Using comprehension strategies with authentic text in a college chemistry course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cain, Stephen Daniel

College science students learn important topics by reading textbooks, which contain dense technical prose. Comprehension strategies are known to increase learning from reading. One class of comprehension strategies, called elaboration strategies, is intended to link new information with prior knowledge. Elaboration strategies have an appeal in science courses where new information frequently depends on previously learned information. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of an elaboration strategy in an authentic college environment. General chemistry students read text about Lewis structures, figures drawn by chemists to depict molecules, while assigned to use either an elaboration strategy, namely elaborative interrogation, or another strategy, rereading, which served as a placebo control. Two texts of equal length were employed in this pretest-posttest experimental design. One was composed by the researcher. The other was an excerpt from a college textbook and contained a procedure for constructing Lewis structures. Students (N = 252) attending a large community college were randomly assigned to one of the two texts and assigned one of the two strategies. The elaborative interrogation strategy was implemented with instructions to answer why-questions posed throughout the reading. Answering why-questions has been hypothesized to activate prior knowledge of a topic, and thus to aid in cognitively connecting new material with prior knowledge. The rereading strategy was implemented with instructions to read text twice. The use of authentic text was one of only a few instances of applying elaborative interrogation with a textbook. In addition, previous studies have generally focused on the learning of facts contained in prose. The application of elaborative interrogation to procedural text has not been previously reported. Results indicated that the more effective strategy was undetermined when reading authentic text in this setting. However, prior knowledge level was identified as a statistically significant factor for learning from authentic text. That is, students with high prior knowledge learned more, regardless of assigned strategy. Another descriptive study was conducted with a separate student sample (N = 34). Previously reported Lewis structure research was replicated. The trend of difficulty for 50 structures in the earlier work was supported.

How Do General Chemistry Students' Impressions, Attitudes, Perceived Learning, and Course Performance Vary with the Arrangement of Homework Questions and E-Text?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Williamson, Vickie M.; Zumalt, Caitlin J.

2017-01-01

Two large sections of first-semester general chemistry were assigned to use different homework systems. One section used MindTap, a Cengage Learning product, which presents short sections of the textbook with embedded homework questions; such that students could read the textbook section then answer one or more questions in the same screen. The…

Encouraging Students to Read: What Professors are (and Aren't) Doing about It

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Starcher, Keith; Proffitt, Dennis

2011-01-01

Reasons are examined as to why students are reluctant to complete assigned textbook readings on a timely basis. Prior research suggested that lack of student motivation, lack of student knowledge of effective study habits, competing demands on student time, and lack of congruency between student objectives for the course and professor objectives…

Technology's Impact on Graduate Level Reading: Using Technology to Improve Student Assignment Completion Rates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diamantes, Thomas

2007-01-01

This paper discusses the critical relation between professor, student and technology in the process of encouraging graduate students to read required textbook sections. It discusses how using online management software, graduate students are required to submit weekly chapter summaries to the professor by 5:00 pm on Fridays. In addition to the…

Waves and Particles, The Orbital Atom, Parts One and Two of an Integrated Science Sequence, Teacher's Guide, 1973 Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Portland Project Committee, OR.

This teacher's guide includes parts one and two of the four-part third year Portland Project, a three-year integrated secondary science curriculum sequence. The Harvard Project Physics textbook is used for reading assignments for part one. Assignments relate to waves, light, electricity, magnetic fields, Faraday and the electrical age,…

Illustrations and supporting texts for sound standing waves of air columns in pipes in introductory physics textbooks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Liang; Smith, Chris; Poelzer, G. Herold; Rodriguez, Jennifer; Corpuz, Edgar; Yanev, George

2014-12-01

In our pilot studies, we found that many introductory physics textbook illustrations with supporting text for sound standing waves of air columns in open-open, open-closed, and closed-closed pipes inhibit student understanding of sound standing wave phenomena due to student misunderstanding of how air molecules move within these pipes. Based on the construct of meaningful learning from cognitive psychology and semiotics, a quasiexperimental study was conducted to investigate the comparative effectiveness of two alternative approaches to student understanding: a traditional textbook illustration approach versus a newly designed air molecule motion illustration approach. Thirty volunteer students from introductory physics classes were randomly assigned to two groups of 15 each. Both groups were administered a presurvey. Then, group A read the air molecule motion illustration handout, and group B read a traditional textbook illustration handout; both groups were administered postsurveys. Subsequently, the procedure was reversed: group B read the air molecule motion illustration handout and group A read the traditional textbook illustration handout. This was followed by a second postsurvey along with an exit research questionnaire. The study found that the majority of students experienced meaningful learning and stated that they understood sound standing wave phenomena significantly better using the air molecule motion illustration approach. This finding provides a method for physics education researchers to design illustrations for abstract sound standing wave concepts, for publishers to improve their illustrations with supporting text, and for instructors to facilitate deeper learning in their students on sound standing waves.

A Study of Trends of College English Reading Textbooks in Japan: An Analysis of College English Reading Textbooks for 1985.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kitao, Kenji; And Others

A study of reading textbooks for English as a second language published in Japan evaluated 150 traditional reading textbooks and 32 new reading textbooks published for use in 1985. Traditional reading textbooks are those with main texts and notes and sometimes a few comprehension questions. New reading textbooks have main texts, comprehension…

Examining How Prospective Teachers Come To Understand Two Science Constructs, Evaporation and Condensation, as a Result of Class Discussion and Textbook Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

You, Li-Ching; Schallert, Diane L.

As part of a larger project aimed at exploring how students' conceptual growth results from interacting with the teacher and the assigned readings associated with a course, this study focused on how prospective elementary teachers conceptualized two concepts, evaporation and condensation in a Concepts in Earth Science Course. In the conceptual…

The Joy of Fs: A Student Guide to Getting Lousy Grades.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Charles J.

1983-01-01

Students who wish to get bad grades should daydream, not read their textbooks or study manuals, avoid note taking, and procrastinate on assignments. This "manual" is used in an introductory psychology class to modify students' habits and change mediocre classroom behavior. (CS)

Enhancing the Interpretive Reading and Analytical Writing of Mainstreamed English Learners in Secondary School: Results from a Randomized Field Trial Using a Cognitive Strategies Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olson, Carol Booth; Kim, James S.; Scarcella, Robin; Kramer, Jason; Pearson, Matthew; van Dyk, David A.; Collins, Penny; Land, Robert E.

2012-01-01

In this study, 72 secondary English teachers from the Santa Ana Unified School District were randomly assigned to participate in the Pathway Project, a cognitive strategies approach to teaching interpretive reading and analytical writing, or to a control condition involving typical district training focusing on teaching content from the textbook.…

Waves and Particles--The Orbital Atom, Parts One & Two of an Integrated Science Sequence, Student Guide, 1971 Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Portland Project Committee, OR.

The third year of the Portland Project, a three-year secondary school curriculum in integrated science, consists of four parts, the first two of which are covered in this student guide. The reading assignments for part one, "Waves and Particles," are listed in the student guide and are to be read in the Harvard Project Physics textbook.…

Progression of a Data Visualization Assignment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adkins, Joni K.

2016-01-01

The growing popularity of data visualization due to increased amounts of data and easier-to-use software tools creates an information literacy skill gap for students. Students in an Information Technology Management graduate course were exposed to data visualization not only through their textbook reading but also through a data visualization…

Relevance of Student Resources in a Flipped MIS Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adkins, Joni K.

2014-01-01

Flipped classrooms are gaining popularity in various educational settings as proponents report several benefits. In order for flipped classrooms to be successful, students must take responsibility for certain assignments outside of class time. In this study, Management Information Systems students were to learn textbook material by reading the…

Seven Individualized Reading and Study Strategies for Mainstreamed Students in Content Area Classes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maring, Gerald H.; Furman, Gail

The paper describes ways in which mainstreamed special education students can engage in individual assignments to master course content. The activities include developing a word parts dictionary which addresses prefixes, roots, and suffixes of the subject area; highlighting the textbook to sort out main ideas, vocabulary words, and supporting…

Eyes on Cognitive Styles and the Processing of Visual Information.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sitz, Robert

A simulated art history textbook reading assignment was designed to examine the effects of visual information on student learning and understanding. A sample of 234 students was taken from a population of freshman/sophomore English students in a large metropolitan community college district. In phase one of the study, students took the Group…

Reflective Journaling as a Flipped Classroom Technique to Increase Reading and Participation With Social Work Students

PubMed Central

Sage, Melanie; Sele, Patti

2016-01-01

Students in undergraduate social work practice courses come to the class with varying levels of educational, life, and practice experience. Students require an introduction to the material through textbook reading before they are able to engage in critical discussions, yet reading adherence varies widely among students. This research explores the use of reflective journals as a Flipped Classroom technique to increase reflective thinking and reading adherence. This study surveys 27 students in two practice courses about the use of weekly reflective journaling as a flipped classroom assignment. Findings support that reflective reading journals increase student preparation and engagement, but require more work for students and instructors. Implications are discussed. PMID:27672301

Comparison of textbook passages, nonfiction trade book passages and fiction trade book passages as instructional tools for learning science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kelly, Cynthia

This study examined the impact of different types of text on student achievement in elementary school science. Gender was also examined to see if the type of text passage read had any differential effect on boys' and girls' achievement. This study was a pretest/posttest/retention test design. Eighty-four fourth grade students from a public charter elementary school in South Florida were randomly assigned a passage from a physical science textbook, a physical science nonfiction trade book, a physical science fiction trade book, a biological science textbook or a biological science nonfiction trade book. Results in the physical science content area revealed that students in the textbook passage group had higher posttest and retention test results than students in the nonfiction and fiction trade book passage groups. There was no difference on the posttest results of students in the biological science textbook and nonfiction trade book passage groups. Students in the biological science textbook passage group had higher retention results than students in the biological science nonfiction passage group. Gender results in the physical science content area revealed that boys had a higher retention score than girls in the fiction trade book passage group. There were no gender achievement differences as a result of the text passage read in the biological science content area. It was concluded that no definitive answer as to the efficacy of textbooks versus trade books was possible based upon results of the study. Recommendations for future research include examining the effects of different types of texts in conjunction with other authentic teaching methods.

Readability and Reading Ease Revisited: State-Adopted Science Textbooks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chavkin, Laura

1997-01-01

Examines if the reading levels of state-adopted science textbooks at the high-school level are consistent with their intended reader levels. Finds that four of five chemistry textbooks had reading levels beyond high school, while biology textbooks fared better but not as well as the physics and physical science textbooks, which were on grade level…

Cohesion Features in ESL Reading: Comparing Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Plakans, Lia; Bilki, Zeynep

2016-01-01

This study of English as a second language (ESL) reading textbooks investigates cohesion in reading passages from 27 textbooks. The guiding research questions were whether and how cohesion differs across textbooks written for beginning, intermediate, and advanced second language readers. Using a computational tool called Coh-Metrix, textual…

May I Go to the Bathroom?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferrell, Kathy

2007-01-01

"May I go to the bathroom?" While this hardly an unusual question from any middle-level student, the number of students who suddenly need to leave the room increases when a teacher assigns a textbook passage to read. Whether it is to use the restroom, visit their locker, or see the school nurse, these students will do just about anything to keep…

Reading in the Social Studies: What Not to Do

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parsons, James; Tomas, Douglas

1978-01-01

Five points are: (1) don't assume students know how to use their textbooks; (2) don't ignore the problem or take only short term measures for improvement; (3) don't give undirected assignments; (4) don't force students to pronounce every word correctly; (5) don't send students to the dictionary for words they don't know. (Author/JK)

Technology and Teaching: Searching under Cups for Clues about Memory--An Online Demonstration

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kahan, Todd A.; Mathis, Katherine M.

2007-01-01

An online demonstration, designed to enhance comprehension of Sternberg's (1966) short-term memory scanning task, involved rapidly searching under virtual cups for a ball. We randomly assigned students to 1 of 3 groups, all of whom read the same textbook description of Sternberg's work: A demonstration group used 3 search methods to look for balls…

Meeting the Reading Challenges of Science Textbooks in the Primary Grades

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bryce, Nadine

2011-01-01

Four primary grade teachers overcame challenges of textbook-based science reading through a focus on reading strategies and an emphasis on making meaning. Teachers used whole-class and small-group guided reading instruction to focus students on organizational and textual features of the science textbooks. They also used teacher-guided talk and…

Why and How Textbooks Should Encourage Extensive Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, Dale

2009-01-01

Extensive reading is believed to have considerable benefits for learners both in terms of learning gains and motivation and seems to be becoming ever more popular in the ELT world. So far, however, there seems to be almost no integration of extensive reading and textbooks. This article argues that textbooks should be encouraging extensive reading,…

Mathematics Textbooks and the Teaching of Assigned Writing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Donlan, Dan

This paper initially presents the results of several studies concerning what kind of writing mathematics teachers assign and what kind of writing mathematics textbooks assign. By far, report-research was the most popular type of writing assigned in the surveyed textbooks. The types of reports students were asked to write include biography,…

Teachers Beware: Elementary Social Studies Textbooks Are Getting Harder to Read.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Roger E.

An evaluation of elementary social studies textbooks indicates that eight factors are making textbooks harder to read. These factors are: (1) the reading level of the book and/or the range of reading levels within it; (2) long sentences and/or too many concepts within a sentence or paragraph; (3) the use of vague terms, technical vocabulary, and…

Does the Arrangement of Embedded Text versus Linked Text in Homework Systems Make a Difference in Students Impressions, Attitudes, and Perceived Learning?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zumalt, Caitlin J.; Williamson, Vickie M.

2016-01-01

Students in a first-semester general chemistry course at a large southwestern university completed a 3-week homework assignment using MindTap, a Cengage Learning product. MindTap is the first major electronic system that has homework questions embedded in the text, such that students read a short section of the textbook and then answer a question…

Textbook Reading Levels

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hopkins, Charles R.; Kim, Paul Y.

1974-01-01

Since the reading abilities of general business students vary from one individual to the next, the author's report on the readability of three general business textbooks to guide business teachers in their selection of textbooks. (AG)

Textbook Adoption in Kentucky. Reading Education Report No. 64.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Winograd, Peter; Osborn, Jean

Kentucky is one of twenty-four states that rely upon a state adoption process for selecting school textbooks, a procedure that occurs every six years. Publishers' bids are solicited and evaluated by the State Textbook Commission, and the Textbook Selection Criteria Committee for Reading makes recommendations that will be of help to people…

Textbooks and Reading Materials. Volume Two: Outcomes of the Regional Seminar. Report of a Regional Seminar on Textbooks and Reading Materials (Wellington, New Zealand, October 4-12, 1983).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New Zealand Dept. of Education, Wellington.

For the second of two volumes dealing with the effective use of instructional materials to teach reading, this booklet describes the participants and outcomes of a regional seminar on the use of reading instruction materials and textbooks held in New Zealand. The first section of the booklet provides an overview of the seminar, including…

Improving the Textbook Selection Process: Case Studies of the Textbook Adoption Guidelines Project. Technical Report No. 478.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dole, Janice; And Others

A study followed three textbook adoption committees as they evaluated basal reading programs. The committees used "A Guide to Selecting Basal Reading Programs" (developed at the Center for the Study of Reading) to help them evaluate the quality of instruction in existing programs. Case studies of the three committees sought to address the…

A Modified Content Analysis of Selected Secondary Reading Methods Textbooks: 1970-2008

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hunt, Teresita Michele

2009-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine how secondary teachers have been taught to teach reading-to-learn over the last four decades, and to teach the struggling and reluctant readers in their classes. In this study, twelve secondary reading methods textbooks were analyzed. The textbooks were chosen based on four criteria: (a) availability, (b)…

A Modern Approach to the Traditional Textbook: Bringing Introductory Geology Courses into the 21st Century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Workman Ford, K.; Ford, K. R.

2013-12-01

Undergraduate introductory geology courses are required in many colleges nationwide as part of the general education requirement. As a result, a large portion of those students are non-majors and most are not science majors. Textbooks used in these courses are often extensive with respect to the amount of material covered which tends to be overwhelming to the average student. Thus, students often purchase the pricey textbook but turn to their smartphones, notebooks, and laptops for answers. Before the development of the internet, students spent many hours in libraries and with their textbooks organizing and retrieving information. However, new technologies in the 21st century have essentially replaced traditional textbooks with students turning to online search engines, such as Google, to study and to complete homework assignments. Presently, online search engines may be more intuitive, but what's going on in the background isn't intuitive at all, and few students have a clear understanding of how search engines operate. Effectively this leads to students without the conception of how to build an adequate search strategy independent of search engines. Often, students are directed to online encyclopedias that may have erroneous information. Here, we employ an alternative to traditional textbooks and online search engines by implementing a guidebook with electronic resources for online activities and homework assignments. The proposed guidebook is roughly modeled after the American Geosciences Institute's Geoscience Handbook: AGI Data Sheets 4th, revised edition, and will include diagrams, graphs, charts, and pictures of basic geologic principles, processes, and earth materials. Along with the information, each topic will have online resources including sites for general reading, specific assignments that require visiting scientifically sound websites (i.e., USGS, GSA, AGU, Science, Nature), online self-assessment activities, and Google Earth activities. In addition, some elements would include a critical thinking problem wherein students research a topic without specific online resources provided, and compare what they find to reputable resources. This process is likely to drive students to evaluate their sources in a more critical manner. Given that textbooks are costly and sometimes overwhelming for students compelling them to use online search engines, the idea of a guidebook that encompasses electronic resources may engage the students more effectively, leading to a more comprehensive understanding and appreciation of the geosciences.

Paper-Based Textbooks with Audio Support for Print-Disabled Students.

