The European history textbooks of four authors, Phillip Van Ness Meyers, Willis Mason West, Hutton Webster, and James Harvey Robinson, are described to show how they responded to and reflected the changing nature and function of the high school from 1880 to 1930. Data for the study came from educational histories, committee reports, journals,…

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…

Learner Verification and Revision (LVR) has been part of Florida's instructional materials adoption process since 1974, when state statutes required textbook publishers to provide written proof that their materials were revised based on student feedback before publication. Publishers were also required to collect student data and make revisions…

The first of two volumes dealing with the effective use of textbooks to teach reading, this booklet describes New Zealand's "Ready to Read" program and how materials are used in the curriculum to accomplish literacy goals. The first part of the booklet provides a general overview of the country and its educational system and of the…

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…

Described in these four contributions to a discussion group are options open to publishers and purchasers to improve textbooks and textbook selection. The first contribution (by Robert L. Brunelle) briefly introduces the discussion and stresses the urgency of creating higher standards for textbooks as part of overall educational reforms. The…

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…

Written from the perspective of a textbook editor, this paper reviews the limitations on curricular reform in mathematics. In the first section, an argument is presented that the style and manner of the presentation of educational materials are more important than the content presented. This section also raises objections to the current push to…

This manual is intended to train distance education staff in how to develop and edit teaching materials. Addressed in the individual units of the guide are the following topics: appointing writers, preparing to write, developing a course outline, selecting the structure of a unit, presenting the subject matter, developing student activities,…

The process of determining textbook content and selecting textbooks for classroom use in public schools throughout America is highly political and raises many fundamental questions about the relationship between education as a social enterprise and other aspects of society--economic, ideological, political, and legal. This study focuses on three…

A three week survey was conducted to: (1) investigate the state of developmental book activity in Korea, (2) determine the priority of Korea's book needs, (3) develop program recommendations to meet the needs and (4) formulate regional recommendations. The prime recommendation is that the members of both the Special Planning Committee and the…

Research on computers in schools is reviewed. The findings include the following: (1) 53 percent of schools have computers; (2) restructuring classroom schedules and revising inservice programs would expand computer use; (3) software packages should allow for individual differences; (4) publishers are coordinating software with curriculum; and (5)…

While Nepal no longer needs to purchase textbooks from India, the development of a national textbook publishing industry has not been problem-free. High costs, shortages of qualified editors, and problems with finding competent printers, storing printed books, and distributing texts have all complicated textbook production. (IS)

The Open University has become one of the biggest publishing houses in Great Britain. Its course units are produced in a system closely modeled on that of commercial publishers. New technologies in publishing have important educational implications. They can produce up-to-date materials for high level, small population courses. (Author/MLW)

The production of science textbooks and the processes whereby both producers and consumers can work to improve them are described. Included are discussions of selection at the state level and a publishers perspective, and six textbook experiments at different levels from different publishers. (CW)