A veteran educator, Sister Mary Andre Chipko, who serves as educational consultant to Lorain County Catholic Schools in the Cleveland Diocese, took a hard look at the Madison Avenue approach toward selling a product. She thought that nothing sells a product like the product itself and the result was a textbook produced by students on their…

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)

Compares the production and selection of textbooks in the United Kingdom and North America with respect to such areas as derivation of textbook ideas, evaluation of the ideas, production, distribution, how and by whom the books are bought, and limitations on certain textbook topics. (GT)

Presents a study on the process involved in the "Canadianization" of U.S. textbooks for the domestic market. Explores whether disciplinary values have been shaped by the United States in the field of communication. Focuses on the experience of developing the Canadian edition of the book "Public Speaking: Strategies for Success"…

An author reflects on how she prepared a higher education law text to bridge the gap between litigation and administration, scholar and practitioner. Major themes and issues formed the text's core with the most significant cases recommended by colleagues included. The book is intended for classroom use, not legal counsel. (SM)

Contends that an author's contribution to a textbook may be more or less significant, depending on how much importance is attached to curricula, publishers, consultants, and the school environment. Discusses the changing role of textbook authors in Norway and other nations. Reviews research on textbook development and textbook writing. (CFR)

Reports on a study of "considerateness" of five fifth-grade social studies textbooks. Identifies four elements of considerateness: (1) readability level; (2) placement of relevant pictures or illustrations; (3) use of subtitles; and (4) use of words and phrases to connect ideas within and between sentences. (CFR)

Describes an assignment in an undergraduate course on Roman history for junior and senior history majors in which students create their own 15-page textbook using primary sources. Explains how each class session developed student analysis of primary sources. (CMK)

This article compares two English-as-a-Second-Language textbook and curriculum materials trials conducted in elementary and secondary schools of the Sultanate of Oman in the 1980s. Results found that the smaller and more immediate of the trialling processes provided much more usable information for the rewriting of the trial materials. Contains 11…

The events of September 11, 2001 have made it clear to teachers that curriculum content and how it is taught cannot be stationary. Teachers are incorporating the unfolding events into their lessons. Textbook companies are scrambling to produce materials to help teachers address the situation. Students question teachers' knowledge because they have…

Providing detailed information about the contexts, processes, and products of publishing, this book is divided into three major sections: writing for journals and other periodicals, writing for children and other adolescents, and writing instructional materials. Chapters in the book are: "Publishing Requirements for Research-Oriented…

A study investigating the effects of "text linguists'" revisions on the comprehensibility of expository prose had as subjects 92 high school juniors who read original and revised versions of two passages from a high school history textbook. The revisions included changes regarding the given-new contract, schemata, reference, lexical…

This project sought to improve the utility of science and social studies textbooks used by mainstreamed handicapped children, by considering the special needs of children who are sensorily or cognitively impaired. The project reviewed the literature, developed a text analysis tool to determine if textbooks contain effective teaching strategies,…

An organizational framework consisting of the following four components is useful in exploring questions about improving textbooks: learner characteristics, learning activities, the critical task (for measuring student performance), and the nature of the materials. In considering learning characteristics and the materials, it is important to…

Punctuation serves as a system of visual markers that contradict previously generated false grammatical expectations. Word order conditions define the redundant or critical aspect of punctuation cues to visual display. Parsing (grouping) sentences into meaningful phrases and clauses aids language comprehension, and children who have reading…