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The role of textbooks in lower secondary schools in the Czech Republic
Get PDFThe paper presents research on textbook use conducted in lower secondary schools in Ostrava, in the Czech Republic. The main research aim was to identify the role the textbooks play in teaching and learning in lower secondary schools. The factors influencing the role of textbooks were also examined. The concept of the role of the textbook is discussed from several perspectives in this paper.The role of textbooks was empirically investigated from four viewpoints: prevalence of textbook use, textbook-based activities, the role of textbooks in students? homework, and textbook control. The investigation was conducted in ten lower secondary schools. A total of 155 lessons across 20 classes were observed to elicit data on the prevalence of textbook use in various phases of the lessons, and the time and frequency of textbook-based activities. The observations were conducted during English, History, Mathematics and Civics lessons and supplemented with individual semi-structured interviews with teachers and pair interviews with students.The research findings confirmed that textbooks were used extensively, particularly in the presentation of new content. Textbooks were mainly used for activities based on text perception. Simple activities prevailed, such as reading the text aloud, or students following the text with the teacher?s explanation. As to the students? use of text materials, the research concluded that students largely ignored the textbooks for their homework; they did not “learn from textbooks”. The teachers used the textbooks for various purposes: primarily as a resource for content and for assigning tasks and exercises. The research suggests that textbooks impact greatly on lesson content and to a certain degree on the methodology of the lesson
Textbook approval systems and the Program for International Assessment (PISA) results: A preliminary analysis
Get PDFThis paper examines the textbook approval systems of various countries in relation to educational outcomes. This investigation is based on research in the Netherlands that aimed to gain an overview of textbook approval systems in use across the world.The study also looked at the Program for International Assessment PISA results, in order to determine which countries have high and low PISA results. The researchers also sought to determine whether there was a relationship between state influence, as reflected and formalised in textbook approval systems, and student achievement educational outcomes.It is hoped this investigation will be a starting point for ongoing discussion about the usefulness of comparing textbook approval systems, and the possible relationships between national approval systems and educational outcomes
Divided world versus one world: A comparative analysis of non-continuous text elements in school geography textbooks of international selection
Get PDFOtherness is embodied in geography in regionalization. Regions with similar respectively different ecological, economical, social, and cultural features have been traditionally clustered on global scale in "worlds". While political and economical factors played an important role in distinguishing between the First, Second, and Third World during the Cold War, clustering developed and developing regions considers also additional aspects such as resources, education, or technology. Stressing more the aspects of convergence rather than the ones of divergence, contemporary discourses build on the idea of (education for) sustainable development in an undivided "one world". Textbooks for school geography contain along with the continuous text also a multitude of non-continuous text elements that carry an expressive and very contrastive iconography of the "own" and the "other". This paper deals with the question, how otherness is expressed through non-continuous text (e.g. maps, diagrams, cartoons, pictures etc.). We argue that otherness is often expressed through self-inclusion respectively self-exclusion of the own country on a global level. For that, the paper compares a sample of secondary school geography texts from Germany (Western context), Romania (post-socialist context), and Mexico (post-colonial context). Qualitative content analysis of the meta-text elements (Pingel 2010) was carried out. The results show that non-continuous text divides worlds by classifying and clustering on several scales, while cross-curricular coordinates contribute to a converging one world. The results also show that a new regionalization based on concept of sustainable development seems to be emerging
Editorial
Get PDFWe are very pleased to present the latest issue (Volume 5, Number 1, August 2012) of the e-Journal of the International Association for Research on Textbooks and Educational Media. The next issue of the IARTEM e-Journal, Volume 5, Number 2, will be published in December, 2012
Views and voices: indigenous people in Australian teaching and learning materials 2000-2011
Get PDFThe article compares the telling of Indigenous Australians’ history as they are presented in teaching and learning materials for History education written and illustrated by Indigenous Australians and by White Australians. Three positions of ethno-race are presented: firstly the Indigenous people as a people of nature, secondly Indigenous people becoming European Australians and thirdly Indigenous people as nomadic. Inspired by the concept of intersectionality, the three positions are connected with the socio-cultural categories of gender, sexuality, nationality and class. Different views of history are shown in light of the questions ‘where’ and ‘who’ used by Indigenous Australians, whereas the questions of ‘why’ and ‘when’ are more used by White Australians. The storytelling in the materials written by Indigenous Australians is about the European invasion of their country and the nature of Indigenous people. White Australians present this history as an invasion but also as a period of European exploration and adventure
European traditional national minorities in Slovenian geography textbooks compared with textbooks from other European countries
