Reports on an investigation of 31 introductory geology textbooks indicating that the concept of contact between bodies of rock is only rarely discussed. Data collected pertaining to 15 related terms demonstrated that many are either omitted or inadequately covered. (TW)

Questions the continued misuse of Markovnikov's Rule in organic chemistry texts. Claims that the results of several studies that show the reaction to be more complex than it appears at first. Criticizes authors of new texts who have perpetrated the rule based on reading older texts. (TW)

Presents a fictionalized account illustrating the process by which willful states, misguided experts, cunning marketeers, and overworked teachers and administrators produce textbooks that are ill-written, confusing, misleading, and boring. (BJV)

This article reviews the treatment of lichens in 93 different introductory North American botany textbooks. Topics considered are questions of relationship, independent survival, reproduction, definition, and scientific name. The author reports that treatment is uneven and often includes incomplete or erroneous information which may persist…

Describes the Basic Oxygen Steelmaking process and discusses its differences from, and advantages over, other common steelmaking processes. States that most texts omit much of this information. (CW)

Notes that current American basal series have integrated Hispanics into their materials, with eight of nine important aspects of Hispanic ethnicity represented. Concludes that these series offer teachers fine opportunities for enrichment activities. (FL)

Data are presented for problem-solving content of selected elementary school mathematics textbooks and problem-solving achievement for students in Iowa for grades 4-6 for selected years between 1955 and 1985. Relationships between textbook content and student achievement are considered. (RH)

Discusses the various ways that textbooks treat the energetics of protein synthesis. Offers an approach to explaining the phenomenon by emphasizing the ordering aspects of the process. Describes the participation of compounds such as ATP and GTP in the ordering process. (TW)

Provides brief review of results of a study of junior and senior high school United States history textbooks conducted by a panel of six educators and historians. In general, panel found that books ranged from strong to adequate in their content coverage. Coverage of pluralistic background, religion, and painful aspects of our history were areas…

Reviews issues and events related to adopting high school biology textbooks in Texas. Specific reference is given to the viewpoints of Mel and Norma Gabler. It is argued that factors controlling textbook content should not result from past market forces, but from a permanent science constituency and an informed public. (DH)

An analysis of 11 contemporary secondary U.S. history textbooks showed that the sentences per page devoted to the Black experience represents a substantial increase over more dated textbooks. Not only has the quantity improved, but the range of coverage suggests an improvement in quality as well. (RM)

Describes criteria used for selecting learning/study skills textbooks for college freshmen in a required developmental reading course. Contains a checklist used to analyze 47 major textbooks. (FL)

Asserts that most English departments are product oriented in their hiring and faculty evaluation, therefore the slow transition from product to process oriented writing instruction is not surprising. (SRT)

Three favorable reactions to an 11th-grade textbook chapter dealing with the history surrounding the writing of the U.S. Constitution that was written by experts as an example of an ideal textbook are presented. The evaluators thought that the chapter is in many ways exemplary and is a good initial attempt at writing an ideal text. (RM)

Examines how much and what kind of reading comprehension instruction is provided in the student textbooks and teachers' editions of five social studies programs at the fourth- and sixth-grade levels. Concludes, among other findings, that direct instruction in skills is rare. (HOD)