The principal focus of this study was the assessment of mathematics in primary education within Realistic Mathematics Education (RME), a mathematics reform movement begun in The Netherlands in the 1960s. The book that resulted from this study is comprised of seven chapters, the first four of which constitute part 1 and are the core of the work.…

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…

Students in a teaching methods course evaluated a recently published basal reader to see if it conformed to guidelines for the efficacy of such materials already established by the class. A story selection was read to identify (1) essential background information, (2) text features that might cause comprehension problems (subject matter for…

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…

Seeking to discover how comprehensively and systematically one significant category of semantic elements is taught in current reading instructional material, a study surveyed the teaching and use of prefixes in the teachers' guides, readers, and workbooks (grades two to six) of six major reading series. Findings indicated that many of the most…

A computer-assisted analysis was conducted of the capitalization skills taught in nine series of language arts textbooks. The results indicated that while textbook authors generally agreed on the inclusion of certain basic capitalization skills, significant differences existed with regard to introductory levels, grade-level sequencing, the amount…

This document represents Volume I of a two volume study to determine the extent to which four elementary level social studies programs reflect the multi-racial, multi-cultural nature of American society. The document is presented in three parts. Part I covers the Michigan Social Studies Textbook Act, an historical overview of previous Michigan…

This document, Volume II of a two-volume report on the extent to which four elementary level social studies programs reflect the multi-racial, multi-cultural nature of American society, contains individual reports of each reviewer. Fifteen reviewers examined textbooks and accompanying instructional materials according to the degree to which they…

This report is the second part of a continuing effort to evaluate the economic content and related teaching strategies of new social studies textbook series used in the elementary grades. The following five textbook series are examined: (1) The World of Mankind (Follett); (2) The Ginn Social Science Series; (3) Our Family of Man (Harper and Row);…

Discusses four recent writing books: "Teaching to Write: Theory Into Practice" (Jane B. Hughey and Charlotte Slack); "The Writing Teacher's Handbook" (Jo Phenix); "Scaffolding Young Writers: A Writers' Workshop Approach" (Linda J. Dorn and Carla Soffos); and "Directing the Writing Workshop: An Elementary Teacher's Handbook" (Jean Wallace Gillet…

The content of elementary school reading methods textbooks spanning approximately 100 years was analyzed to note patterns of emphasis for selected topics. Four to six books were chosen for analysis from each of six time periods: 1890 to 1930, and each of the decades from the 1940s to the 1980s. Each book was evaluated with a checklist of 17 major…

Social Studies textbooks from grades 1-4 published by Macmillan (1985), Scott Foresman (1986), and Silver Burdett & Ginn (1988) were selected for review to assess the position given by these books to geographic place vocabulary. Each was evaluated on the basis of frequency and continuity of places named, the attention to stressing place name…

Resulting from a summer workshop concentrating on the writing of elementary school children, this booklet begins by reviewing a number of articles read and discussed by workshop participants. The second section, drawing upon the work of Sheila Schlawin, focuses on the composing process and answers a number of questions that teachers have about…

A system for the analysis of elementary school science teacher's guides and other program materials is described. The system, which can be used with either textbook-based or activity-based programs, produces a detailed step-by-step account of "What the classroom would be like if the teacher followed the recommendations in the teacher's guide…

This supplemental report concludes the analysis of data collected in response to a request by the Eugene (Oregon) school board for an assessment of reading instruction in the school district. The first section of the report examines materials and recordkeeping within the schools. Specifically it states what materials are used and how teachers rate…