In reaction to the present uproar over textbook usage and content this research investigates what a textbook is, what it should and should not do, where it came from and why, and finally what its future will be. (Author/RK)

Reports the results of a study designed to determine whether eight widely used elementary basal social studies textbook series contained more "back-to-basics" content in 1979-82 than they did 10 years prior during the rise of the "new social studies." The data showed a marked influence of back-to-basics in all of these series.…

Schoolbooks in use prior to the twentieth century constituted the very heart of school curriculum. The purpose of this publication is to commemorate the nation's bicentennial and to broaden people's educational perspective. This publication examines the evolution of school curriculum by researching and studying old textbooks. Books examined in…

Analyzes nine of the leading textbooks in the field of curriculum to determine if there are common domains of content knowledge. Points out that there is no dominant textbook in curriculum which establishes a format for other textbooks to follow because there is no consensus on what content knowledge is important for curriculum study. (GG)