PubMed

Fujiyoshi, Akio; Ohsawa, Akiko; Takaira, Takuya; Tani, Yoshiaki; Fujiyoshi, Mamoru; Ota, Yuko

2015-01-01

Utilizing invisible 2-dimensional codes and digital audio players with a 2-dimensional code scanner, we developed paper-based textbooks with audio support for students with print disabilities, called "multimodal textbooks." Multimodal textbooks can be read with the combination of the two modes: "reading printed text" and "listening to the speech of the text from a digital audio player with a 2-dimensional code scanner." Since multimodal textbooks look the same as regular textbooks and the price of a digital audio player is reasonable (about 30 euro), we think multimodal textbooks are suitable for students with print disabilities in ordinary classrooms.

Adolescent Literacy and Textbooks: An Annotated Bibliography. Final Report from Carnegie Corporation of New York's Council on Advancing Adolescent Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kamil, Michael

2010-01-01

Textbooks are the primary mediator of learning in academic settings. As students progress from elementary school to middle and high school, the need to read textbooks becomes ever more critical. Reading instruction has not, until recently, even begun to take this reality into account (Kamil, Lane, & Nicolls, 2004). Rather, reading instruction has…

E-textbooks: A Personalized Learning Experience or a Digital Distraction?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dobler, Elizabeth

2015-01-01

This article explores the digital reading preferences and strategies used by preservice teachers when reading an e-textbook in a literacy methods course. The use of e-textbooks is becoming more prevalent due to an increase in access to mobile devices, acceptance of e-books in general, and the high cost of print textbooks. To ensure comprehension,…

Does Increasing Textbook Portability Increase Reading Rates or Academic Performance?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stratton, Georgeana

2011-01-01

Since an alarming number of students do not read their textbooks, the author investigated whether students might more readily review their course information if it were available on MP3 files instead of in textbook form. Her hypotheses are that students who have access to textbook section summaries in MP3 form will cover more of the textbook…

It's Not Written Here, but This Is What Happened: Students' Cultural Comprehension of Textbook Narratives on the Israeli-Arab Conflict

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Porat, Dan A.

2004-01-01

A group of Israeli high school students (h = 11) from two socially distinct schools read aloud a textbook account of a 1920 bloody encounter between Jews and Arabs. The study aimed at examining the relation between the textbook account and the students' formation of historical perceptions. Prior to reading the textbook excerpts, students wrote…

How Can the Classroom Teacher Match Content Area Reading Materials with the Needs and Abilities of Students?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aukerman, Robert

Teachers can match content reading materials with student needs and abilities in a number of ways. If textbooks are the main or only source, teachers can group students according to textbook difficulty, conduct student surveys of specific topics in the textbook, and use the textbook as a sampler or starting point for more in-depth studies of…

University Students' Reading of Their First-Year Mathematics Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shepherd, Mary D.; Selden, Annie; Selden, John

2012-01-01

This article reports the observed behaviors and difficulties that 11 precalculus and calculus students exhibited in reading new passages from their mathematics textbooks. To gauge the "effectiveness" of these students' reading, we asked them to attempt straightforward mathematical tasks, based directly on what they had just read. The…

Thinking Levels of Questions in Christian Reading Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Heather A.

2015-01-01

If Christian schools desire students to achieve higher-level thinking, then the textbooks that teachers use should reflect such thinking. Using Risner's (1987) methodology, raters classified questions from two Christian publishers' fifth grade reading textbooks based on the revised Bloom's taxonomy (Anderson et al., 2001). The questions in the A…

E-Books or Textbooks: Students Prefer Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woody, William Douglas; Daniel, David B.; Baker, Crystal A.

2010-01-01

Previous research has demonstrated that the experience of reading e-books is not equivalent to reading textbooks. This study examines factors influencing preference for e-books as well as reported use of e-book content. Although the present student cohort is the most technologically savvy to ever enter universities, students do not prefer e-books…

Morphemic Analysis as Imagined by Developmental Reading Textbooks: A Content Analysis of a Textbook Corpus

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roth, Daniel

2017-01-01

Although vocabulary instruction is a pressing need for postsecondary reading instructors, a minimal amount of current postsecondary scholarship addresses this need, and almost no current scholarship addresses the textbook tradition of morphemic analysis (MA). The present article reviews the literature on MA instruction and argues for teaching MA…

What Johnny Shouldn't Read: Textbook Censorship in America.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DelFattore, Joan

This book discusses ways in which special-interest groups influence the content of textbooks used in public and private schools throughout the United States. The book focuses on recent federal lawsuits involving attempts to censor or ban reading, literature, science, and social studies textbooks. Recreating the story behind each lawsuit, the book…

Technology and Textbooks: The Future

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baglione, Stephen L.; Sullivan, Kevin

2016-01-01

This article describes two separate studies: a survey of students' textbook perceptions, purchases, and usage for e-textbooks and print textbooks and a conjoint analysis on e-textbook attributes. Print textbooks were perceived as easier to read, understand, and navigate, whereas e-textbooks were perceived to be cheaper. Students were willing to…

Possible Reasons for Students' Ineffective Reading of Their First-Year University Mathematics Textbooks. Technical Report. No. 2011-2

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shepherd, Mary D.; Selden, Annie; Selden, John

2011-01-01

This paper reports the observed behaviors and difficulties that eleven precalculus and calculus students exhibited in reading new passages from their mathematics textbooks. To gauge the effectiveness of these students' reading, we asked them to attempt straightforward mathematical tasks, based directly on what they had just read. These …

Pedagogical Considerations in Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ediger, Marlow

This paper outlines various approaches to teaching reading. The first approach considered focuses on a teacher strictly following a textbook. The paper notes that textbooks which employ programmed reading help students progress at a slow but steady rate. It then discusses the hierarchical method of state mandated objectives and testing. Features…

Mapping the Chapter: One Way to Tackle the CTE Textbook

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laverick DeFelice, Catherine

2010-01-01

This reading specialist has come up with a strategy to help other CTE instructors map the CTE textbook, so that students can better comprehend the information in them and discover a joy of reading. CTE textbooks present a particular challenge because they are packed with information and can be quite different in structure than texts student have…

A Vocabulary Learning Tool for L2 Undergraduates Reading Science and Technology Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hsu, Chihcheng; Ou Yang, Fang-Chuan

2013-01-01

Students of English as a second language who major in science and technology use English-language textbooks to ensure that they can read English materials upon graduation. Research indicates that teachers spend little time helping these students on the linguistic complexity of such textbooks. Vocabulary, grammar, and article structure are elements…

Textbook Characteristics That Support or Thwart Comprehension: The Current State of Social Studies Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berkeley, Sheri; King-Sears, Margaret E.; Vilbas, Jessica; Conklin, Sarah

2016-01-01

Textbooks are heavily used in secondary-level content area classes, but previous research has identified numerous challenges for students associated with reading and understanding these texts. While students can learn reading strategies that help them better understand text, it is unclear the extent to which textbooks are written to promote or…

Do textbooks used in university reading education courses conform to the instructional recommendations of the national reading panel?

PubMed

Malatesha Joshi, R; Binks, Emily; Graham, Lori; Ocker-Dean, Emily; Smith, Dennie L; Boulware-Gooden, Regina

2009-01-01

Two reasons may be responsible for the poor grasp of the linguistic concepts related to literacy acquisition by preservice and in-service teachers: a lack of attention given to such concepts by teacher educators (college faculty members) and a lack of relevant information provided in the textbooks used in college courses. In an earlier study, the authors found that many teacher educators involved in the training of preservice and in-service teachers were not well acquainted with these concepts. In this study, the authors examined the extent to which textbooks used in reading education courses contain the information about the five components of literacy instruction (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension) recommended by the National Reading Panel. Such scrutiny shows that many textbooks do not adequately cover these five components and the related instructional procedures for teaching them. In addition to the paucity of information about teaching the five components, some textbooks present inaccurate information.

Teaching Expository Text Structures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Montelongo, Jose; Berber-Jimenez, Lola; Hernandez, Anita C.; Hosking, David

2006-01-01

Many students enter high school unskilled in the art of reading to learn from science textbooks. Even students who can read full-length novels often find science books difficult to read because students have relatively little practice with the various types of expository text structures used by such textbooks (Armbruster, 1991). Expository text…

Making Textbook Reading Meaningful

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guthrie, John T.; Klauda, Susan Lutz

2012-01-01

When students enter middle school, they are confronted with the necessity of learning from complex content-area textbooks. Many students find these texts boring, and they may lack the higher-order reading comprehension skills they need to tackle complex text. Yet the ability to read informational text is essential to success in middle school and…

The effects of explicit visual cues in reading biological diagrams

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ge, Yun-Ping; Unsworth, Len; Wang, Kuo-Hua

2017-03-01

Drawing on cognitive theories, this study intends to investigate the effects of explicit visual cues which have been proposed as a critical factor in facilitating understanding of biological images. Three diagrams from Taiwanese textbooks with implicit visual cues, involving the concepts of biological classification systems, fish taxonomy, and energy pyramid, were selected as the reading materials for the control group and reformatted in tree structure or with additional arrows as the diagrams for the treatment group. A quasi-experiment with an online reading test was conducted to examine the effect of the different image conditions on reading comprehension of the two groups. In total, 192 Taiwanese participants from year 7 were assigned randomly into either control group or treatment group according to the pre-test of relevant prior knowledge. The results indicated that not all explicit visual cues were significantly efficient. Only the explicit tree-structured diagrams cued significantly the key concepts of qualitative class-inclusion, parallel relations, and fish taxonomy. Meanwhile the effect of indexical arrows was not significant. The inconsistent effect of tree structure and arrows might be related to the extent of image reformation in which the tree-structured diagrams had undergone radical change of knowledge representation; meanwhile, the arrows had not changed the diagram structure of energy pyramid. The factor of prior knowledge was essential in considering the influence of image design as the effect of diagrams was very different for low and high prior knowledge students. Implications are drawn for the importance of visual design in textbooks.

Reading Comprehension to 1970: Its Theoretical and Empirical Bases, and Its Implementation in Secondary Professional Textbooks, Instructional Materials, and Tests.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harker, William John

This study was designed: (1) to determine current concepts of reading comprehension deriving from experimental investigations and theoretical statements, and (2) to establish whether these concepts are represented consistently in current secondary professional reading textbooks, instructional materials, and published tests. Current knowledge of…

Active Reading Experience Questionnaire: Development and Validation of an Instrument for Studying Active Reading Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palilonis, Jennifer; Butler, Darrell

2015-01-01

The increasing adoption of mobile platforms and digital textbooks in university classrooms continues to have a profound impact on higher education. Advocates believe that providing students digital textbooks with built-in annotation features and interactive study tools will improve learning by facilitating active reading, a task essential to…

Multi-Touch Tablets, E-Books, and an Emerging Multi-Coding/Multi-Sensory Theory for Reading Science E-Textbooks: Considering the Struggling Reader

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rupley, William H.; Paige, David D.; Rasinski, Timothy V.; Slough, Scott W.

2015-01-01

Pavio's Dual-Coding Theory (1991) and Mayer's Multimedia Principal (2000) form the foundation for proposing a multi-coding theory centered around Multi-Touch Tablets and the newest generation of e-textbooks to scaffold struggling readers in reading and learning from science textbooks. Using E. O. Wilson's "Life on Earth: An Introduction"…

ESL Reading Textbooks vs. University Textbooks: Are We Giving Our Students the Input They May Need?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Don

2011-01-01

Developing reading skills in a second language presents learners with many challenges, including lexico-grammatical decoding. An additional challenge is posed by the different registers of written text and the associated lexico-grammatical features with which learners must contend. Questioning the efficacy of using non-academic reading texts in…

Topical Guide to Source Readings in Textbooks and Supplementary Materials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ASIA Society, New York, NY.

This paper provides a topical listing of readings on Asia (mostly by Asians). This compilation was undertaken by the Asia Society Textbook Evaluation Project as a service to teachers and curriculum developers looking for materials on Asia for courses in a wide range of fields. In-depth evaluations of the readings are not made. Among the fifty-six…

The effects of teacher read-alouds and student silent reading on predominantly bilingual high school seniors’ learning and retention of social studies content

PubMed Central

Reed, Deborah K.; Swanson, Elizabeth; Petscher, Yaacov; Vaughn, Sharon

2015-01-01

Teacher read-alouds (TRA) are common in middle and high school content area classes. Because the practice of reading the textbook out loud to students is often used out of concern about students’ ability to understand and learn from text when reading silently (SR), this randomized controlled trial was designed to experimentally manipulate text reading while blocking on all other instructional elements to determine the relative effects on learning content. Predominantly Spanish–English bilingual twelfth-graders (n = 123) were randomly assigned to either a TRA or SR condition and provided 1 week of high quality instruction in US history. Daily lessons included teaching key terms in the passage, previewing text headings, and conducting comprehension checks. Results of immediate, 1-week delayed, and 1-month delayed assessments of content learning revealed no significant differences between the two groups. Students were also asked to rate the method of reading they believed best helped them understand and remember information. Students in the SR condition more consistently agreed that reading silently was beneficial. Findings suggest low performing adolescents of different linguistic backgrounds can learn content as well when reading appropriately challenging text silently as when the teacher reads the text aloud to them. PMID:26346215

Is the Coach Ready for the Game? A Self-Study of Literacy Coaching in a Secondary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perry, Barbara J.

2010-01-01

Content area teachers at the secondary level often complain that the students are unwilling or unable to read and comprehend the textbooks. Yet these teachers have seldom had instruction in the teaching of reading. They state that teaching of reading is someone else's job. They state that they need to progress through the entire textbook, and that…

Readability: Blind Faith in Numbers?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McConnell, Campbell

1983-01-01

The Flesch reading formula is questioned as being appropriate for evaluating college economics textbooks. The Dale-Chall, Modified Dale-Chall, Fry, and Flesch formulas were used to evaluate nine introductory textbooks. There was little or no consistency in either the absolute reading levels or the rank orderings. (Author/AM)

Students' Comprehension of Science Textbooks Using a Question-Based Reading Strategy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Betty Lou; Holliday, William G.; Austin, Homer W.

2010-01-01

Despite the heavy reliance on textbooks in college courses, research indicates that college students enrolled in first-year science courses are not proficient at comprehending informational text. The present study investigated a reading comprehension questioning strategy with origins in clinical research based in elaboration interrogation theory,…

A Readability Analysis of Selected Introductory Economics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallagher, Daniel J.; Thompson, G. Rodney

1981-01-01

To aid secondary school and college level economics teachers as they select textbooks for introductory economics courses, this article recounts how teachers can use the Flesch Reading Ease Test to measure readability. Data are presented on application of the Flesch Reading Ease Test to 15 introductory economics textbooks. (Author/DB)

Can Students Write Their Own Textbooks? Thoughts on a New Type of Writing Assignment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frye, David

1999-01-01

Describes an assignment in an undergraduate course on Roman history for junior and senior history majors in which students create their own 15-page textbook using primary sources. Explains how each class session developed student analysis of primary sources. (CMK)

Between training and popularization: Regulating science textbooks in secondary education.

PubMed

Shapiro, Adam R

2012-03-01

Recruitment into the scientific community is one oft-stated goal of science education--in the post-Sputnik United States, for example--but this obscures the fact that science textbooks are often read by people who will never be scientists. It cannot be presupposed that science textbooks for younger audiences, students in primary and secondary schools, function in this way. For this reason, precollegiate-level science textbooks are sometimes discussed as a subset of literature popularizing science. The high school science classroom and the textbook are forums for exposing the public to science. The role of governments and educational institutions in regulating the consumption of these texts not only determines which books are used; it influences how they are written, read, and deemed authoritative. Therefore such science textbooks should not be seen as (at best) the disjunction of texts-for-training and books-for-popularization. A changing sense of what "textbooks" are compels a different understanding of their use in the history of science.

Does the Arrangement of Embedded Text Versus Linked Text in Homework Systems Make a Difference in Students Impressions, Attitudes, and Perceived Learning?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zumalt, Caitlin J.; Williamson, Vickie M.

2016-10-01

Students in a first-semester general chemistry course at a large southwestern university completed a 3-week homework assignment using MindTap, a Cengage Learning product. MindTap is the first major electronic system that has homework questions embedded in the text, such that students read a short section of the textbook and then answer a question set. Prior to MindTap, electronic homework systems were stand-alone or contained questions with links to the textbook. Next, students completed two 2-week homework assignments in Online Web Learning (OWL) version 1 also from Cengage Learning. The OWL system shows homework questions with a link to the textbook in a separate window. Both the MindTap and OWL systems contain the same or similar questions. After the students used both homework systems, a survey was given that included Likert-scaled and open-response questions that dealt with students' perceived level of understanding using the different systems, how easy the systems were to use, and the advantages/disadvantages of each system. A delayed survey was given at the end of the second semester of general chemistry, during which students had used OWL for the complete semester. This paper investigates the effects of the arrangement (embedded vs. linked) on student preferences and perceived learning in this pilot study with a 300-person class. Based on the results of the study, it was found that students perceived that they learn more with MindTap and prefer the embedded text in MindTap over the linked text in OWL.

Are There Alternatives in Reading Textbooks? An Examination of Three Beginning Reading Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hiebert, Elfrieda H.; Martin, Leigh Ann; Menon, Shailaja

2005-01-01

The first-grade components of three textbook programs--mainstream basal, combined phonics and literature, and phonics emphasis--were compared on cognitive load (e.g., number of different words) and linguistic content (e.g., number of monosyllabic, simple vowel words). Three levels of three components of a program--literature anthologies, decodable…

The Power of Fiction: Reading Stories in Abnormal Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Janit, Adrian S.; Hammock, Georgina S.; Richardson, Deborah S.

