Common elements amongst all educational institutions are varying processes of selecting educational materials ("Choosing Blindly Instructional Materials", 2016). Whether they be textbooks, curriculum, access to internet-based platforms or other ancillary materials every educational institution participates in some manner of cyclic…

Background: Research suggests that the South African school curriculum, including subjects such as Life Sciences, may be failing to address students' socio-scientific challenges such as HIV/AIDS. This could be due to the curriculum ideology that foregrounds content presented in the school subjects and related instructional designs. Given the…

The lack of cultural content, low interest level, and crowdedness of second language textbooks arise because every textbook represents a compromise: between the publisher's need to sell a book and the author's need to address specific pedagogical issues, and between the need to explain grammatical points fully and the need to explain them briefly.…

Reports on a study of how seven fifth-grade teachers organized their social studies curriculum following the adoption of a new textbook. Finds that teaching styles were more varied than might be expected given the similarity of materials. Discusses three observed teaching styles. (CFR)

Discusses a new Australian Academy of Science secondary chemistry textbook that provides a more interesting, enjoyable, and understandable base to a wider spread of students. Notes that rigor is maintained for use in college prep courses. Lists context for change, guiding philosophies, and the table of contents. (MVL)

The enhancement of the European dimension in the national curriculum is a large scale educational innovation that affects many European countries. This report puts forward the proposition that broad scale educational innovation has more success if the aims and objectives find their way into textbooks. The reasons why a European dimension in…

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)

The paper is designed to aid social studies educators and teachers in selecting curriculum materials. It is presented in three sections. Section I outlines problems involved in choosing among curricula. These problems include similarity of traditional social studies textbooks; recent proliferation of innovative curricula which have not been…

The purpose of this study is to analyze current practices in the construction of State courses of study. Available State courses of study, reports of survey commissions and educational officials, and other State educational publications have been examined to discover the problems considered significant by State educational officials and the…