Discusses coverage of Mexican history and Mexican Americans in 10 U.S. history textbooks approved for use in Texas. Criticizes the lack of complete information, ethnocentricity, and failure to present the Mexican point of view. Argues that U.S. history courses should cover topics of Mexican history, including Spanish colonialism, the Texas…

Examines ideological representations of how slavery began and a slave's trip to America (the Middle Passage) as depicted in classroom texts in California public schools. Explores the controversy over the adoption of these supposedly multicultural textbooks through interviews with eight African-American parents and four multicultural education…

Reports a content analysis of 27 current textbooks in introductory psychology and 12 for human development courses. Representation of work, theory, and behavior of males continues significantly to exceed the representation of females; and females are frequently portrayed in negative and gender-biased ways. (SLD)

Questions content of many introductory courses in political science, pointing out most courses focus on the U.S. political system, not the discipline and its basic theoretical and conceptual elements. Argues for a generalist approach that gives students a better understanding of political systems and the global world. Includes authors, choices,…

Examined is the role of middle school science textbooks in dealing with sensitive social and scientific issues. Ten widely used textbooks are compared to determine the amount and depth of content presented on five major global issues, including nuclear weapons. Implications are discussed within the context of a television culture. (KR)

Discusses the recent controversy emerging over California's first serious attempt at rewriting traditional history texts from a more multicultural perspective. Analyzes the opposition to the idea of a common U.S. history and the solutions offered in its place. (CJS)

Surveys the format and contents of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century arithmetic textbooks. Discusses the types of problems that were most popular in these early texts and briefly analyzes problem contents. Notes the residual educational influence of this era's arithmetical and instructional practices. (Contains 29 references.) (Author/MDH)

A sample of 14 college and 8 high school biology textbooks were evaluated to determine whether they provided accurate and adequate descriptions and examples of scientific thinking. The authors contrast their views of the nature of scientific thinking with those of the textbook authors on the concepts of hypothesis, theory, law, and principle. (MDH)

Argues that research and teaching in sociology should reflect increased commitment achievements and contributions of culturally diverse groups. Discusses content analysis of 30 introductory sociology texts to determine quantity and quality of their coverage of U.S. ethnic and racial groups. Concludes that, although substantial progress has been…

Uses the systemic-functional concept of "congruence" to analyze media texts related to commentaries and reports surrounding the 1995 Australian Federal Budget. Results present insights into the complexity and inaccessibility of some media texts for students new to English in the context of economics or the Australian media. (17…

This study was conducted to provide information on environmental knowledge of fifth and sixth graders in a Greek city in order to allow effective planning of environmental education. Results indicate that children's knowledge about the environment is influenced by their immediate experience as well as by textbook content. Discusses implications of…

Considers two issues in teaching summary-writing skills to students of English for academic purposes (EAP): how the skill is handled in EAP textbooks, and how summarization practices differ across cultural groups. A central concern is the role of attribution, a textual device that creates distance between author and summarizer. Argues that…

Discusses the importance of studying the Vietnam War. Attempts to illustrate the amount and quality of coverage of the Vietnam War in U.S. government textbooks. Explains that the amount of space devoted to the war in most of these texts remains inadequate for student understanding of the Vietnam War. (CMK)

Focuses on the interlanguage of a Thai student learning Norwegian. Suggests that the learner's errors are related to transfer from the first language, but that the error finds justification in the textbook input the student has received. Researchers attempted to "teach out" the error without much success. (Author/VWL)

Reviews the textbook content of the second edition of Taiwanese textbooks that resulted from the 1989-95 revision process. Reviews Taiwan' s national curriculum guide for social studies and basic guidelines for evaluating textbook content. Finds that the 1989-95 version addresses the presentation of local cultures but not controversial issues.…