2011-01-01

We compared the instructional efficacy of a narrative text (i.e., a story) and an expository text (i.e., a textbook excerpt). Students enrolled in Abnormal Psychology classes read about the disorder, "dissociative fugue" from a story, a textbook, or both. The story contained literary elements that increased transportation into the story…

Analysis of Readability and Interest of Marketing Education Textbooks: Implications for Special Needs Learners.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Karen H.; And Others

1993-01-01

The readability, reading ease, interest level, and writing style of 20 current textbooks in secondary marketing education were evaluated. Readability formulas consistently identified lower reading levels for special needs education, human interest scores were not very reliable information sources, and writing style was also a weak variable. (JOW)

The Value of Interactive Assignments in the Online Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florenthal, Bela

2016-01-01

The offerings of Web-based supplemental material for textbooks have been increasingly growing. When deciding to adopt a textbook, instructors examine the added value of the associated supplements, also called "e-learning tools," to enhance students' learning of course concepts. In this study, one such supplement, interactive assignments,…

The Object Formerly Known as the Textbook

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Jeffrey R.

2013-01-01

Textbook publishers argue that their newest digital products should not even be called "textbooks." They are really software programs built to deliver a mix of text, videos, and homework assignments. But delivering them is just the beginning. No old-school textbook was able to be customized for each student in the classroom. The books never graded…

Polysemy in the Domain-Specific Pedagogical Use of Graphs in Science Textbooks: The Case of an Electrocardiogram

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Eijck, Michiel; Goedhart, Martin J.; Ellermeijer, Ton

2011-01-01

Polysemy in graph-related practices is the phenomenon that a single graph can sustain different meanings assigned to it. Considerable research has been done on polysemy in graph-related practices in school science in which graphs are rather used as scientific tools. However, graphs in science textbooks are also used rather pedagogically to illustrate domain-specific textbook content and less empirical work has been done in this respect. The aim of this study is therefore to better understand polysemy in the domain-specific pedagogical use of graphs in science textbooks. From socio-cultural and cultural-historical perspectives, we perceive polysemy as irreducible to either the meaning-making (semiotic) resources provided by the graph or its readers who assign meaning to it. Departing from this framework, we simultaneously investigated: (a) the meanings 44 pre-university biology students assigned to the Cartesian plane of a graph that is commonly used as a pedagogical tool in Dutch high school biology textbooks (an electrocardiogram); (b) the semiotic resources provided by this graph; and (c) the educational practices of which it is supposedly a part according to the actions constituted by the textbooks that were to be conducted by students. Drawing on this case, we show polysemy in the pedagogical use of graphs in science textbooks. In turn, we show how this polysemy can be explained dialectically as the result of both the meaning-making resources provided by the textbooks and the graph-related practices in which students supposedly engaged by using their textbooks. The educational implications of these findings are discussed.

High Textbook Reading Rates When Using an Interactive Textbook for a Material and Energy Balances Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Liberatore, Matthew

2017-01-01

Textbooks are experiencing a 21st century makeover. The author has created a web-based electronic textbook, Material and Energy Balances zyBook, that records students' interactions. Animations and question sets create interactive and scaffolded content. The interactive format is adopted successfully in other engineering disciplines and is now…

Digital Game-Based Textbook vs. Traditional Print-Based Textbook: The Effect of Textbook Format on College Students' Engagement with Textbook Content outside of the Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Antonio Lamar

2017-01-01

The relatively little amount of time that some college students spend reading their textbooks outside of the classroom presents a significant threat to their academic success. Using Prenksy's (2001) digital game-based learning (DGBL) principles and Astin's student involvement theory as frameworks, the purpose of this true experiment was to…

The Changing Expectations for the Reading of Geometric Diagrams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dietiker, Leslie; Brakoniecki, Aaron; Riling, Meghan

2017-01-01

Students studying geometry at the secondary level are expected to read diagrams in different ways than those in elementary school. In this paper, we present an analysis of the changes in diagrammatic expectations by comparing the geometric diagrams found in Grade 1 U.S. textbooks with those in U.S. high school geometry textbooks. This work…

Reading and Writing from Textbooks in Higher Education: A Case Study from Economics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Paul W.

2004-01-01

Reading and writing at university is infused by the cultural context of a particular discipline or field so that academic literacies are located, described, interpreted and studied in disciplinary contexts. This study explores the roles and functions textbooks have in the disciplinary culture of Economics in the academy, where there are many…

Difficulties First-Year University Mathematics Students Have in Reading Their Mathematics Textbook. Technical Report. No. 2009-1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shepherd, Mary D.; Selden, Annie; Selden, John

2009-01-01

This exploratory study examined the experiences and difficulties certain first-year university students displayed in reading new passages from their mathematics textbooks. We interviewed eleven precalculus and calculus students who were considered to be good at mathematics, as indicated by high ACT mathematics scores. These students were also …

Improving Exam Performance in Introductory Biology through the Use of Preclass Reading Guides

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lieu, Rebekah; Wong, Ashley; Asefirad, Anahita; Shaffer, Justin F.

2017-01-01

High-structure courses or flipped courses require students to obtain course content before class so that class time can be used for active-learning exercises. While textbooks are used ubiquitously in college biology courses for content dissemination, studies have shown that students frequently do not read their textbooks. To address this issue, we…

An alternative introduction to reading and evaluating the primary literature for beginning graduate students.

PubMed

Randall, David C; Baldridge, Bobby R

2018-06-01

Students are challenged in transitioning from acquiring knowledge and understanding through reading textbooks to their learning to select, read, evaluate, and synthesize the primary literature. A customary approach to teaching this transition to beginning graduate students is for a faculty member to assign "readings" from the recent literature that promise to become key publications; such assignments generally underscore recent, novel scientific content. We advocate here an alternative approach for coaching students very early in their training: first, to read, analyze, and discuss a paper that highlights critically important features of effective and valid experimental design; and, second, to study a paper that can be shown historically to have fundamentally changed the way in which physiological function is understood. We consider as an example of the first goal a study that purports to demonstrate a principle of thermoregulation, but that interaction between students and instructor reveals the study's lack of an essential control. The second goal requires sufficient time for the publication to concretely validate its contribution(s). The purpose is to identify those essential properties of the selected paper that contributed to its having become a truly exemplary study. We present a 1957 paper by Dr. A. C. Burton ( Am Heart J 54: 801-810, 1957) as an illustration and analyze the study with respect to those attributes that contributed to its lasting importance. These alternative approaches to introduce inexperienced students to the original literature can produce critical insight into the process and can help students inculcate essential practices, guiding them to more productive careers.

College Student Use of Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aagaard, Lola; Skidmore, Ronald L.

2009-01-01

It has been reported (Aagaard & Skidmore, 2004; Sikorski et al., 2002) that only a minority of college students actually read the course textbook in preparation for examinations. Although professors widely lament students' propensity to ignore the carefully chosen textbooks, research specifically investigating why this phenomenon occurs is…

E-Textbooks at What Cost? Performance and Use of Electronic v. Print Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daniel, David B.; Woody, William Douglas

2013-01-01

While e-book sales continue to increase, electronic textbooks are not very popular with college students. This may be due to the fact that e-textbooks are read for different reasons and with different strategies than are e-books. Although previous research has documented this lack of preference for e-textbooks, student performance and use of…

Improving Textbooks as a Way to Foster Civic Understanding and Engagement. CIRCLE Working Paper 54

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chambliss, Marilyn; Richardson, Wendy; Torney-Purta, Judith; Wilkenfeld, Britt

2007-01-01

Efforts to improve civic education face a conundrum. On the one hand, students report that they are more likely to learn about democracy and citizenship through reading textbooks than through any other activity and according to the National Education Association, reading is the gateway to learning in all content areas. However, reviews of textbook…

Exploring and Contrasting EFL Learners' Perceptions of Textbook-Assigned and Self-Selected Discussion Topics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolf, James P.

2013-01-01

In an attempt to explore the significance of a "willingness to communicate" (WTC) variable in second language (L2) acquisition, this article reports on a survey study that investigated 101 Japanese university English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' perceptions of textbook-assigned and self-selected discussion topics. Additionally,…

Methodological Variables in Choral Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Poore, Meredith A.; Ferguson, Sarah Hargus

2008-01-01

This preliminary study explored changes in prosodic variability during choral reading and investigated whether these changes are affected by the method of eliciting choral reading. Ten typical adult talkers recorded three reading materials (poetry, fiction and textbook) in three reading conditions: solo (reading aloud alone), track (reading aloud…

Syntactical Analysis of Economics Textbooks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wilcox, George K.

An analysis of the syntax of economics textbooks was undertaken to (1) provide real-language examples of the difficult grammatical structures being taught in an advanced economics reading course, and (2) construct a factual database of the nature of economics textbooks. Five texts representative of those typically used in introductory economics…

Which Medical Textbook to Read? Emphasizing Semantic Structures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bordage, Georges; Lemieux, Madeleine

1990-01-01

This study examining whether certain textbooks emphasize a semantic presentation of their contents arose from the results of a previous study conducted by the authors. It was hypothesized that certain textbooks would organize their contents by comparing and contrasting symptoms, signs, and disorders rather than simply listing them. (MLW)

Scientific and Technical Chinese, Volume I. A Textbook of Twenty-One Lessons and Supplementary Readings.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kao, Kung-yi; And Others

An intermediate-level textbook intended for those who have had at least 2 1/2 years of Chinese language study is presented. The objective of the text is to assist in developing the reading and conversational skills required for dealing with general topics in the pure and applied sciences. Common terms and concepts from three general fields (Life…

Who Fired First? Students' Construction of Meaning from One Textbook Account of the Israeli-Arab Conflict

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Porat, Dan A.

2006-01-01

In this article, I present three students' and one parent's reading of an excerpt from a textbook on the Israeli-Arab conflict. The excerpt is an account of a skirmish between Jews and Arabs in 1920, symbolizing for Jews the first bloody encounter between the two sides. While all students read the same excerpt, they use different mechanisms in…

Do Textbooks Used in University Reading Education Courses Conform to the Instructional Recommendations of the National Reading Panel?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Joshi, R. Malatesha; Binks, Emily; Graham, Lori; Ocker-Dean, Emily; Smith, Dennie L.; Boulware-Gooden, Regina

2009-01-01

Two reasons may be responsible for the poor grasp of the linguistic concepts related to literacy acquisition by preservice and in-service teachers: a lack of attention given to such concepts by teacher educators (college faculty members) and a lack of relevant information provided in the textbooks used in college courses. In an earlier study, the…

Tracing the Roots of Textbook Study Systems: An Extended Historical Perspective. College Reading and Learning Assistance Technical Report 86-02.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stahl, Norman A.; Henk, William A.

Francis P. Robinson's 1946 text, "Effective Study," first presented his Survey, Question, Read, Recite, and Review (SQ3R) study system, which is held to be the most widely advocated textbook study system. This paper traces the development of the ideas behind the SQ3R. SQ3R's theoretical foundation began with work in…

25 CFR 36.41 - Standard XIV-Textbooks.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... criteria for the annual review of textbooks and other materials used to complement instruction. The... varied in reading levels. (c) Each school shall equitably distribute instructional materials to all...

The Adoption of an Open Textbook in a Large Physics Course: An Analysis of Cost, Outcomes, Use, and Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hendricks, Christina; Reinsberg, Stefan A.; Rieger, Georg

2017-01-01

Assigning open textbooks in college and university courses can help students save money on increasingly expensive commercial textbooks, and recent research shows that this savings can often be achieved with little to no sacrifice in textbook quality or student learning outcomes. We add to this body of research by examining the use of an open…

Reading the World through Words: Cultural Themes in Heritage Chinese Language Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Curdt-Christiansen, Xiao Lan

2008-01-01

This paper explores the social and cultural knowledge embedded in the textbooks for language and literacy education in a Chinese heritage language school, the Zhonguo School, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It examines how Chinese language arts textbooks introduce the child reader to cultural knowledge considered legitimate and valued in China as…

Are U.S. Elementary School Reading Textbooks Sex Stereotyped?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gonzalez-Suarez, Mirta; Ekstrom, Ruth B.

Seven representative elementary school textbooks used in the United States were examined, as part of an international study of sex-stereotyping in textbooks, to determine whether the depiction of males and females was qualitatively and quantitatively sex-equitable. The analysis used a gender models checklist developed by M. Gonzalez-Suarez (1986)…

Do You Always Need a Textbook to Teach Astro 101?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rudolph, Alexander L.

2013-01-01

The increasing use of interactive learning [IL] strategies in Astro 101 classrooms has led some instructors to consider the usefulness of a textbook in such classes. These strategies provide students a learning modality very different from the traditional lecture supplemented by reading a textbook and homework and raise the question of whether the…

How Good Is Your American History Text?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larkins, A. G.

1988-01-01

Discusses the evaluations of U.S. history textbooks conducted by People for the American Way. Concludes that the higher-rated textbooks are useful only for college-bound students and the lower-ranked textbooks seem to be aimed at children with reading difficulties, thus pointing out some of the problems facing selection committees. (KO)

Introductory Textbooks and Plagiarism in Higher Education: A Case Study from Economics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richardson, Paul

2002-01-01

Textbooks are powerful technologies that are foundational to introductory level courses. In the research site of an introductory economic classroom, the textbook is positioned as having status similar to that of a canonical religious text. This study investigated how student reading and writing can be problematic when introductory level courses…

A Comparison of Two Methods of Assessing Textbook Readability of Selected College Level Electronics Textbooks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Froelich, Donald Max

Fifty-eight students enrolled in basic electronics courses from three state colleges in Missouri, were involved in comparing the cloze readability technique with the Flesch Reading Ease Formula to ascertain the effectiveness of each in assessing the readability of selected college level electronics textbooks. Pearson product-moment correlations…

Textbook Use in the Sciences and Its Relation to Course Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

French, Michelle; Taverna, Franco; Neumann, Melody; Paulo Kushnir, Lena; Harlow, Jason; Harrison, David; Serbanescu, Ruxandra

2015-01-01

There are limited studies with conflicting results examining textbook use and student performance at the university level. To learn more, we surveyed instructors and over one thousand students in 12 undergraduate introductory science courses. The majority (77%) of the students reported reading the textbook either "often" (>75% of the…

Effects of nonfiction guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds on fourth grader's depth of content area science vocabulary knowledge and comprehension

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanna, Tania Tamara

Effects of nonfiction guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds as a supplement to basal science textbooks on three vocabulary measures, definitions, examples, and characteristics, and one multiple-choice comprehension measure were assessed for 127 fourth graders over three time periods: pretest, posttest, and a 2-week delayed posttest. Two of three fourth-grade elementary science teachers implemented a series of 12 content-enhanced guided interactive scripted lessons. Two of these teachers implemented two treatments each. The first condition employed basal science textbooks as the text for guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds while the second treatment employed basal science textbooks in conjunction with nonfiction text sets as the texts for guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds. The third teacher, guided by traditional lesson plans, provided students with silent independent reading instruction using basal science textbooks. Multivariate analyses of variance and analyses of variance tests showed that mean scores for both treatment groups significantly improved on definitions and characteristics measures at posttest and either stabilized or slightly declined at delayed posttest. The treatment-plus group lost considerably on the examples posttest measure. The treatment group improved mean scores on the examples posttest measure, outperforming the treatment-plus group and the control group. Alternately, the control group significantly improved on the delayed posttest examples measure. Additionally, the two groups implementing guided interactive read-alouds and think-alouds performed better than the independent reading group on multiple-choice comprehension measures at posttest and sustained those gains 2 weeks later on delayed posttests. Findings maintain the incremental nature of vocabulary acquisition and development research and emphasize the roles of listening and speaking as critical features for integrating vocabulary into long-term memory.

EST: Evading Scientific Text.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ward, Jeremy

2001-01-01

Examines chemical engineering students' attitudes to text and other parts of English language textbooks. A questionnaire was administered to a group of undergraduates. Results reveal one way students get around the problem of textbook reading. (Author/VWL)

Doing a Good Deed or Confounding the Problem? Peer Review and Sociology Textbooks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kendall, Diana

1999-01-01

Examines how the peer review process influences the writing and publication of sociology textbooks and the teaching of sociology. States that the peer review process may influence the final textbook in five ways: (1) degree of innovation; (2) length; (3) reading level; (4) cloning ancillaries and accessories; and (5) using reviewers as marketing…

The Treatment of Family Issues in United States History Textbooks: General Thoughts and a Review of Several Examples.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gordon, Linda

1994-01-01

Reports on a study of the treatment of family issues in 12 college-level U.S. history textbooks. Concludes that instructors who want to introduce serious discussions of families into a survey course must be prepared to offer additional readings, lecture material, and exercises beyond the textbook content. (CFR)

General Education Oral Communication Assessment and Student Preferences for Learning: E-Textbook versus Paper Textbook

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dwyer, Karen Kangas; Davidson, Marlina M.

2013-01-01

As part of a yearly university mandated assessment of a large basic communication course that fulfills the oral communication general education requirement, this study examined student preferences for textbooks, reading, and learning. Specifically, basic course students ("N"=321) at a large state university in the Midwest were asked to…

Storytelling as Methodology: Colombia's Social Studies Textbooks after "La Constitución de 1991"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daza, Stephanie L.

2013-01-01

This article posits the concept-metaphor of "storytelling as methodology" for reading a Colombian social studies textbook after the country ratified a new constitution in 1991. It examines temporal interplay and the interplay between visual and written texts in the textbook in order to analyze US imperialism, race/difference, and the…

No Sissy Boys Here: A Content Analysis of the Representation of Masculinity in Elementary School Reading Textbooks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Evans, Lorraine; Davies, Kimberly

2000-01-01

Investigated the portrayal of gender characteristics in elementary school textbooks, particularly masculine and feminine stereotypes, examining first, third, and fifth grade literature textbooks using an evaluative instrument based on the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Despite publisher's guidelines and Title IX, males are still portrayed primarily in a…

How Clearly Written are Children's Textbooks? or, of Bladderworts and Alfa. Reading Education Report No. 16.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anderson, Thomas H.; And Others

Two representative samples of expository prose from sixth grade textbooks (one in science and one in social studies) were analyzed for clarity of explanation. Four text criteria were applied to the analyses: structure, unity, coherence, and audience appropriateness. The results of the analysis suggested that many children's textbooks are not…

Student Assistant for Learning from Text (SALT): a hypermedia reading aid.

