Six college health textbooks published between 1980 and 1987 were analyzed to determine the extent of coverage of 10 selected content areas from "Healthy People: The Surgeon General's Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention." Content areas assessed included: motor vehicle accidents, alcohol and drug misuse, teenage pregnancy,…

Three basal reading series, levels kindergarten through grade three, were studied to categorize the types of literature each contained. The following series were analyzed: "The Headway Program" (Open Court Publishing Company), "Series r Macmillan Reading," and "Basics in Reading" (Scott, Foresman and Company). It was…

A study examined the general content and characteristics of elementary science textbooks and compared selected text segments from several content domains across publishers. The Merrill and Silver-Burdette science programs for grades 1-5 and one level of both the Holt and McGraw-Hill programs were evaluated. Results indicated substantial…

Textbook authors have the responsibility to present a complete and accurate account of a specific discipline. In the field of interpersonal communication, intrapersonal communication is of great importance. Textbooks tend to take two approaches to intrapersonal communication. One approach treats intrapersonal communication as essentially the same…

In order to study why students have difficulty learning from science textbooks, this study investigated how middle school students use textbooks and how their thinking about one science concept (photosyntheis) was influenced by the reading of three different science texts. One of the texts used was an experimental one written to challenge and…

The origins of inquiry activities are discussed in this historical review and assessment of science textbooks. Approximately 80 texts (dated from 1822 to 1910) were analyzed specifically for inquiry teaching strategies. No significant patterns were detected, either by subject or time, which could support an identifiable birth of inquiry. After…

This document introduces a new German business language textbook for American college students and describes the preparation, structure, and potential classroom uses of the materials. The text has five units and a total of 15 sections, each of which can be covered in about three contact hours. Each section begins with a text on the subject matter…

Many feel that textbooks dominate what students learn. They set the curriculum and often the facts learned in most subjects. For many students, textbooks are their first and sometimes only early exposure to books and to reading. The public regards textbooks as authoritative, accurate and necessary and many teachers rely on them to organize lessons…

A study investigates how asking-for-information interactions are managed in actual talk and how they are represented in textbooks for learners of English as a second language (ESL). Data are confined to opening and closing sequences in interactions, and are derived from 60 real-life and 60 textbook dialogue interactions. The real-life interactions…

A study examined the role of metadiscourse characteristics and level of student anxiety as they affect learning from social studies textbooks. Metadiscourse is defined as an author's overt or non-overt presence in the discourse in order to direct rather than inform readers--the linguistic material given to readers so they will understand what is…

This examination of the treatment given to peace and security issues in American social studies textbooks begins by summarizing the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Curriculum Guidelines and a 1983 study of high school social studies topic priorities. Following a review of past textbook studies and a brief discussion of textbook…

In this paper on the school textbook system in Japan, information is provided on the school textbook system during the post-war period. Topics discussed in this area include: (1) the establishment of the school textbook authorization system; (2) improvements to the school textbook system; (3) putting the free school (public school) textbook system…

In reviewing current literature on the importance of examples in the process of teaching learning, this report takes into particular consideration textbook approaches that emphasize the role of examples for comprehension and motivation. Utilizing a constructive theory of prose comprehension, it then attempts to specify the function of examples in…

An examination of five social studies textbook series for grades one through four reveals a lack of consistent application of geographic concepts from publisher to publisher as well as a lack of reinforcement of previous learning within the individual series. This disjointed presentation of textbook materials contributes to a disjointed learning…

This study is a history of the societal-problems approach in social studies education as revealed in secondary school social studies textbooks used in Problems of Democracy courses from 1895 to 1985. The central thesis is that the definition of the problems approach and the problems selected for study by educators as illustrated by the textbooks…