Get PDFSlovenia is a very small country with 2 million inhabitants, in a wider Europe. Accordingly, the Slovene school geography syllabus reflects a certain favorable disposition towards the treatment of European national minorities. This study, using the method of content analysis, compares the treatment of “traditional” or “old” minorities in selected Slovenian textbooks with content relating to the geography of Europe from 24 countries. There are considerable differences among the textbooks from the western and eastern parts of Europe. The latter give greater attention to traditional national minorities and use a different approach to content and instruction. The study shows that traditional national minorities are presented in more depth in Slovene textbooks than in textbooks from other European countries
Re-write or be written out: moving a textbook through changing paradigms
Get PDFThis paper responds to Paxton?s lament that suggests there is a „deafening silence? between those who author, edit and publish textbooks and the teachers and students who use them.The writer of a textbook that has been through three editions over twenty years necessarily adapts the book to changing teaching paradigms and evolving conceptions of what defines the core teaching of a subject. There are even changes in the expectations of what a textbook should be and do – especially if those twenty years span the emergence of the internet.This article charts the writing process for the three editions of the Australian Media Studies textbook Media: new ways and meanings, and places the book within the context of the emblematic discourses or paradigms of the subject in each time period.It examines the significant changes in thinking about the pedagogy of media studies subjects that have occurred over this period in all Australian states, and the role of a textbook in both reflecting and leading these changes. Key informant interviews were held in two Australian states to ascertain the role of the book within its context. As part of the writing process for the third edition of the textbook, an internet survey of media teachers in two Australian states, together with a focus group and several descriptive surveys aimed to find out what teachers wanted in a contemporary media studies textbook, and to involve them in theselection of content.The research presented here suggests that there were several paradigm shifts in Australian media studies and that various authors and the textbooks they wrote participated in, and to some extent shaped these. The research also suggests thatthe perceived role of textbooks in media studies subjects varies to some extent between the three main Australian states that have formal media studies subjects. Findings also suggest that the role of textbooks has changed over time as teachers demand more recontextualisation, and as textbooks incorporate more visual and multimedia material
The face of the factory girl: Educational rhetoric in the mediation of an historical place
Get PDFWorld heritage cities and sites convey culture and form understandings of the past as well as show a way to relate to it in a present context. These cities and sites are concrete examples of what to remember; and their mediated rhetoric, as found inexhibitions and on websites, gives a view into the management of our collective, cultural memory. This article will analyse key elements of the website for New Lanark, a Scottish heritage site, and in so doing will observe how rhetorical agency is shaped through the use of iconic photographs, visual rhetoric and the foregrounding of specific topics. Predominant on this website is the face of a young factory girl, smiling at the viewer. The heritage site thus has its identity formed, but so does the public addressed by this rhetoric. The institutional position of the historical place and its mediated rhetoric point to the fact that world heritage sites are rhetorical educational texts, far from being as neutral as might be expected
Books versus ‘The Book’: The 1974 Kanawha County Textbook Controversy
Get PDFIn 1974 Kanawha County, West Virginia witnessed one of the most violent textbook wars the USA has seen. The paper chronicles the direction of the dispute identifying key issues, protagonists and ideological positions; this is followed by an analysis ofcore protester motivation and intention focusing around the embryonic emergence of Christian fundamentalism and the politics of Conservatism. This is placed within the context of Gramscian notions of hegemonic and counter-hegemonic struggle (Gramsci 1971), the construction of moral panic (Cohen 1972) and authoritarian populism (Hall 1988) as organising ideas. Finally, the paper reflects upon how the Kanawha incident offered a template for the subsequent development of an articulated Christian fundamentalist and political right-wing counter-hegemonic movement aimed at dominating educational policy agendas in the USA
Learning Chemistry: Text Use and Text Talk in a Finland-Swedish Chemistry Classroom
Get PDFThe article draws on the notion that the process of gradually becoming part of new social contexts always involves a gradual enculturation into the discourse of the field, and also that the responsibility of the educational systems is to give studentsopportunities to develop their literacy competence in various subject areas. The article also argues for an explicit text focus in science classrooms, due to the complexity of texts used in the area, especially regarding multimodality. For the purpose of discussing these issues, an analysis of literacy events in a chemistry classroom has been done. The starting point was to investigate what semiotic resources connected to a multimodal concept of texts were used, and how, with a special interest in meta-textual classroom discussions. The results of the analysis reveal that the students come across a number of different texts in the chemistry classroom, but that longer running texts neither are read nor written in the classroom and that almost no meta-textual discussions take place. Pedagogical implications of the results are discussed