PubMed

MacArthur, C A; Haynes, J B

1995-03-01

Student Assistant for Learning from Text (SALT) is a software system for developing hypermedia versions of textbooks designed to help students with learning disabilities and other low-achieving students to compensate for their reading difficulties. In the present study, 10 students with learning disabilities (3 young women and 7 young men ages 15 to 17) in Grades 9 and 10 read passages from a science textbook using a basic computer version and an enhanced computer version. The basic version included the components found in the printed textbook (text, graphics, outline, and questions) and a notebook. The enhanced version added speech synthesis, an on-line glossary, links between questions and text, highlighting of main ideas, and supplementary explanations that summarized important ideas. Students received significantly higher comprehension scores using the enhanced version. Furthermore, students preferred the enhanced version and thought it helped them learn the material better.

What Physicists Mean By the Equals Sign in Undergraduate Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kornick, Kellianne; Alaee, Dina; Sayre, Eleanor; Franklin, Scott

2017-01-01

Mathematical syntax allows for the description of meaningful concepts in the physical sciences, and having nuanced proficiency in mathematical formalism is closely tied to communication and understanding of physical principles. The concept of equality is especially important, as it constrains and dictates the relationships between two equated expressions, and a student with detailed understanding of these relationships can derive physical meaning from syntactical expressions mediated by equals signs by knowing the ``meaning'' of equals signs. We delineate types of equals signs as used in undergraduate textbooks and develop a categorization scheme in order to investigate how equals signs are used paradigmatically and culturally in textbooks to convey physical meaning. We classify equals signs into general clusters (causal, definitional, assignment, balancing, and ``just math''), each cluster containing more detailed types. We investigate differences across various topics and between introductory and upper-division textbooks. We found that upper division textbooks are more likely to use balancing, definitional, and more complex kinds of assignment forms, while introductory texts have much higher frequencies of simple assignment and ``just math'' types.

Data Processing (Advanced Business Programming) Volume II. Instructor's Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Litecky, Charles R.; Lamkin, Tim

This curriculum guide for an advanced course in data processing is for use as a companion publication to a textbook or textbooks; references to appropriate textbooks are given in most units. Student completion of assignments in Volume I, available separately (see ED 220 604), is a prerequisite. Topics covered in the 18 units are introduction,…

Sex-Role Stereotyping in Mathematics Textbooks. Research Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New Zealand Dept. of Education, Wellington.

This study looked at six primary textbooks and 25 of 31 secondary textbooks of mathematics published in New Zealand. All exercises, problems, and illustrations were analyzed for references to roles and activities assigned to males and females. The number of times males and females were mentioned and the number of famous people of each sex noted…

The Effectiveness of Interactive Computer Assisted Modeling in Teaching Study Strategies and Concept Mapping of College Textbook Material.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mikulecky, Larry

A study evaluated the effectiveness of a series of print materials and interactive computer-guided study programs designed to lead undergraduate students to apply basic textbook reading and concept mapping strategies to the study of science and social science textbooks. Following field testing with 25 learning skills students, 50 freshman biology…

Getting Your Textbook Published.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Irwin, Armond J.

1982-01-01

Points to remember in getting a textbook published are examined: book idea, publisher's sales representatives, letter of inquiry, qualifications for authorship, author information form, idea proposal, reviews, marketing and sales, publishing agreement, author royalties, and copyright assignment. (CT)

Social issues in high school biology textbooks: 1963- 1983

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenthal, Dorothy B.

Twenty-two high school biology textbooks published between 1963 and 1983 were analyzed for their treatment of social issues. Textbooks were selected from among those used most frequently by teachers and/or having the highest sales. The textbooks were read in random order and the amount of space, to the nearest tenth of a page, devoted to each social issue was expressed as a percentage of total length of text. The results showed that attention to social issues decreased between 1963 and 1983 in the textbooks studied. The implications of these results for biology education in the 1980s are discussed.

Readability Formulas as Applied to College Economics Textbooks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McConnell, Campbell R.

1982-01-01

Determines from empirical information on the application of four readability formulas to a group of widely used college economics textbooks that there is no consistency in the absolute reading levels or the rank orderings of these books. (AEA)

Learning to research in first grade: Bridging the transition from narrative to expository texts and tasks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weise, Richard

Decades of research indicate that students at all academic grade and performance levels perform poorly with informational texts and tasks and particularly with locating assignment-relevant information in expository texts. Students have little understanding of the individual tasks required, the arc of the activity, the hierarchical structure of the information they seek, or how to reconstitute and interpret the information they extract. Poor performance begins with the introduction of textbooks and research assignments in fourth grade and continues into adulthood. However, to date, neither educators nor researchers have substantially addressed this problem. In this quasi-experimental study, we ask if first-grade children can perform essential tasks in identifying, extracting, and integrating assignment-relevant information and if instruction improves their performance. To answer this question, we conducted a 15-week, teacher-led, intervention in two first-grade classrooms in an inner-city Nashville elementary school. We created a computer learning environment (NoteTaker) to facilitate children's creation of a mental model of the research process and a narrative/expository bridge curriculum to support the children's transition from all narrative to all expository texts and tasks. We also created a new scaffolding taxonomy and a reading-to-research model to focus our research. Teachers participated in weekly professional development workshops. The results of this quasi-experimental study indicate that at-risk, first-grade children are able to (a) identify relevant information in an expository text, (b) categorize the information they identify, and (c) justify their choice of category. Children's performance in the first and last tasks significantly improved with instruction, and low-performing readers showed the greatest benefits from instruction. We find that the children's performance in categorizing information depended upon content-specific knowledge that was not taught, as well as on the process knowledge that was taught. We also find that children's narrative reading performance predicted their initial-performance for each assessment measure. We argue that first-grade children are developmentally ready to read expository texts and to learn reading-to-research tasks and that primary-school literacy instruction should not be limited to reading and writing stories.

Understanding Children's Reading Activities: Reading Motivation, Skill and Child Characteristics as Predictors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McGeown, Sarah P.; Osborne, Cara; Warhurst, Amy; Norgate, Roger; Duncan, Lynne G.

2016-01-01

This study examined the extent to which a range of child characteristics (sex, age, socioeconomic status, reading skill and intrinsic and extrinsic reading motivation) predicted engagement (i.e., time spent) in different reading activities (fiction books, factual books, school textbooks, comics, magazines and digital texts). In total, 791 children…

Testing Reading Comprehension of Theoretical Discourse with Cloze.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greene, Benjamin B., Jr.

2001-01-01

Presents evidence from a large sample of reading test scores for the validity of cloze-based assessments of reading comprehension for the discourse typically encountered in introductory college economics textbooks. Notes that results provide strong evidence that appropriately designed cloze tests permit valid assessments of reading comprehension…

Active Reading Behaviors in Tablet-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Palilonis, Jennifer; Bolchini, Davide

2015-01-01

Active reading is fundamental to learning. However, there is little understanding about whether traditional active reading frameworks sufficiently characterize how learners study multimedia tablet textbooks. This paper explores the nature of active reading in the tablet environment through a qualitative study that engaged 30 students in an active…

Zur Frage der Textauswahl in einem Lesekurs fuer die Sozialwissenschaften (On the Question of the Choice of Textbooks in a Course in the Social Sciences)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Apelt, Hans-Peter

1974-01-01

Passages from three selected samples of textbooks are used to show what requirements are made of textbooks in the social sciences. Some hints are given to the teacher for converting reading suggestions into instructional material. Short texts from Karl Marx are also suggested. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Making Higher Education More Affordable, One Course Reading at a Time: Academic Libraries as Key Advocates for Open Access Textbooks and Educational Resources

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okamoto, Karen

2013-01-01

Open access textbooks (OATs) and educational resources (OERs) are being lauded as a viable alternative to costly print textbooks. Some academic libraries are joining the OER movement by creating guides to open repositories. Others are promoting OATs and OERs, reviewing them, and even helping to create them. This article analyzes how academic…

Methodology of Leaving America for Asia: Reading South Korea's Social Studies Textbooks through Chen Kuan-Hsing's Asia as Method

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rhee, Jeong-eun

2013-01-01

This project began as a content analysis of five South Korean high school Social Studies textbooks. Yet, it has evolved into an epistemological experiment to pursue the question of "what does it mean to leave America for Asia, at least methodologically, for the researcher who left Asia for America?" Using the textbooks as a mediating…

Computational Conceptual Change: An Explanation-Based Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-06-01

case for students in the control group of Chi et al. (1994a) who (1) explained blood flow in terms of the heart on a pretest , (2) read a textbook...Chi et al. (1994a) who complete a pretest about the circulatory system, read a textbook passage on the topic, and then complete a posttest to assess...model on the posttest . In total, 33% of the control group and 66% of the prompted group reached the correct mental model at the posttest . Results are

Online History Textbooks: Breaking the Mold.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schick, James B. M.

2001-01-01

Outlines recommended conditions and features of online history textbooks: link control, coverage of methodology, maps, breadth and depth of information, layered storytelling approach, tools, tutorials, customization, team teaching, short movies, interviews, reading activities and skill building activities, overcharging, and password protection.…

Using grey literature to prepare pharmacy students for an evolving healthcare delivery system.

PubMed

Happe, Laura E; Walker, Desiree'

2013-05-13

To assess the impact of using "grey literature" (information internally produced in print or electronic format by agencies such as hospitals, government, businesses, etc) rather than a textbook in a course on healthcare delivery systems on students' perception of the relevance of healthcare delivery system topics and their ability to identify credible sources of this information. A reading from the grey literature was identified and assigned to the students for each topic in the course. Pre- and post-course survey instruments were used for the assessment. Students reported healthcare delivery systems topics to be moderately relevant to the profession of pharmacy on both the pre- and post-course survey instruments. Students' knowledge of current and credible sources of information on healthcare delivery system topics significantly improved based on self-reports and scores on objective assessments (p<0.05). Assignment of grey literature in a course on healthcare delivery systems can be used to ensure that information in the pharmacy school curriculum is the most current and credible information available.

ITRI Informational Text Reading Inventory: Grade 5 Teacher Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Center for Innovation in Assessment (NJ1), 2013

2013-01-01

The Grade 5 Informational Text Reading Inventory (ITRI) was developed to address the specific reading challenges that grade 5 students encounter when reading their textbooks and other informational text. In fifth grade, students are expected not only to comprehend difficult passages, but also to extend their comprehension through drawing…

ENGLEWOOD PUBLIC SCHOOLS ELEMENTARY READING GUIDE.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

TROUT, JOHN; AND OTHERS

THE READING GUIDE OF THE ENGLEWOOD PUBLIC SCHOOLS, NEW JERSEY, EMPHASIZES INDIVIDUALIZED INSTRUCTION. TEACHERS ARE URGED TO BE LESS CONCERNED WITH TEXTBOOK MATERIAL AND MORE CONCERNED WITH PUPIL ABILITY. THE FOLLOWING THREE PREMISES GUIDE THE READING PROGRAM--(1) GRADE PLACEMENTS ARE NO LONGER AN ADEQUATE BASIS FOR STRUCTURING THE READING PROGRAM.…

Expository Text and Middle School Students: Some Lessons Learned.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Street, Chris

2002-01-01

Presents the "Structured Reading Lesson" as one simple way to structure reading activities so that the before, during, and after phases of the reading experience are all touched upon. Considers how reading strategies that students have developed to comprehend fictional narratives do not always help them with textbooks. Presents…

The Reading Skills of Home Economics: Problems and Selected References.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cranney, A. Garr; And Others

Since most secondary school reading textbooks give home economics only minimal attention, this paper identifies selected information sources in home economics reading skills and in home economics for high school reading specialists. The first portion of the paper discusses eight principle problems that home economics poses for secondary school…

Reading in the Social Studies Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bullock, Terry L.; Hesse, Karl D.

This publication examines reading instruction techniques that can be used by teachers to diagnose and remedy students' weaknesses in reading social studies materials. There are four chapters. Chapter one discusses issues, including trends related to reading in the social studies and problems presented by social studies textbooks. Chapters two and…

Reading Content Knowledge: What Do Teachers Need to Know and How Can We Assess Their Knowledge?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lilienthal, Linda K.

2008-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice teachers' reading content knowledge, to develop a definition of reading, and to develop an informal test of teachers' reading content knowledge. A content analysis of two contemporary reading textbooks used in university reading courses was the source of a six-tier, hierarchical definition of…

ITRI Informational Text Reading Inventory: Grade 3 Teacher Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Center for Innovation in Assessment (NJ1), 2013

2013-01-01

The Grade 3 Informational Text Reading Inventory (ITRI) was developed to address the specific reading challenges that grade 3 students encounter as they move from reading largely narrative textbooks in grade 2 to being expected to read and comprehend more dense and content-driven text in grade 3. This booklet contains all of the information…

Strangers in a Strange Land: Read-Alouds Give Us Insight into Others' Struggles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Auerbach, Barbara

2006-01-01

Read-alouds boost listening and reading comprehension skills and bring subjects to life in a way that textbooks cannot. This article presents three literature-based social studies units, which offer some fresh choices to invigorate lessons. For each unit, a recently published novel is highlighted as a read-aloud or group reading selection and…

The Development of E-Dictionary for the Use with "Maharah Al-Qiraah" Textbook at a Matriculation Centre in a University in Malaysia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Omar, Che Abdul Majid Bin Che; Dahan, Hassan Basri Awang Mat

2011-01-01

This is an action research to develop an E-Dictionary for the use with Maharah al-Qiraah (Reading skills) textbook at a matriculation centre. The research attempts to answer four research questions: a) What is the database model for an electronic dictionary using Microsoft Access for the use with Maharah al-Qiraah textbook? b) What are the…

Student Selection of the Textbook for an Introductory Physics Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dake, L. S.

2007-10-01

Several years ago I had to select a new textbook for my calculus-based introductory physics class. I subscribe to Just-in-Time Teaching methods, which require students to read the book before the material is covered in class. Thus, the readability of the text by the students is critical. However, I did not feel that I was the best judge of this factor, so I turned the textbook selection into a class project. The students unanimously chose one textbook, which I have now successfully used for three years. The project was decidedly worthwhile, and I gained considerable insight into what students prefer in a textbook.

The Use of “Non-Fiction Novels” in a Sensation and Perception Course

PubMed Central

Gunther, Karen L.

2011-01-01

Scientific material can be difficult to relate to everyday knowledge. Textbook facts can be abstract. This Study of Teaching and Learning project examined the use of “non-fiction novels” (biographies and other books that read like novels but are true) in an undergraduate Sensation and Perception course in order to increase the concreteness of the reading material and to give the students a story on which to hang the facts learned in lecture. In Phase I (Fall 2009) non-fiction novels were used for half of the units and a standard textbook for the other half. In Phase II (Fall 2010) only non-fiction novels were used. The Fall 2009 class was very positive about the use of non-fiction novels, but exam scores did not mirror this enthusiasm, either on semester exam scores or on a four-month re-take of the cumulative final exam. In contrast, the Fall 2010 class missed having a textbook, but exam performance significantly improved over prior semesters, and performance on the four-month re-take of the cumulative final exam showed performance equivalent to the Fall 2009 class’s four-month performance on questions from textbook units. In both semesters, the effectiveness of the instructor in stimulating student interest was significantly higher than in prior years where only the textbook was used. In addition, 68% of the students said that reading the non-fiction novels made them want to learn more about our sensory systems. PMID:23626489

The use of "non-fiction novels" in a sensation and perception course.

PubMed

Gunther, Karen L

2011-01-01

Scientific material can be difficult to relate to everyday knowledge. Textbook facts can be abstract. This Study of Teaching and Learning project examined the use of "non-fiction novels" (biographies and other books that read like novels but are true) in an undergraduate Sensation and Perception course in order to increase the concreteness of the reading material and to give the students a story on which to hang the facts learned in lecture. In Phase I (Fall 2009) non-fiction novels were used for half of the units and a standard textbook for the other half. In Phase II (Fall 2010) only non-fiction novels were used. The Fall 2009 class was very positive about the use of non-fiction novels, but exam scores did not mirror this enthusiasm, either on semester exam scores or on a four-month re-take of the cumulative final exam. In contrast, the Fall 2010 class missed having a textbook, but exam performance significantly improved over prior semesters, and performance on the four-month re-take of the cumulative final exam showed performance equivalent to the Fall 2009 class's four-month performance on questions from textbook units. In both semesters, the effectiveness of the instructor in stimulating student interest was significantly higher than in prior years where only the textbook was used. In addition, 68% of the students said that reading the non-fiction novels made them want to learn more about our sensory systems.

QRAC-the-Code: a comprehension monitoring strategy for middle school social studies textbooks.

PubMed

Berkeley, Sheri; Riccomini, Paul J

2013-01-01

Requirements for reading and ascertaining information from text increase as students advance through the educational system, especially in content-rich classes; hence, monitoring comprehension is especially important. However, this is a particularly challenging skill for many students who struggle with reading comprehension, including students with learning disabilities. A randomized pre-post experimental design was employed to investigate the effectiveness of a comprehension monitoring strategy (QRAC-the-Code) for improving the reading comprehension of 323 students in grades 6 and 7 in inclusive social studies classes. Findings indicated that both general education students and students with learning disabilities who were taught a simple comprehension monitoring strategy improved their comprehension of textbook content compared to students who read independently and noted important points. In addition, students in the comprehension monitoring condition reported using more reading strategies after the intervention. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

A Call to Embrace Social Reading in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dean, Matthew D.

