Analyzes six high school U. S. government textbooks. Discusses method of evaluation. Compares textbooks based on the following criteria: content, physical characteristics, understandability, and fairness. Concludes that all of the textbooks studied competently meet the aforementioned research criteria. (RW)

Using content analysis, presents a study of 14 U.S. history textbooks. Analyzes textbook treatment of the Declaration of Independence, the atomic bomb, and the Holocaust. Examines nontextual materials. Finds errors of omission, boring writing styles, and a basic similarity between the textbooks. (RW)

Outlines the essential elements of a textbook. Analyzes geography textbooks in terms of their commitment to global interdependence, and treatment of a wide range of geographic concepts. Identifies components of a well-integrated textbook program. (RW)

Discusses the debate over world history survey courses. Examines eight world history textbooks. Compares the treatment of the following topics: Hammurabi's Code, Buddhism, the fall of the Bastille, and the Korean War. Also reviews goals, use of maps, visuals, and skills involving analysis of primary and secondary sources. (RW)

Describes the process of textbook development and production. Notes that textbook production has become a multinational business, and that textbooks used in developing nations are frequently produced elsewhere and may reflect foreign values. Emphasizes that major academic systems located in industrialized nations dominate research on education and…

Analyzes high school economics textbooks through an examination of the questions that textbooks traditionally address about economic production: What, how much, and how will something be produced, and who gets the product? Considers teachers' relationships to economic textbooks and courses. Concludes that textbooks should be more relevant to…

Intended for use by educators and administrators working in textbook-connected projects, this report reviews the problems encountered in textbook production and distribution in developing nations and indicates some solutions that have been found for many of those problems. The first major section of the report focuses on the role of governments in…

Examines 11 elementary science texts in terms of conceptual structure and reasoning demands using concept maps. Reports that (1) the conceptual structures vary widely across texts; (2) most of the structures are well defined; and (3) the reasoning demands are above the developmental capabilities of most of primary-level children. (Author/YP)

This dissertation determines how state-level textbook decisions were made in Texas during the period 1969-81. A combination of primary document, survey, and oral history data is employed to reveal actions of participants in three decision groups and their interactions with textbook publishers and petitioners during phases of three textbook…

Reports on a review of 25 content analysis studies of social studies textbooks published between 1982 and 1992. Finds that many of the problems noted in other types of social studies research also are evident in these studies. Provides recommendations for improving the quality of content analysis studies. (CFR)

This document argues for the utility of mapping knowledge perspectives as a kind of cognitive art, or play of figuration to help orient educators to knowledge communities and their cultural codes, and to reinscribe modernist vocabularies into post-modern ways of seeing and representing educational change knowledge. A perspectivist approach is used…

This analysis exemplifies Texas as 1 of 22 "adoption states" that select textbooks according to systematic state criteria and interprets this approach in relation to textbook reform efforts. Survey data of state committee members' ranking of criteria during the initial selection phase revealed that the top three criteria were…

Investigates whether enriching text with analogies, similes, and metaphors has an impact on student cognitive learning and attitudes. Reports no gain on achievement, negative gain on attitude, no gain on proposition recall test, and negative gain on student attention to the text. (YP)

Examines seventh and eighth grade U.S. history textbooks (seven from the 1930s, seven from the 1950s, and seven from the 1980s) to determine changes in presentation of religious content over the decades. Limits investigation to the Colonial Era 1606-73. Concludes few significant differences appeared. (SLM)

Argues that the present methods of analysis such as pluralism, elitism, and institutionalism are insufficient paradigms to accurately discuss questions of vital concern to American Indian tribes. A study of 40 political science texts found only one considered to be adequate in describing Indian concerns. (GG)