Provides 45 guidelines useful in selecting college-level textbooks. The guidelines are presented under five major categories: (1) course strategy and tactics; (2) point of view; (3) accuracy of content; (4) currency of content; and (5) packaging information. (JN)

THE FOLLOWING IS THE FULL TEXT OF THIS DOCUMENT: Choosing the textbook for an introductory course can be a frustrating, haphazard, and time-consuming process. This year, members of the sociology department at Mercy College tried a selection process that eliminated at least the first two of those three problems. To begin, the department sent…

The first part of this paper discusses the nature and use of high-inference and low-inference criteria for the evaluation of science textbooks. The second part discusses a project entitled Criteria for the Analysis and Selection of Science Textbooks (CASST). Included are results of a state survey which show that very little emphasis is given to…

Outlines how the Language Arts Curriculum was evaluated for scope and sequence within the Winnsboro Independent School District (Texas). (MD)

Describes recent changes in management education in the former Soviet Union. Identifies tendencies that have arisen in educational reform: (1) short-term seminars, courses, and conferences; (2) short-term seminars featuring foreign experts; (3) new permanent educational institutions; and (4) retraining experts in new economic knowledge. Discusses…

Presents ideas and activities to be used in a course on the history and systems of psychology. Explains that the students prepared topic summaries to demonstrate knowledge rather that formal testing. Describes projects such as a reaction journal, intellectual genealogy, textbook comparison, and multiple timelines. (DK)

Identified are errors in diagrams from the textbook "Physics" (Little, Brown, and Co., Boston, 1987). Presents and discusses the errors in eight textbook diagrams. The errors include mechanics, optics, and electricity. (YP)

In the fall of 1984, the Education Commission of the States (ECS) was awarded a grant from the U.S. Secretary of Education's Discretionary Fund to identify alternative state roles for improving instructional materials in mathematics. To help state leaders define an appropriate and effective role in upgrading these materials, ECS proposed first to…

Contends that the standard description of the relationship between the long-run marginal cost curve and the short-run marginal cost curve is often misleading and imprecise. Asserts that a sampling of college-level textbooks confirms this confusion. Provides a definition and instructional strategy that can be used to promote student understanding…

Describes "A Guide to Selecting Basal Reading Programs," which was developed to help textbook adoption committees select basal reading texts in elementary schools. Topics discussed include development of booklets that describe various aspects of reading instruction and the role of the guidelines in improving the quality of basal reading…

Investigates the types, frequency, and length of literature used in elementary social studies texts and teachers' manuals. Although some texts thoroughly integrated the literature into the main instruction, most relegated it to additional readings and bibliographies. Provides some useful guidelines for using literature in the social studies…

Discusses teaching about Christopher Columbus and the contact between the Americas and the Old World. Suggests that most history texts are correct in the information they include but leave much out. Describes a museum exhibit focusing on disease, corn, the potato, the horse, and sugar as agents of change resulting from the Columbian contact. (DK)

The characteristics and components of scientific literacy are reviewed and analyzed in this report. Perspectives are given on textbook use, content, emphases and applications of the dimensions of scientific literacy. The distinctive features of the curriculum reform projects of the l960's and l970's are also discussed and their impacts are…

Examines secondary science textbooks for their interpretation of energy concepts. Discusses some of the confusion created by the use of the "forms of energy" approach. Advocates the use of "energy transfer" terminology. Critically examines examples of common text passages from British textbooks. (CW)

Discusses how rock-cycle diagrams can graphically illustrate the interrelationship between materials and processes in physical geology courses. Reviews nine contemporary physical geology textbooks with regard to their use of such diagrams. (TW)