2016-01-01

Social reading can broadly be described as the experience surrounding the reading of electronic books, more commonly known as eBooks. Utilising eTextbooks and social reading at a university offers some powerful potential to engage students and help them succeed in their studies. A broad overview of the current landscape and recent initiatives…

Encouraging Students to Read Mathematics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shepherd, Mary D.

2005-01-01

It is generally agreed that the ability to read mathematics is an important skill--one that few of our students possess. A number of people have published some suggestions for helping students learn to read their mathematics textbooks. What these have in common is suggestions for getting students more active while reading. Using these resources as…

Perceived Challenges to Integrating Reading Strategies in Content Areas: A Single Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pezzolla, Karen

2017-01-01

An alarming percentage of middle and high school students find themselves unable to read their textbooks at grade level proficiency; lacking the necessary skills to access and process information, and read critically. The Common Core State Standards require students to apply reading strategies across the curriculum, therefore requiring teachers to…

Improving Basal Reading Programs: A Report of the Adoption Guidelines Project at the Center for the Study of Reading. Reading Education Report No. 68.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dole, Janice A.; And Others

Commercially developed basal reading programs are used in most elementary school classrooms in the United States. Yet often neither the publishers developing these programs nor the members of textbook adoption committees selecting programs are able to take advantage of the best available knowledge about the reading process and reading instruction.…

Read On! II. A Sequential Reading Series. Instructor's Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawson, V. K.; And Others

This guide is intended for use by teachers and tutors who are using the assisted reading method to teach reading to adult learners. The introduction describes the contents of the guide and the other materials in the Read On! II series, i.e., six textbooks, six workbooks, and a set of tutor resource sheets for use with learners at the beginning…

Reading Reform in Egypt: Do the Second-Grade Textbooks Reflect the New Direction?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyle, Helen N.; Salah, Wail

2017-01-01

In light of disappointing scores on the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), Arabic-speaking countries have begun to reexamine, and in some case reform, how they teach reading in the early grades. Egypt was one of the first countries to initiate early-grade reading reforms in 2010.…

Improving Exam Performance in Introductory Biology through the Use of Preclass Reading Guides

PubMed Central

Lieu, Rebekah; Wong, Ashley; Asefirad, Anahita; Shaffer, Justin F.

2017-01-01

High-structure courses or flipped courses require students to obtain course content before class so that class time can be used for active-learning exercises. While textbooks are used ubiquitously in college biology courses for content dissemination, studies have shown that students frequently do not read their textbooks. To address this issue, we created preclass reading guides that provided students with a way to actively engage with the required reading for each day of class. To determine whether reading guide completion before class is associated with increased performance, we surveyed students about their use of reading guides in two sections of a large-enrollment (400+ students) introductory biology course and used multiple linear regression models to identify significant correlations. The results indicated that greater than 80% of students completed the reading guides before class and that full completion of the reading guides before class was significantly positively correlated with exam performance. Reading guides in most cases were used similarly between different student groups (based on gender, ethnicity, and aptitude). These results suggest that optional preclass reading guides may help students stay on track to acquire course content in introductory biology and thus result in improved exam performance. PMID:28747356

What Images Reveal: a Comparative Study of Science Images between Australian and Taiwanese Junior High School Textbooks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ge, Yun-Ping; Unsworth, Len; Wang, Kuo-Hua; Chang, Huey-Por

2017-07-01

From a social semiotic perspective, image designs in science textbooks are inevitably influenced by the sociocultural context in which the books are produced. The learning environments of Australia and Taiwan vary greatly. Drawing on social semiotics and cognitive science, this study compares classificational images in Australian and Taiwanese junior high school science textbooks. Classificational images are important kinds of images, which can represent taxonomic relations among objects as reported by Kress and van Leeuwen (Reading images: the grammar of visual design, 2006). An analysis of the images from sample chapters in Australian and Taiwanese high school science textbooks showed that the majority of the Taiwanese images are covert taxonomies, which represent hierarchical relations implicitly. In contrast, Australian classificational images included diversified designs, but particularly types with a tree structure which depicted overt taxonomies, explicitly representing hierarchical super-ordinate and subordinate relations. Many of the Taiwanese images are reminiscent of the specimen images in eighteenth century science texts representing "what truly is", while more Australian images emphasize structural objectivity. Moreover, Australian images support cognitive functions which facilitate reading comprehension. The relationships between image designs and learning environments are discussed and implications for textbook research and design are addressed.

Just-in-Time Teaching in undergraduate physics courses: Implementation, learning, and perceptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dwyer, Jessica Hewitt

Regardless of discipline, a decades-long battle has ensued within nearly every classroom in higher education: instructors getting students to come to class prepared to learn. In response to this clash between teacher expectations and frequent student neglect, a group of four physics education researchers developed a reformed instructional strategy called Just-in-Time Teaching (JiTT). This dissertation investigates the following three areas: 1) the fidelity with which undergraduate physics instructors implement JiTT, 2) whether student performance predicts student perception of their instructor's fidelity of JiTT implementation, and 3) whether student perception of their instructor's fidelity of JiTT implementation correlates with student views of their physics course. A blend of quantitative data (e.g., students grades, inventory scores, and questionnaire responses) are integrated with qualitative data (e.g., individual faculty interviews, student focus group discussions, and classroom observations). This study revealed no statistically significant relationship between instructors who spent time on a predefined JiTT critical component and their designation as a JiTT user or non-user. While JiTT users implemented the pedagogy in accordance with the creators' intended ideal vision, many also had trouble reconciling personal concerns about their role as a JiTT adopter and the anticipated demand of the innovation. I recommend that this population of faculty members can serve as a JiTT model for other courses, disciplines, and/or institutions. Student performance was not a predictor of student perception instructor fidelity of JiTT implementation. Additionally, the majority of students in this study reported they read their textbook prior to class and that JiTT assignments helped them prepare for in-class learning. I found evidence that exposure to the JiTT strategy may correlate with a more favorable student view of their physics course. Finally, according to students, favorable JiTT implementation occurred when instructors reviewed all questions contained within the JiTT assignment during class and when instructors clearly connected JiTT questions to the textbook reading, lesson discussion, and other assignments. The impact of this work rests in its possibility to set the stage for future education studies on the fidelity of implementation of other research-based instructional strategies in various disciplines and how they affect student performance and perceptions.

Marketing trends impede conceptual integration in psychology courses: Comment on Gurung et al. (2016).

PubMed

Carver, Charles S

2017-01-01

A recent American Psychologist article on teaching (Gurung et al., 2016) stressed the importance of fostering integration across topic areas. A current trend in publishing and marketing of textbooks is creating pressure that makes this goal harder to implement. The trend is offering custom tailoring of online texts by adopters, letting instructors assign some sections and make other sections unavailable to students. To permit this option, textbook publishers now insist that authors not cross-reference anywhere, so that no instructor will face the possibility of a student looking for material that has not been assigned and thus does not exist. Ironically, this pressure from publishers actively impedes conceptual integration in our textbooks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Nudging Fledgling Teen Readers from the Nest: From Round Robin to Real Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fair, Ginni Chase; Combs, Dorie

2011-01-01

Middle and Secondary teachers often find it difficult to help their students read textbooks and other instructional materials. In order to ensure they read the text, teachers may rely on "round robin reading" and other ineffective strategies. In this article, the authors explain why this strategy hinders comprehension, fluency and development of…

Reading for Understanding: How Reading Apprenticeship Improves Disciplinary Learning in Secondary and College Classrooms. Second Edition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schoenbach, Ruth; Greenleaf, Cynthia; Murphy, Lynn

2012-01-01

Published in partnership with WestEd, this significantly updated second edition of the bestselling book contains strategies for helping students in middle school through community college gain the reading independence to master subject area textbooks and other material. Features of this book include: (1) Based on the Reading Apprenticeship…

Parents, Publishers and Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LaPlante, William

The relationship between educational textbook publishers and parents has, in the past, been restricted to parents glancing at their children's textbooks. Now, however, as a result of a general increase of interest in education, the schools' need for parental help in the learning process, and the increased instructional focus of the media (such as…

Content Area Textbooks. Reading Education Report No. 23.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armbruster, Bonnie B.; Anderson, Thomas H.

Focusing on what authors can do to facilitate learning from content area textbooks, this report labels authors as "considerate," providing text that readers can understand with a minimum of cognitive effort, or as "inconsiderate," creating text that requires a conscientious, highly skilled effort if readers are to comprehend…

Behind Textbook Censorship.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Franklin; Parker, Betty

Textbook censorship cases from Tennessee and Alabama have been brought before the U.S. Supreme Court. In east Tennessee, fundamentalist families objected to a 1983 Holt, Rinehart, and Winston reading series for grades 1-8. Federal District Judge Thomas G. Hull held that Hawkins County Schools had violated the families' First Amendment rights and…

Chapter & Verse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cavanagh, Sean

2006-01-01

Neal Frey reads textbooks for a living, a job he finds singularly fulfilling. For more than two decades, he had labored on behalf of Educational Research Analysts, a conservative Christian textbook-reviewing organization in Longview, Texas, founded by the famously outspoken husband-and-wife team of Mel Gabler and Norma Gabler. Since the early…

Ciencias 3. (Science 3). Student Book.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raposo, Lucilia

This grade 3 textbook, the third in a series of elementary science textbooks written in Portuguese, consists of readings, activities, and review exercises on biological, physical, geological, and nutrition/health concepts. The book is organized into nine sections. Among the topic areas included in these sections are: (1) solar energy, electricity,…

Mathematics Teaching as a Narrative Art

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

George, Michael

2014-01-01

Many students read for pleasure, but how many, stranded in an expansive library, would willingly reach for a mathematics textbook? One reason this scenario is so inconceivable is that mathematics textbooks are organized less as exercises in storytelling and more as how-to manuals. Unfortunately many mathematics teachers instruct accordingly. This…

Sex-Stereotypes in Israeli Primers: A Content Analysis Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zak, Itai; Kaufman, Shlomit

1977-01-01

Primary reading textbooks used in Israel were examined for sexual stereotyping. It was determined that male and female descriptions in the textbooks differ from true life situations. High correlations were also found between particular personality traits and sex in the books, which do not also exist in reality. (Author/MV)

Guidelines on How to Read a Physics Textbook and the Assessment of the Readability of Recommended Physics Textbooks in Secondary Schools in Osun State of Nigeria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akinbobola, Akinyemi Olufunminiyi

2015-01-01

This study assessed the readability of the four recommended physics textbooks in senior secondary schools in Osun State of Nigeria. A total of 25 physics teachers and 300 senior secondary three (SS3) physics students were randomly selected in the 12 secondary schools used for the study. A survey design was used for the study. Results showed that…

The Varied Uses of Readability Measurement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fry, Edward

Readability formulas have varied uses. In education they are used to match children's reading ability to the difficulty level of material, select stories and books for classroom use and for individual students' particular needs, select textbooks and other reading materials, aid educational research, and check reading materials of newly literate…

How to Read Scientific Research Articles: A Hands-On Classroom Exercise

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bogucka, Roxanne; Wood, Emily

2009-01-01

Undergraduate students are generally unfamiliar with scientific literature. Further, students experience frustration when they read research articles the way they read textbooks, from beginning to end. Using a team-based active learning exercise, an instruction librarian and colleagues at University of Texas at Austin introduce nutritional…

Supporting Struggling Readers in Secondary School Science Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts, Kelly D.; Takahashi, Kiriko; Park, Hye-Jin; Stodden, Robert A.

2012-01-01

Many secondary school students struggle to read complex expository text such as science textbooks. This article provides step-by-step guidance on how to foster expository reading for struggling readers in secondary school science classes. Two strategies are introduced: Text-to-Speech (TTS) Software as a reading compensatory strategy and the…

Learning about Fictionalized Biographies: A Reading and Writing Approach.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zarnowski, Myra

1988-01-01

Describes in detail a three-month class project focusing on fictionalized biographies and the life of Benjamin Franklin. Notes that in-depth integration of reading, writing, and content area instruction improves reading skills, as well as learning from content area textbooks, especially for low ability readers. (MM)

Incoming dental students' expectations and acceptance of an electronic textbook program.

PubMed

Brunet, Darlene P; Bates, Michael L; Gallo, John R; Strother, Elizabeth A

2011-05-01

Since 2005, the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Dentistry has required the VitalSource Technologies, Inc. Bookshelf as the textbook program for all dental students. In a 2008 survey, four classes of dental students expressed dissatisfaction with most features of the bookshelf. With the expectation that incoming students would be more accustomed and amenable to digital textbooks and to further determine student attitudes toward electronic textbooks, we developed two surveys for first-year dental students in the class of 2013. The sixty-five first-year students received a survey (S1) one week before they were introduced to the e-textbook program. Questions centered on their undergraduate experience with e-books and their expectations of studying with an electronic textbook collection. In the second survey (S2), sent nine months later, the questions focused on students' opinion of the VitalSource Bookshelf. Forty-five students (69.2 percent) completed the S1 survey. Of those, thirty-six (80 percent) responded that they never used e-textbooks in college. Of the nine students who responded that they used e-books, only two liked them without reservations. The response rate to S2 increased to fifty students (77 percent). After using VitalSource for nine months, thirty-three students (66 percent) indicated a preference for reading print textbooks, compared to forty-seven students (57.3 percent) of the four classes surveyed in 2008. Although we expected incoming dental students to have had previous experience with e-textbooks, only nine students had used e-books in college courses. Few students indicated preference for e-textbooks, and over half of the group was undecided. After experience with VitalSource for first-year courses, students indicated that they like VitalSource for the ability to search for specific topics across the entire collection of dental books, but not for reading large amounts of text.

Using Just in Time Teaching in a Global Climate Change Course to Address Misconceptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schuenemann, K. C.

2013-12-01

Just in Time Teaching (JiTT) is employed in an introductory Global Climate Change college course with the intention of addressing common misconceptions and climate myths. Students enter the course with a variety of prior knowledge and opinions on global warming, and JiTT can be used as a constructivist pedagogical approach to make use of this prior knowledge. Students are asked to watch a short video or do a reading, sometimes screen capture videos created by the professor as review of material from the previous class, a video available on the web from NASA or NOAA, for example, or a reading from an online article or their textbook. After the video or reading, students answer a question carefully designed to pry at a common misconception, or simply are asked for the 'muddiest point' that remains on the concept. This assignment is done the night before class using a web program. The program aggregates the answers in an organized way so the professor can use the answers to design the day's lesson to address common misconceptions or concerns students displayed in their answers, as well as quickly assign participation credit to students who completed the assignment. On the other hand, if students display that they have already mastered the material, the professor can confidently move on to the next concept. The JiTT pedagogical method personalizes each lecture period to the students in that particular class for maximum efficiency while catching and fixing misconceptions in a timely manner. This technique requires students to spend time with the material outside of class, acts as review of important concepts, and increases engagement in class due to the personalization of the course. Evaluation results from use of this technique will be presented. Examples of successful JiTT videos, questions, student answers, and techniques for addressing misconceptions during lecture will also be presented with the intention that instructors can easily apply this technique to their next course.

Effective Reading Programs for Middle and High Schools: A Best-Evidence Synthesis. Educator's Summary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education (NJ3), 2008

2008-01-01

What reading programs have been proven to help middle and high school students to succeed? To find out, this review summarizes evidence on four types of programs designed to improve the reading achievement of students in grades 6-12: (1) Reading Curricula (Curr), such as "LANGUAGE!," "McDougal Littel," and other standard and alternative textbooks;…

Assessing Coverage of Maslow's Theory in Educational Psychology Textbooks: A Content Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wininger, Steven R.; Norman, Antony D.

2010-01-01

Although Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory (HNT) is one of the most prevalent theories in psychology, the authors argued that it is also one of the most misinterpreted or misrepresented, particularly in educational psychology textbooks. Therefore, after carefully reading Maslow's writings on HNT they conducted a content analysis of 18 educational…

A Textbook Selection Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prosser, Daniel R.; Bondavalli, Bonnie J.

In response to the problem facing college faculties of choosing textbooks that are both "readable" by students and adequate in content coverage, a text selection process has been developed that can be used with or without the aid of a reading specialist. The first step in the process, a preliminary check, examines each proposed text's publication…

Labor's Untold Story: A Textbook Case of Neglect and Distortion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Educator, 2012

2012-01-01

In the high school history textbooks children read, too often they find that labor's role in American history--and labor's important accomplishments, which changed American life--are misrepresented, downplayed, or ignored. That is a tragedy because labor played (and continues to play) a key role in the development of American democracy and the…

Learning Strategies and Performance in a Technology Integrated Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Debevec, Kathleen; Shih, Mei-Yau; Kashyap, Vishal

2006-01-01

This study examines students' use of technology for learning (accessing the course Web site to download PowerPoint slides for note taking and exam preparation) relative to more traditional learning methods (reading the textbook and taking notes in class and from the textbook) and the effect of their learning strategies on exam performance and…

6 Lessons One Campus Learned about E-Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Young, Jeffrey R.

2009-01-01

Northwest Missouri State University nearly became the first public university to deliver all of its textbooks electronically. Last year the institution's president, Dean L. Hubbard, bought a Kindle, Amazon's e-book reading device, and liked it so much that he wanted to give every incoming student one. The university already runs an unusual…

An Exploration of Meaning and the Dialogue between Textbooks and Teaching.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cherryholmes, Cleo H.

1988-01-01

Contends that conventional teaching and textbooks fail to promote a critical analysis of the content they convey. Argues that failure to examine the meanings of words and ideas dehumanizes education, divorces knowledge from power, and promotes viewpoints which are both parochial and ahistoric. Describes how critical reading and the use of…

Analysis of Risk Management in Adapted Physical Education Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Kelle L.; Donovan, Jacqueline B.; Berg, Dominck A.

