"Concepts and Experiments in Physical Education," a well-known book in the physical education (PE) field, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The book has been published in more than 30 editions with different titles and contents reflecting the changes in the field of PE, physical fitness (PF), and physical activity (PA)…

Proposes a digression to recover the images that the 19th century left to the history of education concerning the work of Tomas Antonio Gonzaga. (PA)

Examines the past three decades of educational history to determine whether English teachers or textbook publishers dictate what goes into the English language arts curriculum. (RL)

Describes the main strands of theory and practice in early nineteenth-century grammar teaching and shows how these "analytic" and "synthetic" approaches were combined in grammar texts in the middle of the century, contributing to an eclectic theory of expression employed in both grammar and composition teaching by the l890s.…

Examines the relationship of textbooks and writing instruction in America, showing that composition textbooks as they developed since 1820 have always responded to the preferences of the teachers cast up by the culture, meeting their perceived needs and recreating these and other needs in later teachers shaped by the texts. (HTH)

The New Social Studies and the reform efforts of the 1970s are linked to the classrooms of the 1980s. History teachers may use a greater variety of teaching styles, methods, and materials than teachers two decades ago. The textbook-centered classroom is one of the major challenges facing history educators today. (AM)

McGuffey's "Eclectic Readers" were a pervasive educational influence for almost 100 years in America and over 122 million copies were published before their use began to decline in the 1920s. Originally the work of William Holmes McGuffey, born in 1800 and raised on the Ohio frontier, the first McGuffey's readers appeared in 1837: a…

A close reading of two nineteenth-century composition textbook prefaces reveals that teachers of that period attempted to rename and refocus the content and practice of composition to meet the imagined needs of real students, who were also frustrated and struggling. From the perspective of a twentieth-century composition teacher, William Swinton's…

Analyzes changes in content and shifts in emphasis in rhetoric texts from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present. Suggests that the current-traditional approach to the teaching of rhetoric used in most college classrooms has a strong similarity to that advocated by early rhetoricians. (RBW)

Summarizes the research on the condition of literacy and concludes that the poor performance of the last century can be traced, in part, to faulty teaching methods, oversimplified textbooks, and the false diagnosis of innate learning disabilities. (TB)

This paper examines how the idea of "race" is represented in high school Canadian history textbooks. It looks at textbooks authorized by the Province of Ontario between 1940 and 1960 and those authorized after 2000. It is argued in this paper that even though historical racisms have increasingly made their way into Canadian history…

Argues that the McGuffey readers introduced pedagogical innovations that provided moral themes many continue to value. (FL)

Presents an overview of textbooks on government and politics published from 1793 through the nineteenth century. History and geography textbooks were the main vehicle for civic education until 1830 when political textbooks began to be published. (Author/KC)

Investigates the 5 editions of John M. Lannon's "Technical Writing," a top-selling technical writing textbook for over 10 years. Claims that the text illustrates where the field has been and where it is going. Includes comments from Lannon concerning his book and how it responded to the social conditions of the 1980s. (HB)

This article discusses the struggles over school textbooks to probe America's postwar discourse about race, highlighting the shift towards psychological modes of explanation and remedy. The first section examines debates in the North during the 1940s and early 1950s when a new cohort of African-American freedom fighters--the so-called "World War…