reading materials from each grade level within a program, readability data were collected on six popular elementary science textbook series. Fry readability averages and ranges for the six programs surveyed are reported by grade level. (Author/MK)

Using a Curriculum Characteristics Inventory questionnaire, this study identifies teacher concerns and interests about curriculum materials and discloses teachers' attitudes about the nature and characteristics of curriculum materials. Teachers rated six characteristics in the following order of priority: 1) relevance of subject matter, 2)…

Drawn from a symposium presented at the 1979 National Reading Conference, the four papers in this collection describe a notion of conceptual readability, an approach contrasting with traditional readability computations (number of words per sentence and degree of familiarity of individual words) and focusing on the concepts communicated by the…

College students can read, but they often lack the prereading and postreading skills needed to help them think about and respond to what they read. A three-step plan can help students read and understand the text more fully. The first step entails using measures of fitness to determine: (1) the grade level of the text being considered and how it…

This paper discusses methods of teaching reading in the content areas at the middle school, junior high school, and secondary school levels. If a textbook is to be used, teachers should examine it by administering a readability formula and by checking the book's vocabulary, sentence patterns, and introduction of abstract concepts. To find how well…

Presents a study of United States History textbooks that identifies possible shortcomings of several readability formulas as tools in determining the appropriateness of reading materials. Suggests additional factors to consider when selecting textbooks and techniques to help students understand reading materials. (AEM)

Intended to help teachers both improve students' text comprehension and better understand the teaching-learning process involved, this book focuses on comprehension and concept development as the central core of an effective educational program. The book's five sections deal with teaching explicit comprehension skills, precomprehension and…

The constituting elements of distance education are the course and the interaction between students and supporting organizations. Compared with students at traditional universities, distance students are generally older, have jobs, and often have families. In distance education, learners are usually isolated and want to broaden their education,…