2016-01-01

Physical education teacher education (PETE) programs vary on how the topics of safe teaching and risk management are addressed. Common practices to cover such issues include requiring textbooks, lesson planning, peer teaching, videotaping, reflecting, and reading case law analyses. We used a mixed methods design to examine how risk management is…

The Effects of Teacher Read-Alouds and Student Silent Reading on Predominantly Bilingual High School Seniors' Learning and Retention of Social Studies Content

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reed, Deborah K.; Swanson, Elizabeth; Petscher, Yaacov; Vaughn, Sharon

2014-01-01

Teacher read-alouds (TRA) are common in middle and high school content area classes. Because the practice of reading the textbook out loud to students is often used out of concern about students' ability to understand and learn from text when reading silently (SR), this randomized controlled trial was designed to experimentally manipulate text…

THE LANGUAGE OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN--ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE LANGUAGE OF READING TEXTBOOKS AND THE QUALITY OF READING OF SELECTED CHILDREN.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

STRICKLAND, RUTH G.

THIS STUDY WAS DESIGNED TO (1) ANALYZE THE ORAL LANGUAGE STRUCTURE OF FIRST- THROUGH SIXTH-GRADE CHILDREN, (2) COMPARE THAT STRUCTURE WITH THE LANGUAGE STRUCTURE IN BOOKS BY WHICH CHILDREN ARE TAUGHT TO READ, AND (3) ASCERTAIN, AT THE SECOND-GRADE LEVEL, THE INFLUENCE OF ANY DETERMINED DIFFERENCES ON THE QUALITY OF READING, READING INTERPRETATION,…

Reading Habits of Third-Year Medical Students during an Integrated Endocrinology Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Friedberg, Mark; Mahanaimi, David; Lev-Zion, Rafael; Sidi, Aviel; Glick, Shimon

1998-01-01

Independent reading by medical students beyond formal classroom activities is considered central to medical education. This study examines self-directed study among third-year students in a six-year medical program. Students averaged 151 minutes daily on independent study using lecture notes, textbooks, and reading articles. Suggests ways to…

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Remedial Reading Courses at Community Colleges: A Quantitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lavonier, Nicole

2014-01-01

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of two instructional approaches for remedial reading courses at a community college. The instructional approaches were strategic reading and traditional, textbook-based instruction. The two research questions that guided the quantitative, quasi-experimental study were: (a) what is the effect of…

An Update on Strategic Learning: It's More Than Textbook Reading Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Simpson, Michele L.; Nist, Sherrie L.

2000-01-01

Reviews research investigating strategies for reading and studying at the college level. Examines 5 generalizations that emerged: (1) task understanding is critical to strategic learning; (2) beliefs about learning influence how students read and study; (3) quality instruction is essential; (4) a variety of research-based strategies should be…

Lost Voices of the Harlem Renaissance: Writing Assigned at Howard University, 1919-31.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zaluda, Scott

1998-01-01

Examines writing assignments, articles, textbooks, and other expressions of faculty thinking from courses about relationships among education, writing, and society in philosophy, English, history, and sociology at Howard University, a historically black university. Finds writing assignments at once conservative, subversive, and creative, in a…

Behavioral self-regulation in a physics class

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stewart, John; DeVore, Seth; Stewart, Gay; Michaluk, Lynnette

2016-06-01

This study examined the regulation of out-of-class time invested in the academic activities associated with a physics class for 20 consecutive semesters. The academic activities of 1676 students were included in the study. Students reported investing a semester average of 6.5 ±2.9 h out of class per week. During weeks not containing an examination, a total of 4.3 ±2.1 h was reported which was divided between 2.5 ±1.2 h working homework and 1.8 ±1.4 h reading. Students reported spending 7.6 ±4.8 h preparing for each in-semester examination. Students showed a significant correlation between the change in time invested in examination preparation (r =-0.12 , p <0.0001 ) and their score on the previous examination. The correlation increased as the data were averaged over semester (r =-0.70 , p =0.0006 ) and academic year (r =-0.82 , p =0.0039 ). While significant, the overall correlation indicates a small effect size and implies that an increase of 1 standard deviation of test score (18%) was related to a decrease of 0.12 standard deviations or 0.9 h of study time. Students also modified their time invested in reading as the length of the textbook changed; however, this modification was not proportional to the size of the change in textbook length. Very little regulation of the time invested in homework was detected either in response to test grades or in response to changes in the length of homework assignments. Patterns of regulation were different for higher performing students than for lower performing students with students receiving a course grade of "C" or "D" demonstrating little change in examination preparation time in response to lower examination grades. This study suggests that homework preparation time is a fixed variable while examination preparation time and reading time are weakly mutable variables.

Development of a Case-based Reading Curriculum and Its Effect on Resident Reading.

PubMed

Messman, Anne M; Walker, Ian

2018-01-01

Textbook reading plays a foundational role in a resident's knowledge base. Many residency programs place residents on identical reading schedules, regardless of the clinical work or rotation the resident is doing. We sought to develop a reading curriculum that takes into account the clinical work a resident is doing so their reading curriculum corresponds with their clinical work. Preliminary data suggests an increased amount of resident reading and an increased interest in reading as a result of this change to their reading curriculum.

A Short Take on: Value in Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bramhall, David D.

2009-01-01

Each year college students in America spend approximately $5.5 billion on textbooks. With each student spending roughly $900 on books assigned by professors, are these dollars being well spent and are students receiving a fair return on their investment? More importantly, do these texts serve the integral function in the courses as described in…

Manual de Salud Familiar y Primeros Auxilios (Family Health and First Aid Manual).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Torres De Leon, Juana Maria

This textbook is part of a Mexican series of instructional materials designed for Spanish speaking adults who are in the process of becoming literate or have recently become literate in their native language. This textbook is designed to strengthen reading and writing skills while teaching basic principles and techniques to improve family health.…

Using Bloom's Taxonomy to Evaluate the Cognitive Levels of Master Class Textbook's Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Assaly, Ibtihal R.; Smadi, Oqlah M.

2015-01-01

This study aimed at evaluating the cognitive levels of the questions following the reading texts of Master Class textbook. A checklist based on Bloom's Taxonomy was the instrument used to categorize the cognitive levels of these questions. The researchers used proper statistics to rank the cognitive levels of the comprehension questions. The…

Analysis of Narrative Texts in Secondary School Textbooks in Terms of Values Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sallabas, Muhammed Eyyup

2013-01-01

Texts have a crucial place in language education and probably they are the most important means of education. Students at the primary and secondary education ages mostly read narrative texts like short stories, poems and fictional books. This study attempts to assess value transfer in narrative texts at the secondary education textbooks. Our study…

Kamishibai: A Vehicle to Multiple Literacies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Gretchen

2003-01-01

Outlines how the author and her fellow history teacher used kamishibai storyboards (a type of folk art common in Japan before World War II) in an integrated unit on Egypt to make textbook reading more meaningful to students. Notes that in order to complete the unit, students had to use multiple literacy skills as they combined textbook reading…

A Comparative Analysis of MEXT English Reading Textbooks and Japan's National Center Test

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Underwood, Paul

2010-01-01

Despite the influence of changing demographics in Japan, the National Center Test for University Entrance Exams continues to assert an ever increasing role in the process of university admissions. In preparation for this examination, the majority of senior high school students learn from textbooks approved by the Japanese Ministry of Education,…

Better Reading Materials for the Content Areas

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peters, Nathaniel A.; Peters, Juanita I.

1974-01-01

The annotated bibliography (an addendum to the Fall 1973 series of listings published in the Volta Review) lists 16 resource materials and classroom textbooks beneficial for use with deaf students, and guidelines for self-evaluation of practices in teaching reading. (LS)

A gender analysis of secondary school physics textbooks and laboratory manuals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kostas, Nancy Ann

Secondary school physics textbooks and laboratory manuals were evaluated for gender balance. The textbooks and manuals evaluated were all current editions available at the time of the study with copyrights of 1988 to 1992. Illustrations, drawings and photographs were judged gender balanced based on the number of men and women, boys and girls shown in both active and passive roles. Illustrations, drawings and photographs were also evaluated by the number of male and female scientists identified by name. The curricular content of the textbooks was analyzed for gender balance by three criteria: the number of named male and female scientists whose accomplishments were described in the text; the number of careers assigned to men and women; and the number of verbal analogies assigned to girls interests, boys interests or neutral interests. The laboratory activities in the manuals were categorized as demonstrations, experiments and observations. Three of each of these types of activities from each manual were analyzed for skills and motivating factors important to girls as identified by Potter and Rosser (1992). Data were analyzed by use of descriptive statistics of frequencies, means and chi-square goodness of fit. The.05 level of significance was applied to all analyses based upon an expected frequency of 50 - 50 percentage of men and women and a 4.5 percent for women scientists to 95.5 percent for men scientists. The findings were as follows. None of the textbooks had a balance of men/women, boys/girls in the illustrations, drawings and photographs. The Hewitt (Scott-Foresman, 1989) textbook was the only textbook with no significant difference. Using the expected frequency for male and female scientists, two textbooks were gender balanced for illustrations, drawings and photographs while all textbooks were gender balanced for described accomplishments of scientists. The Hewitt (Scott Foresman, 1989) textbook had the only gender balanced representation of careers. Verbal analogies were gender fair in all textbooks where the second half of the content dealing with light, electricity and magnetism was analyzed. Only the Hewitt (Addison-Wesley, 1992) was gender balanced for the first half text verbal analogies. All laboratory manuals had skills and motivating factors important to girls.

Establishing Trustworthiness When Students Read Multiple Documents Containing Conflicting Scientific Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bråten, Ivar; Braasch, Jason L. G.; Strømsø, Helge I.; Ferguson, Leila E.

2015-01-01

Students read six documents that varied in terms of their perspectives on a scientific issue and the trustworthiness of the source features. After reading, students wrote essays, rank-ordered the documents according to perceived trustworthiness, and provided reasons for their rank-order decisions. Students put the most trust in a textbook and a…

Reading Like a Historian: Teaching Literacy in Middle and High School History Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wineburg, Sam; Martin, Daisy; Monte-Sano, Chauncey

2011-01-01

Reaching beyond textbooks, this is a guide to teaching "historical reading" with middle and high school students. This practical resource shows you how to apply Sam Wineburg's highly acclaimed approach to teaching, "Reading Like a Historian", in your classroom to increase academic literacy and spark students' curiosity. Each chapter begins with an…

Optimizing EFL Learners' Sensitizing Reading Skill: Development of Local Content-Based Textbook

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arifani, Yudhi

2016-01-01

The development of local wisdom based sensitizing reading material is aimed at penetrating one of the imperishable gaps between authentic and non-authentic reading materials dispute in an EFL teaching context. Promoting EFL learners' needs for the first semester students of English department at university level, who rarely or even never have a…

Reflective Journaling as a Flipped Classroom Technique to Increase Reading and Participation with Social Work Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sage, Melanie; Sele, Patti

2015-01-01

Students in undergraduate social work practice courses come to class with varying levels of educational, life, and practice experience. Students require an introduction to the material through textbook reading before they are able to engage in critical discussions, yet reading adherence varies widely among students. This research explores the use…

Books, Biodiversity, and Beyond!

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Governor, Donna; Helms, Sarah

2007-01-01

Reading in science class does not have to be boring, but it is no secret to students or teachers that textbooks are not much fun to read. It is always a challenge for teachers to find reading materials that would grab the interests of their students. In this article, the author relates how she used Biodiversity, a nonfiction book by Dorothy…

Secondary science teachers' attitudes toward and beliefs about science reading and science textbooks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yore, Larry D.

Science textbooks are dominant influences behind most secondary science instruction but little is known about teachers' approach to science reading. The purpose of this naturalistic study was to develop and validate a Science and Reading Questionnaire to assess secondary science teachers' attitudes toward science reading and their beliefs or informed opinions about science reading. A survey of 428 British Columbia secondary science teachers was conducted and 215 science teachers responded. Results on a 12-item Likert attitude scale indicated that teachers place high value on reading as an important strategy to promote learning in science and that they generally accept responsibility for teaching content reading skills to science students. Results on a 13-item Likert belief scale indicated that science teachers generally reject the text-driven model of reading, but they usually do not have well-formulated alternative models to guide their teaching practices. Teachers have intuitive beliefs about science reading that partially agree with many research findings, but their beliefs are fragmented and particularly sketchy in regard to the cognitive and metacognitive skills required by readers to learn from science texts. The findings for attitude, belief, and total scales were substantiated by further questions in the Science and Reading Questionnaire regarding classroom practice and by individual interviews and classroom observations of a 15-teacher subsample of the questionnaire respondents.

Student performance in and perceptions of a high structure undergraduate human anatomy course.

PubMed

Shaffer, Justin F

2016-11-01

Human anatomy has usually been taught in a didactic fashion in colleges and universities. However, recent calls from United States governmental agencies have called for the transformation of undergraduate life sciences education to include active learning in the classroom. In addition, high structure courses have been shown to increase student engagement both in and out of the classroom and to improve student performance. Due to these reform efforts and the evidence on the benefits of these student-centered pedagogies, the goal of this study was to develop and assess a high structure college undergraduate human anatomy course with a lecture and laboratory component. The course was taught using a systems anatomy approach that required students to read the textbook and complete assignments before class, actively participate in class, and complete review quizzes after class. Results showed that teaching with high structure methods did not negatively affect any student groups (based on gender, ethnicity, or major) as measured by performance on lecture examinations and laboratory practical examinations. Students reported that reading the textbook and working with anatomical models were the most important towards helping them learn the course material and students' confidence in achieving the course goals significantly increased at the end of the course. The successful development and implementation of this course suggests that it is possible to teach human anatomy using active learning and high structure. Future studies can now be conducted to determine the contributions of specific course components to student success in high structure human anatomy courses. Anat Sci Educ 9: 516-528. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists. © 2016 American Association of Anatomists.

Sexism in Textbooks in Pittsburgh Public Schools, Grades K-5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Scardina, Florence

Thirty-six textbooks used by the Pittsburgh public schools at grade levels K-5 were reviewed to see how they treat girls vs. boys and men vs. women. Language, reading, science, social studies, and mathematics texts were evaluated. Blatant sexism is found in all areas. Different ideas of behavior and mores are propagated for boys than for girls;…

Development of Interactive Computer Programs To Help Students Transfer Basic Skills to College Level Science and Behavioral Science Courses.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mikulecky, Larry

Interactive computer programs, developed at Indiana University's Learning Skills Center, were designed to model effective strategies for reading biology and psychology textbooks. For each subject area, computer programs and textbook passages were used to instruct and model for students how to identify key concepts, compare and contrast concepts,…

Enhancing Learning Outcomes through New E-Textbooks: A Desirable Combination of Presentation Methods and Concept Maps

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Kuo-Liang; Chen, Kuo-Hsiang; Ho, Chun-Heng

2014-01-01

It is possible that e-textbook readers and tablet PC's will become mainstream reading devices in the future. However, knowledge about instructional design in this field of learning sciences is inadequate. This study aimed to analyse how two factors, that is, presentation methods and concept maps, interact with cognitive load and learning…

Upper Secondary Students' Understanding of the Use of Multiple Models in Biology Textbooks--The Importance of Conceptual Variation and Incommensurability

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gericke, Niklas; Hagberg, Mariana; Jorde, Doris

2013-01-01

In this study we investigate students' ability to discern conceptual variation and the use of multiple models in genetics when reading content-specific excerpts from biology textbooks. Using the history and philosophy of science as our reference, we were able to develop a research instrument allowing students themselves to investigate the…

Strategies for teaching pathology to graduate students and allied health professionals.

PubMed

Fenderson, Bruce A

2005-02-01

Pathology is an essential course for many students in the biomedical sciences and allied health professions. These students learn the language of pathology and medicine, develop an appreciation for mechanisms of disease, and understand the close relationship between basic research and clinical medicine. We have developed 3 pathology courses to meet the needs of our undergraduates, graduate students, and allied health professionals. Through experience, we have settled on an approach to teaching pathology that takes into account the diverse educational backgrounds of these students. Educational resources such as assigned reading, online homework, lectures, and review sessions are carefully balanced to adjust course difficulty. Common features of our pathology curricula include a web-based computer laboratory and review sessions on the basis of selected pathology images and open-ended study questions. Lectures, computer-guided homework, and review sessions provide the core educational content for undergraduates. Graduate students, using the same computer program and review material, rely more heavily on assigned reading for core educational content. Our experience adapting a pathology curriculum to the needs of divergent groups of students suggests a general strategy for monitoring course difficulty. We hypothesize that course difficulty is proportional to the information density of specific learning resources (eg, lecture or textbook) multiplied by the weight of those learning resources placed on examinations. This formula allows educators to match the difficulty of a course with the educational needs of students, and provides a useful tool for longitudinal studies of curriculum reform.

Getting Students To Read Actively.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kitao, Kenji

1994-01-01

This article discusses Japanese students' difficulties in reading English, overviews some of the problems of college English textbooks, presents the results of research on the subject, and discusses characteristics of measures of readability. Teaching methods that have proven effective with Japanese students and activities for engaging students in…

Developmental Reading and Nursing Program Partnerships: Helping Students Succeed in Reading-Intensive Coursework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Costanzo, Ryan D.; Fitzpatrick, Amanda

2012-01-01

While clinical competence and hands-on ability are crucial to nursing, students in college-based nursing programs face almost certain failure if they lack skills and strategies for textbook reading. Faculty and staff at a small liberal arts college with a two-year nursing program used focus groups consisting of first-semester and final-semester…

[Discussion on several contents of textbook Acupuncture and Moxibustion (New Century 4th Edition)].

