Purpose: This study explores a novel approach to compiling life-oriented moral textbooks for elementary schools in China, specifically focusing on "Morality and Law." Design/Approach/Methods: Adopting Aristotle's "Poetics" as its theoretical perspective, this study illustrates and analyzes the mimetic approach used in compiling…

The founder of the Zephyros Teacher-Parent Collaborative in San Francisco tells how to compile an original, creative textbook for children. (PG)

A READING PROJECT WAS INITIATED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION IN INDIA TO (1) PRODUCE TEXTBOOKS AND WORKBOOKS, FIELD TEST THE BOOKS, AND TRAIN TEACHERS TO USE THEM, (2) PRODUCE TEACHERS MANUALS, (3) CONSTRUCT FIRST-GRADE TESTS, (4) CONSTRUCT ACHIEVEMENT TESTS, AND (5) PRODUCE THESE BOOKS IN HINDI. THE ENSUING GUIDE FOR THOSE WHO WRITE AND…

Unfortunately, textbooks of the elementary and junior high school levels receive very little of the honest, critical evaluation which is given trade books in children's literature. One vivid example of this fact was seen in the recent arduous but successful attempt to include "Beowul" in a fourth-grade literature text which was being…

A reading project was initiated by the National Institute of Education in India to (1) produce textbooks and workbooks, field test the books, and train teachers to use them, (2) produce teachers manuals, (3) construct first-grade tests, (4) construct achievement tests, and (5) produce these books in Hindi. The ensuing guide for those who write and…

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…

Most elementary teachers are inadequately prepared to teach about the Middle East. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that elementary texts dehumanize Middle Eastern peoples by reducing them to mere caricatures. Needed are the involvement of Middle Eastern studies experts in writing textbooks and the improvement of teacher's manuals. (RM)

Publishers are compelled by public policies and practices to produce textbooks that confuse students with non sequiturs, mislead them with misinformation, and bore them with pointlessly arid writing. Recommendations for textbook policy are proposed. (BJV)

Many feel that textbooks dominate what students learn. They set the curriculum and often the facts learned in most subjects. For many students, textbooks are their first and sometimes only early exposure to books and to reading. The public regards textbooks as authoritative, accurate and necessary and many teachers rely on them to organize lessons…

Seeking to discover how comprehensively and systematically one significant category of semantic elements is taught in current reading instructional material, a study surveyed the teaching and use of prefixes in the teachers' guides, readers, and workbooks (grades two to six) of six major reading series. Findings indicated that many of the most…

This report is the second part of a continuing effort to evaluate the economic content and related teaching strategies of new social studies textbook series used in the elementary grades. The following five textbook series are examined: (1) The World of Mankind (Follett); (2) The Ginn Social Science Series; (3) Our Family of Man (Harper and Row);…

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)

Working on the theory that intonation miscues caused by confusion over punctuation and other phrase boundaries will make the apprehension of text more difficult than necessary for young developing readers, a study reviewed the research and literature relevant to the effects of location of punctuation, phrasing, and line breaks in text and on the…

Asserts that, since the civil rights movement of the 1960s, social studies textbooks have changed to reflect a multicultural perspective. Encourages primary-level teachers to supplement instruction with visual aids that represent ethnic groups in positive ways. (CFR)

Examines the strengths and weaknesses of an 1828 geography textbook for children, specifically in relation to other textbooks. Jesse Olney's text deviated from the norm by introducing the students to activities focused on community and local geography. Ethnocentrism and racism occasionally marred the lavishly illustrated text. (MJP)