While many claims have been made about the benefits of interdisciplinary approaches to science education, the contention is that little empirical data exist either to support or refute the claims. The demands of integrated approaches on students or teachers have not been subjected to either theoretical or empirical assessment. This paper presents…

The task of choosing the right text(s) for an undergraduate music theory program is difficult, at best. Sixty-seven U.S. institutions of higher learning offering graduate degrees in music theory were surveyed to determine what undergraduate textbooks were used, how long they have been used, and how satisfied the schools were with the texts. The…

The work reported in this paper is an offshoot of a project started in early 1986 and designed to produce a comparison between the vocabulary in the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) texts and the vocabulary found in contemporary non-technical English writing. This study investigated the unique words and differences in frequency…

To determine whether the suggested poetry teaching procedures found in the teacher manuals of sixth-grade basal readers reflect the pedagogical procedures suggested by expert opinion and research, an indepth analysis was made of a total of 106 poetry lessons in eight teacher manuals. The poetry lessons were analyzed for the purposes of determining…

According to James Britton, too much emphasis is being placed currently on revision. In his essay, "Shaping at the Point of Utterance," Britton notes that (1) concentrating on the reader in teaching writing can disturb the writer's ability to formulate what he or she wants to say; (2) the essence of the writing process is not writing…

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…

Publishers of high school composition textbooks gather information about the "book market" through outside statistical analyses or case studies and through their own interviews and polls. Recently, such studies and interviews have revealed significant differences in classroom practices. Consequently, publishers are faced with such…

Criticizes the lack of innovation and solid substance in most composition texts and freshman handbooks for college English. Also criticizes bidialectalism as an elitist concept. (RM)

Analyzes five biology textbooks for their coverage on sex-related topics and suggests an interdisciplinary approach to foster positive student attitudes and values toward sex. (LS)

Today as they have during the past 300 years, textbooks play the basic role in telling us who we are as a people and as a nation. (Editor)

Area study materials should be factual, contemporary, objective, and designed with regard to the student's level. Content should be limited to material contrasting with, or supplementary to, the students' knowledge. Penguin's series "Connexions" is better than available German texts. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Changes the state of California wishes incorporated in the materials used by the children of the State become incorporated in the publishers' national editions to ensure their availability whether the textbooks are supplied by the California state printers or the publishers. (RC)

Describes a forthcoming textbook in scientific German, bilingual in form, with a workbook "neutral" in content (emphasizing no one science), a reference book (reference grammar and high-frequency lexicon), and texts in specific fields. It begins with word-building, then by comparing texts develops a minimum grammar. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Describes and compares five basic German texts for high school students and includes the evaluative criteria used. (CK)

Recent history textbooks have conspicuously removed references to religion and religious publications, providing a distorted view of American and world history. One such neglected publication, the Boston "Recorder," was founded by Nathaniel Willis in 1816. A Christian newspaper, it was based on three principles: (1) to show theological…