PubMed

Tian, Kaiyu

2018-02-12

The textbook Acupuncture and Moxibustion (New Century 4th Edition) was published by China Press of Traditional Chinese Medicine in August of 2016. The author proposed several discussions in the textbook. The information, including the issue date of China national standard Standardized Manipulations of Acupuncture and Moxibustion , the number of foreign countries where China medical teams were assigned, and the number of acupuncture indications recommended by WHO, was not accurate. The content, including several methods of acupoint location, specification of filiform needles, rotating angle of needle, disinfection of needles and skin, locations and indications of scalp acupuncture, etc. should be corrected. Besides, the writing of textbooks should follow national or industry standards.

Incorporating Women and Crime Topics into Criminology Classes: Assignments, Exercises, and Projects.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wright, Richard A.

1987-01-01

Recommends a variety of books, assignments, exercises, and projects which can be incorporated into introductory criminology classes to compensate for the omission of topics on women and crime in textbooks and curricula. Includes a list of potential topics for writing assignments and a selection of films covering such topics as sexual harassment,…

A Vocabulary Learning Tool for L2 Undergraduates Reading Science and Technology Textbooks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsu, Chihcheng; Yang, Fang-Chuan Ou

2013-05-01

Students of English as a second language who major in science and technology use English-language textbooks to ensure that they can read English materials upon graduation. Research indicates that teachers spend little time helping these students on the linguistic complexity of such textbooks. Vocabulary, grammar, and article structure are elements of this complexity, but to many students, these elements can be akin to locked doors. This study presents MyVLS-Reader, which focuses on unlocking the first of these doors-vocabulary-while assisting in reading. With explicit vocabulary learning, students learn and memorize individual vocabulary, but the context is lost if the depth of learning discards context. In implicit vocabulary learning, students acquire vocabulary through repeated exposure to contexts, but repeated encounters with new words are required. Few e-learning systems combine both vocabulary-learning approaches. MyVLS-Reader achieves such synergy by (1) using a keyword setting to provide context-matched vocabulary explanation while reading and (2) embedding multiple learning choices, such as keyword setting, the review and memorization of explicit vocabulary, and the option to ask instructors. This study includes two rounds of evaluations: (1) an evaluation of the learning achievements of control and treatment groups and (2) a quantitative and qualitative investigation of perceptions regarding the use of MyVLS-Reader. The evaluation results indicate that the treatment group developed a better vocabulary than the control group in significantly less time. The use of MyVLS-Reader also slightly improved higher-order thinking skills. This result suggests that MyVLS-Reader can effective assist students in building their vocabulary while reading.

Use of Electronic Versus Print Textbooks by Chilean Dental Students: A National Survey.

PubMed

Aravena, Pedro Christian; Schulz, Karen; Parra, Annemarie; Perez-Rojas, Francisco; Rosas, Cristian; Cartes-Velásquez, Ricardo

2017-03-01

Electronic textbooks have become available in recent decades as replacements or alternatives for print versions. The aim of this descriptive cross-sectional study was to evaluate the use of electronic versus print textbooks by Chilean dental students. The target population was students from 14 Chilean dental schools. The questionnaire was adapted and translated to Spanish from a previous survey used in a similar study. It consisted of the following variables: preferred type, type used, frequency of use, source, electronic devices used to read, and disposal after use. The use of textbooks was analyzed and compared by gender and course (p≤0.05). The final sample consisted of 3,256 students (21.38±2.5 years of age, 50.8% women). Most of the participants reported using both types of texts, with most (63.9%) preferring print over electronic texts, including significantly more women (p<0.001) and first-year students (p<0.001). Most of the participants (82.8%), more women (p<0.001), and with variations over years of study (p<0.001) reported that they printed out their electronic texts, and 91.8% kept their printed material. Most of the students used electronic books on a daily basis (47.3%) or at least twice a week (30.7%). The main source of electronic textbooks was the Internet (43.8%). A personal computer was the most widely used device for reading electronic texts (95.0%), followed by a cell phone (46.4%) and a tablet (24.5%). Overall, these Chilean dental students preferred print over electronic textbooks, despite having available electronic devices.

Indexing of Iranian Publications in Well-known Endodontic Textbooks: A Scientometric Analysis.

PubMed

Kakooei, Sina; Mostafavi, Mahshid; Parirokh, Masoud; Asgary, Saeed

2016-01-01

Quoting an article in well-known textbooks is held as a credit for that paper. The numbers of Iranian publications mentioned in endodontic textbooks have increased during recent years. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the number of Iranian articles quoted in eminent endodontic textbooks. Three known textbooks (Ingle's Endodontics, Seltzer and Bender's Dental Pulp and Cohen's Pathways of the Pulp) were chosen and all the editions of the textbooks since 2000 were investigated for quoted Iranian publications. Only Iranian authors with affiliations from a domestic university were chosen. All references at the end of each chapter were read by hand searching, and results were noted. The trend and percentage of Iranian publications in different editions of the textbooks were also calculated. The number of citations of these publications in Google Scholar and Scopus databases were also obtained. The number of Iranian publications in all well-known textbooks have notably increased since 2000. The number and percentage of Iranian publications in the latest edition of Cohen's Pathways of the Pulp was higher compared to other textbooks as well as the previous edition of the same text. Number and percentage of Iranian publications in the field of endodontics in all three textbooks have remarkably increased since 2000.

Sex Differences in Reading: A Biological Explanation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aliotti, Nicholas C.

Although sex differences in reading and related language functions have frequently been reported for both average and retarded readers, the explanations thus far proposed (maturation rate, sex-role development, textbook content, "female bias," and psycho-social factors) do not satisfactorily account for these differences. One hypothesis that might…

Do Knowledge Arrangements Affect Student Reading Comprehension of Genetics?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wu, Jen-Yi; Tung, Yu-Neng; Hwang, Bi-Chi; Lin, Chen-Yung; Che-Di, Lee; Chang, Yung-Ta

2014-01-01

Various sequences for teaching genetics have been proposed. Three seventh-grade biology textbooks in Taiwan share similar key knowledge assemblages but have different knowledge arrangements. To investigate the influence of knowledge arrangements on student understanding of genetics, we compared students' reading comprehension of the three texts…

Polysemy in the Domain-Specific Pedagogical Use of Graphs in Science Textbooks: The Case of an Electrocardiogram

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van Eijck, Michiel; Goedhart, Martin J.; Ellermeijer, Ton

2011-01-01

Polysemy in graph-related practices is the phenomenon that a single graph can sustain different meanings assigned to it. Considerable research has been done on polysemy in graph-related practices in school science in which graphs are rather used as scientific tools. However, graphs in science textbooks are also used rather pedagogically to…

Student Selection of the Textbook for an Introductory Physics Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dake, L. S.

2007-01-01

Several years ago I had to select a new textbook for my calculus-based introductory physics class. I subscribe to Just-in-Time Teaching methods,1 which require students to read the book before the material is covered in class. Thus, the readability of the text by the students is critical. However, I did not feel that I was the best judge of this…

The Reflection of Social Values in Public School Reading Textbooks in the United States: A Critical Content Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stockdale, Christopher L.

2015-01-01

In light of the recently published Common Core State Standards Initiative, public school curriculum has once again come under scrutiny. While curriculum debates have taken place since the very beginnings of public schooling in the United States, too few have taken more than a passing notice of the textbooks that, in many cases, comprise the…

A historical discourse analysis of the cancerous and non-cancerous body in secondary biology textbooks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bowers, Neil Thomas

This dissertation applies the archeological concepts developed by Michel Foucault to a study of thirteen biology textbooks (1993-2004) in order to develop an understanding of 'purchased truths' concerning cancer. This study focuses on the construction of the health/illness dialogue concerning cancer within the textbooks and not the meaning that the individual makes from reading the text; as such this study concerns itself with social truths rather than the search for an individual awareness of names, dates, or places. This study investigates the practices that allow the creation of dialogues that are inserted into a biology textbook and looks at how discursive formations create the 'truth regime' from which the biology textbook is said to speak. Using the Foucaultian themes of 'event', 'emergence', 'enunciation', and 'exteriority' a new reading of topics concerning cancer emerge from biology textbooks. Cancer is a disease that will impact the lives of countless individuals but coverage devoted to the pathology of cancer in secondary biology textbooks is very limited and no study textbook devoted a whole chapter to the discussion of cancer. There is an identified reduction in the number of pages and depth of coverage devoted to cancer in the newer biology texts compared to the older texts. Humans are pictured more than plants or animals in presentations concerning cancer with emphasis being placed on the digitalization of human cells via the scanning electron microscope. When the whole body is presented it is seldom located within the technology of disease diagnosis and treatment but rather is posed for specific social control. Just as each digitized picture of the cancerous cell in the texts is used to create a story so too are the pictures of the whole body in action. Possible story lines offered by the publishing houses concerning the reaction of the body to cancer are shown to intermingle with risk factor analysis to project a sense of Foucaultian 'governmentality' based on assumed control and self regulation by the informed reader. In conclusion a procedure is suggested to further analyze additional textbooks concerning biological/educational issues that have been recast as social problems.

A Comparative Analysis of the Impact of Cooperative versus Textbook-Based Individual Prereading Activities on the Reading Comprehension of Students of Spanish

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Osa-Melero, Lucia

2012-01-01

Reading texts with historical and sociopolitical content in a foreign language is often a challenge for second language students. The obstacles encountered by students should be of concern to language instructors. Lack of background knowledge frequently causes the reader to abandon the reading activity with a sense of disappointment and…

Introduction to Computers & Introduction to Word Processing: Integrating Content Area Coursework into College Reading/Study Skills Curricula Using Microcomputers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balajthy, Ernest; And Others

A study examined the planning, implementation, and evaluation of a curriculum designed to teach 60 college level developmental reading students to use microcomputers (Apple) as learning tools and to improve their content area reading ability. The textbook from a biology course in which all but three of the subjects were enrolled was the source for…

Whole Language Lives On: The Illusion of "Balanced" Reading Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moats, Louisa Cook

This position paper contends that the whole language approach to reading instruction has been disproved by research and evaluation but still pervades textbooks for teachers, instructional materials for classroom use, some states' language-arts standards and other policy documents, teacher licensing requirements and preparation programs, and the…

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Remedial Reading Courses at Community Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lavonier, Nicole

2016-01-01

Limited research is available on the effectiveness of remedial college courses. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of two instructional approaches for developmental reading courses at a community college in the southwestern United States. The instructional approaches were traditional textbook-based instruction and strategic-reading…

Reading Instruction in Science for Students with Learning Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaldenberg, Erica R.; Watt, Sarah J.; Therrien, William J.

2015-01-01

As a growing number of students with learning disabilities (LD) receive science instruction in general education settings, students with LD continue to perform significantly lower than their non-disabled peers. The shift from textbook-driven instruction to inquiry-based approaches to science learning supports students who struggle with reading.…

Children's Ability to Comprehend Main Ideas After Reading Expository Prose.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baumann, James F.

A study was conducted to evaluate children's ability to comprehend main ideas after reading connected discourse and to develop and validate a straightforward and intuitively simple system for identifying main ideas in prose. Three experimental passages were randomly selected from third and sixth grade social studies textbooks, and education…

Enhancing Vocabulary Acquisition Through Reading: A Hierarchy of Text-Related Exercise Types.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paribakht, T. Sima; Wesche, Marjorie

1996-01-01

Presents a classification scheme for reading-related exercises advocated in English-as-a-Foreign-Language textbooks. The scheme proposes a hierarchy of the degree and type of mental processing required by various vocabulary exercises. The categories of classification are selective attention, recognition, manipulation, interpretation and…

QRAC-the-Code: A Comprehension Monitoring Strategy for Middle School Social Studies Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berkeley, Sheri; Riccomini, Paul J.

2013-01-01

Requirements for reading and ascertaining information from text increase as students advance through the educational system, especially in content-rich classes; hence, monitoring comprehension is especially important. However, this is a particularly challenging skill for many students who struggle with reading comprehension, including students…

Electronic textbooks as a professional resource after dental school.

PubMed

Bates, Michael L; Strother, Elizabeth A; Brunet, Darlene P; Gallo, John R

2012-05-01

In two previous studies of dental students' attitudes about the VitalSource Bookshelf, a digital library of dental textbooks, students expressed negative opinions about owning and reading electronic textbooks. With the assumption that dentists would find the digital textbooks useful for patient care, the authors surveyed recent graduates to determine if their attitude toward the VitalSource Bookshelf had changed. A brief survey was sent to 119 alumni from the classes of 2009 and 2010 of one U.S. dental school. Forty-seven (39.5 percent) completed the questionnaire. Eighteen respondents (48.3 percent) reported using the e-textbooks often or sometimes. The twenty-nine dentists who said they have not used the collection since graduation reported preferring print books or other online sources or having technical problems when downloading the books to a new computer. Only five respondents selected the VitalSource Bookshelf as a preferred source of professional information. Most of the respondents reported preferring to consult colleagues (37.8 percent), the Internet (20 percent), or hardcopy books (17.8 percent) for information. When asked in an open-ended question to state their opinion of the Bookshelf, nineteen (42.2 percent) responded positively, but almost one-third of these only liked the search feature. Six respondents reported that they never use the program. Twenty-two said they have had technical problems with the Bookshelf, including fifteen who have not been able to install it on a new computer. Many of them said they have not followed up with either the dental school or VitalSource support services to overcome this problem. Our study suggests that dentists, similar to dental students, dislike reading electronic textbooks, even with the advantage of searching a topic across more than sixty dental titles.

The Power of Positioning: On the Normalisation of Gender, Race/Ethnicity, Nation and Class Positions in a Swedish Social Work Textbook

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fahlgren, Siv; Sawyer, Lena

2011-01-01

This article presents a feminist reading of a Swedish social work academic textbook as a case study. We use a discourse analytic approach and positioning theory, focusing on author positions through different story lines. The aim is to make visible how differences are created and positions of the author/reader normalised in terms of gender,…

Identification and Elimination of Sex Stereotypes in and from School Textbooks. Some Suggestions for Action in the Arab World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abu Nasr, Julinda; And Others

This document is divided into two parts: (1) "A Study of Sex Role Stereotype in Arabic Readers" and (2) "A Guide for the Identification and Elimination of Sexism in Arabic Textbooks." In part 1, a sample of 79 Arabic readers were read word for word and the images pertaining to females were recorded. The results of the survey…

Examination of the Cognitive Level of Questions in Social Studies Textbooks and the Views of Teachers Based on Bloom Taxonomy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tarman, Bulent; Kuran, Burcin

2015-01-01

It can be argued that very important changes have been made to textbooks which were rearranged according to the theory of constructivism during the 2004-2005 academic year. The aim of this change was to enable students to acquire high-order cognitive skills. In this study, by using Bloom taxonomy, the pre-reading and reflection (assessment)…

Examining the Relationship of Textbooks and Labs on Student Achievement in Eighth-Grade Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugalan, Anacita Noromor

One of the most important objectives of teachers, parents, school administrators, and students is to improve student scores on standardized tests such as the State of Texas Assessment for Academic Readiness (STAAR) in eighth-grade science. This quasi experimental study examined the science achievement scores between schools that use textbooks and labs when delivering instruction. This study utilized a quantitative approach using archival data and survey design. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and multiple regression were used to analyze the data while controlling STAAR eighth-grade reading scores to reveal significant differences between classes. The sample and population for this study were predominantly eighth-grade Hispanic students in South Texas. Analysis of covariance showed that classes that used high labs got higher science scores and that the reading scores were significantly related to science scores. Multiple regression findings indicated that textbooks and labs were significant predictors of student achievement on the STAAR eighth- grade science class result in South Texas for Spring 2015. The findings of this study may serve as a catalyst for improving student achievement in science through changes in textbook adoption and doing labs in science. The result suggests the need to research further to investigate other contributing factors of student achievement.

[Hygienic Assesment of Educational Texts: Methodical Approaches and Evaluation of Difficulties for Children of Secondary Textbooks].

PubMed

Kuchma, V R; Tkachuk, E A

2015-01-01

The understandability and readability of the text are significant indicators of evaluation of textbooks. The aim of the study - rationale of improving the readability and understandability of textbooks. 60 modern textbooks for 5-11th classes on History, Physics, Biology and 23 textbooks of 1960-1980's edition. Flesch index was used to assess the readability, Fogh index - to evaluate understandability. The readability and understandability of texts in textbooks of 1960-1980's and modern editions have no differences and show the same complexity of old and modern textbooks for students. The indicator of understandability of textbooks for primary classes corresponds to age norm and is 4.4±0.2 points. The indicator of readability for these books is less age norm and is 53.8±2.9 points, which increases the physiological cost of educational activities of children of primary school age. Children's readability and understandability of school textbooks are a significant factor of intensity of training activities and can be objectively assessed by Flesch and Fogh indices, that it is appropriate for an objective hygienic assessment of the tension of the educational activities for children. The main direction of optimization of the tension of educational activity is to reduce the intellectual and emotional loads in children by increasing the easiness of reading textbooks due to their compliance with the age peculiarities of students.

High School Science Teachers' Perceptions of Teaching Content-Related Reading Comprehension Instruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Theresa

In order to achieve academic success, students must be able to comprehend written material in content-area textbooks. However, a large number of high school students struggle to comprehend science content. Research findings have demonstrated that students make measurable gains in comprehending content-area textbooks when provided quality reading comprehension instruction. The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how high school science teachers perceived their responsibility to provide content-related comprehension instruction and 10 high school science teachers were interviewed for this study. Data analysis consisted of open, axial, and selective coding. The findings revealed that 8 out of the 10 participants believed that it is their responsibility to provide reading comprehension. However, the findings also revealed that the participants provided varying levels of reading comprehension instruction as an integral part of their science instruction. The potential for positive social change could be achieved by teachers and administrators. Teachers may use the findings to reflect upon their own personal feelings and beliefs about providing explicit reading comprehension. In addition to teachers' commitment to reading comprehension instruction, administrators could deliberate about professional development opportunities that might improve necessary skills, eventually leading to better comprehension skills for students and success in their education.

Adult Basic Education Materials Evaluation Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harrison, David

This guide is intended for use by adult basic education practitioners in the screening of basic reading textbooks prior to their adoption for classroom use. The guide is in the form of a questionnaire and consists of dichotomous-choice questions arranged into three sections that relate to the product design, adult learning, and reading instruction…

Educational Content of Basal Reading Texts: Implications for Comprehension Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schmidt, William H.; And Others

To explore the issue of educational content in basal readers, a study analyzed 34 basal reading textbooks, representing eight of the most commonly used series in American elementary education. Educational content was defined and categorized along three dimensions: subject matter, function, and ethos. The subject matter component covered theories,…

U.S. Culture: What You Need To Know To Survive.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sjolie, Dennis

This paper addresses the issue of encouraging students to read and experience culture first hand, rather than read about culture as defined by or channeled through textbooks. Students new to the United States learn about the culture through a variety of publications: "Sun,""The National Enquirer,""People Weekly,""Newsweek," and "Time." Utilizing…

Reading and Writing for Civic Literacy: The Critical Citizen's Guide to Argumentative Rhetoric

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazere, Donald

2005-01-01

This innovative textbook, for first-year English and more advanced composition and critical thinking courses, addresses the need for college students to develop critical reading, writing, and thinking skills for self-defense in the contentious arena of American civic rhetoric. In a groundbreaking reconception of composition theory, it presents a…

I Cannot Read My Statistics Textbook: The Relationship between Reading Ability and Statistics Anxiety

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Collins, Kathleen M. T.; Onwuegbuzie, Anthony J.

2007-01-01

Although several antecedents of statistics anxiety have been identified, many of these factors are relatively immutable (e.g., gender) and, at best, identify students who are at risk for debilitative levels of statistics anxiety, thereby having only minimal implications for intervention. Furthermore, the few interventions that have been designed…

The Promise of AP World History

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saldaña, Cristóbal T.

2013-01-01

AP World History is the ideal history course. It introduces students to 10,000 years of world history, and demands critical reading, critical writing, and critical thinking skills on the part of both the teacher and the students. It requires students to build their expertise in reading their textbook, and places demands on the teacher to assign…

Readers' Readings: Applications of Reader-Response Theory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Steiner, Linda

In the interest of applying reader response theory to journalism this paper posits that readers of newspapers, like readers of literature, take an active role in making meaning from the articles they read, rather than passively accepting news as a finished, static product. Additionally, it proposes that journalism textbooks pay little attention to…

New Orleans Cuisine: "Hamlet" to Bubble Gum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monroe, Betty J.

Paperback publications are an ideal way to supplement the adopted textbook series of the New Orleans Public Schools or to provide common reading materials for special courses or for special students in special schools. Though established guidelines are helpful in making decisions about what books should be read by students, there is no system-wide…

Empirical and Perceived Utility of Text Boxes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benbassat, Danny; Underwood, Tim R.; Bailey, Brian P.; Albright, Charles; Chadwell, Brian J.

2008-01-01

This paper presents 2 studies that investigated the utility of textbook boxes. In the first study, 230 participants completed a perception questionnaire. The major finding was that professors and students rarely studied boxed text. In the second study, 177 participants read identical text with an insert that instructed them to stop reading and…

Does LearnSmart Connect Students to Textbook Content in an Interpersonal Communication Course?: Assessing the Effectiveness of and Satisfaction with LearnSmart

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gearhart, Christopher

2016-01-01

This study examines McGraw-Hill Higher Education's LearnSmart online textbook supplement and its effect on student exam performance in an interpersonal communication course. Students (N = 62) in two sections were either enrolled in a control group with no required LearnSmart usage or a treatment group with requisite LearnSmart assignments.…

Formation and assessment of a novel surgical video atlas for thyroidectomy.

PubMed

Tarpada, Sandip P; Hsueh, Wayne D; Newman, Seth B; Gibber, Marc J

2017-01-01

Within surgery, interactive media have previously been used to educate medical students and residents. Here, we develop and assess the efficacy of a novel surgical video atlas in teaching surgically relevant head and neck anatomy to medical students. A total thyroidectomy was recorded intraoperatively and subsequently narrated to develop a video atlas. Medical students were recruited and randomly assigned to one of the two interventions. One group was assigned to the video atlas, while the other was supplied with a traditional textbook atlas. Both groups underwent pre- and post- tests to evaluate anatomical knowledge and satisfaction. Thirty-seven students completed the study, with 18 students in the experimental group and 19 students as control. In the video atlas arm, mean pre and post-test scores were 57.2% and 84.5%, respectively. In the traditional textbook arm, the mean pre- and post-test scores were 55.3% and 76.51%, respectively. Students with the video atlas had a mean post-test score 8.07% points higher than those without (p = .035). Overall, students were significantly more satisfied with the surgical video atlas than with the standard traditional textbook. A surgical video atlas was shown to more effectively teach head and neck anatomy to medical students compared to standard textbook atlases.

How to Test Handicapped Learners.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brigham, Bettie Ann

1980-01-01

Provides some suggestions for testing handicapped learners using essay and objective tests. Sources for audiotapes of textbooks and supplementary readings for visually impaired students are also indicated. (CMV)

Improving Exam Performance in Introductory Biology through the Use of Preclass Reading Guides.

PubMed

Lieu, Rebekah; Wong, Ashley; Asefirad, Anahita; Shaffer, Justin F

2017-01-01

High-structure courses or flipped courses require students to obtain course content before class so that class time can be used for active-learning exercises. While textbooks are used ubiquitously in college biology courses for content dissemination, studies have shown that students frequently do not read their textbooks. To address this issue, we created preclass reading guides that provided students with a way to actively engage with the required reading for each day of class. To determine whether reading guide completion before class is associated with increased performance, we surveyed students about their use of reading guides in two sections of a large-enrollment (400+ students) introductory biology course and used multiple linear regression models to identify significant correlations. The results indicated that greater than 80% of students completed the reading guides before class and that full completion of the reading guides before class was significantly positively correlated with exam performance. Reading guides in most cases were used similarly between different student groups (based on gender, ethnicity, and aptitude). These results suggest that optional preclass reading guides may help students stay on track to acquire course content in introductory biology and thus result in improved exam performance. © 2017 R. Lieu, A. Wong, A. Asefirad, and J. F. Shaffer. CBE—Life Sciences Education © 2017 The American Society for Cell Biology. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). It is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).

Motivating Reading Compliance: Adaptation of Monte Carlo Quizzes for Online Delivery.

PubMed

Azzarello, Jo; Ogans, Judy; Robertson, Victoria

Getting students to complete reading assignments is often a source of frustration for nurse educators. Monte Carlo Quizzes (MCQs) were adapted for online delivery in a hybrid nursing course to encourage timely completion and deep processing of readings. Students indicated that MCQs motivated them to complete the assigned readings and to read more carefully. However, there were no significant differences on scores for other course assignments between those who completed readings and those who did not.

Reading's SLiCK with New Audio Texts and Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boyle, Elizabeth A.; Washburn, Shari Gallin; Rosenberg, Michael S.; Connelly, Vincent J.; Brinckerhoff, Loring C.; Banerjee, Manju

2002-01-01

This article discusses challenges for secondary students with disabilities and alternative instructional methods that teachers of students with poor reading skills can use to convey content information effectively and efficiently. The use of audio textbooks on CD-ROMs is emphasized and the SLiCK strategy is explained as a support for the CD-ROM.…

Construction of Cognitive Maps to Improve E-Book Reading and Navigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Liang-Yi; Chen, Gwo-Dong; Yang, Sheng-Jie

2013-01-01

People have greater difficulty reading academic textbooks on screen than on paper. One notable problem is that they cannot construct an effective cognitive map because of the lack of contextual information cues and ineffective navigational mechanisms in e-books. To support the construction of cognitive maps, this paper proposes the visual cue map,…

Building Literacy in Social Studies: Strategies for Improving Comprehension and Critical Thinking

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klemp, Ron; McBride, Bill; Ogle, Donna

2007-01-01

It's tough to teach social studies and history to students who have trouble reading and understanding textbooks and other resources. But you can overcome those obstacles and motivate students to excel in social studies classes by using the concepts and research-based techniques in this guide. Renowned reading expert Donna Ogle teams up with two…

Becoming a Professional Reading Teacher

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aaron, P. G.; Joshi, R. Malatesha; Quatroche, Diana

2008-01-01

Answering the call for a comprehensive textbook on what reading teachers really need to know, this is the book that arms educators with not just the what and the how, but also the why that other texts don't cover. Two prominent literacy experts team with an elementary school specialist to give preservice teachers an easy-to-understand textbook…

Understanding Dyslexia

MedlinePlus

... recorded versions of any book, even textbooks. Computer software is also available that "reads" printed material aloud. Ask your parent, teacher, or learning disability services coordinator how to get these services if you ...

Flexible taxonomic assignment of ambiguous sequencing reads

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background To characterize the diversity of bacterial populations in metagenomic studies, sequencing reads need to be accurately assigned to taxonomic units in a given reference taxonomy. Reads that cannot be reliably assigned to a unique leaf in the taxonomy (ambiguous reads) are typically assigned to the lowest common ancestor of the set of species that match it. This introduces a potentially severe error in the estimation of bacteria present in the sample due to false positives, since all species in the subtree rooted at the ancestor are implicitly assigned to the read even though many of them may not match it. Results We present a method that maps each read to a node in the taxonomy that minimizes a penalty score while balancing the relevance of precision and recall in the assignment through a parameter q. This mapping can be obtained in time linear in the number of matching sequences, because LCA queries to the reference taxonomy take constant time. When applied to six different metagenomic datasets, our algorithm produces different taxonomic distributions depending on whether coverage or precision is maximized. Including information on the quality of the reads reduces the number of unassigned reads but increases the number of ambiguous reads, stressing the relevance of our method. Finally, two measures of performance are described and results with a set of artificially generated datasets are discussed. Conclusions The assignment strategy of sequencing reads introduced in this paper is a versatile and a quick method to study bacterial communities. The bacterial composition of the analyzed samples can vary significantly depending on how ambiguous reads are assigned depending on the value of the q parameter. Validation of our results in an artificial dataset confirm that a combination of values of q produces the most accurate results. PMID:21211059

Longitudinal follow-up comparison of educational interventions: multimedia textbook, traditional lecture, and printed textbook.

PubMed

D'Alessandro, D M; Kreiter, C D; Erkonen, W E; Winter, R J; Knapp, H R

1997-11-01

The goal of this prospective, interinstitutional study was to compare the long-term instructional effectiveness of a pediatric multimedia textbook (MMTB) to that of a standard lecture and a printed textbook. A randomized cohort of 89 3rd-year medical students from two institutions were initially evaluated from June 1992 to June 1993 and reevaluated in May 1994. Students were randomly assigned to one of four instructional groups: computer-aided instruction by means of MMTBs (n = 21), traditional lecture (n = 23), printed textbook (n = 19), and a control group (n = 26). After instruction, all groups were tested by means of a multiple choice test at the end of their pediatric clerkship; they were given this same test 11-22 months later. The long-term instructional effectiveness of the MMTB, printed textbook, and lecture were the same as that in the control group, as determined by analysis of variance of mean test scores. The educational advantage of MMTBs observed immediately after instruction was not detected 1 year later. Because attrition reduced statistical power, further research is necessary to determine how educational fading affects these instructional formats.

Learning basic surgical skills with mental imagery: using the simulation centre in the mind.

PubMed

Sanders, Charles W; Sadoski, Mark; van Walsum, Kim; Bramson, Rachel; Wiprud, Robert; Fossum, Theresa W

2008-06-01

Although surgeons and athletes frequently use mental imagery in preparing to perform, mental imagery has not been extensively researched as a learning technique in medical education. A mental imagery rehearsal technique was experimentally compared with textbook study to determine the effects of each on the learning of basic surgical skills. Sixty-four Year 2 medical students were randomly assigned to 2 treatment groups in which they undertook either mental imagery or textbook study. Both groups received the usual skills course of didactic lectures, demonstrations, physical practice with pigs' feet and a live animal laboratory. One group received additional training in mental imagery and the other group was given textbook study. Performance was assessed at 3 different time-points using a reliable rating scale. Analysis of variance on student performance in live rabbit surgery revealed a significant interaction favouring the imagery group over the textbook study group. The mental imagery technique appeared to transfer learning from practice to actual surgery better than textbook study.

What Strategies Do Resistive Readers Use to Fake Their Way through School Assigned Texts?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Krieger, Courtney M.

2012-01-01

A trend among adolescent readers is the practice of fake-reading. Fake-reading occurs when students who can read choose not to, and develop strategies to fake their way through school-assigned texts to earn good grades. This study examines four resistive readers, or fake-readers, assigned to read Neal Shusterman's "Unwind" (2007)…

Mobile Perspectives: On E-Books. E-Reading--The Transition in Higher Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCarthy, David

2011-01-01

Higher education's interest in digital content, especially e-books, has gone off the charts. With the rapid acceptance of e-books for pleasure reading, attention has now shifted to e-textbooks and their promise of significant cost savings and cutting-edge features. But getting a good grasp on the fast-moving realm of digital content for higher…

Designing and Evaluating an EAP Reading Textbook: English for Political Science and Economics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sauzier-Uchida, Emi

2009-01-01

This study aims to report an attempt to design and organise a content-based EAP reading course in political science and economics at a university in Japan, and to shed some light on learners' actual practices and preferences through the use of survey- and interview-based research participated in by 438 students. A principal axis of this project…

Negotiating New Literacies in Science: An Examination of At-Risk and Average-Achieving Ninth-Grade Readers' Online Reading Comprehension Strategies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sevensma, Kara

2013-01-01

In today's digital world the Internet is becoming an increasingly predominant resource for science information, rapidly eclipsing the traditional science textbook in content area classrooms (Lawless & Schrader, 2008). The shift challenges researchers, educators, administrators, and policy makers to reconsider what it means to read and…

Mira y lee: Libro de lectura 1, nivel 1 (Look and Read: Reader 1, Level 1).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Emiliano; And Others

This reading textbook contains a series of stories designed to relate to the natural interest of the school child. Students learn about a Puerto Rican family living in New York. New vocabulary is introduced gradually for the student to memorize. Included are exercises in oral expression and comprehension, auditory discrimination, intonation,…

Affordable College Textbook Act

THOMAS, 113th Congress

Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL

2013-11-14

Senate - 11/14/2013 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (All Actions) Tracker: This bill has the status IntroducedHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

Dona Ana No Esta Aqui. Sexto Modulo de una Serie para Maestros de Escuela Elemental (Dona Ana Isn't Here. Sixth Module of a Series for Elementary School Teachers).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molina, Carmen Eneida, Ed.; And Others

This guide in English and Spanish examines the roles assigned to women in social studies textbooks and the omission of women from history books. It analyzes the topics, textbooks, pictures, and narrations in use, and offers alternatives to these biased materials. A pre-test and post-test are included to measure the user's awareness of textbook…

As the Child Reads: The Treatment of Minorities in Textbooks and Other Teaching Materials. Conference Report, National NEA-PR&R Conference on Civil and Human Rights in Education (Washington, D. C., February 8-10, 1967).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hart, Elinor, Ed.

The conference on "The Treatment of Minorities in Textbooks and Other Teaching Materials" was held on February 8-10, 1967 in Washington, D.C. It was sponsored by the National Education Association and the Committee on Civil and Human Rights of Educators of the Commission on Professional Rights and Responsibilities. Attending the conference were…

The Geometric Organizer: A Study Technique.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Derr, Alice M.; Peters, Chris L.

1986-01-01

The geometric organizer, a multisensory technique using visual mnemonic devices that key information to color-coded geometric shapes, can help learning disabled students read, organize, and study information in content subject textbooks. (CL)

Open College Textbook Act of 2009

THOMAS, 111th Congress

Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL

2009-09-24

Senate - 09/24/2009 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. (All Actions) Tracker: This bill has the status IntroducedHere are the steps for Status of Legislation:

"Victor the Wild Boy" as a Teaching Tool for the History of Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nawrot, Elizabeth

2014-01-01

The article describes an innovative technique for teaching the History of Psychology (HoP) using the story of Victor the "Wild Boy" of Aveyron. Students were given both a traditional history textbook and assignments, along with a novel on the life of Victor and a themed writing assignment. The goal was to elicit connections between…

Introduction to Computational Physics for Undergraduates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zubairi, Omair; Weber, Fridolin

2018-03-01

This is an introductory textbook on computational methods and techniques intended for undergraduates at the sophomore or junior level in the fields of science, mathematics, and engineering. It provides an introduction to programming languages such as FORTRAN 90/95/2000 and covers numerical techniques such as differentiation, integration, root finding, and data fitting. The textbook also entails the use of the Linux/Unix operating system and other relevant software such as plotting programs, text editors, and mark up languages such as LaTeX. It includes multiple homework assignments.

English and Federal Government. Federal Textbook on Citizenship--Home Study Course. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Immigration and Naturalization Service (Dept. of Justice), Washington, DC.

This home study material, developed for use by candidates for naturalization who speak English but who have little or no skill in reading, is designed so that the individual unable to attend classes may learn to read and write by having a limited amount of help provided by some member of his family or neighbor. (A companion pamphlet, ED 054 913,…

Sustaining Composition: Studying Content-Based, Ecological, and Economical Sustainability of Open-Source Textbooks through "Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Munson, Margaret

2013-01-01

Writing programs in institutions of higher education work to prepare students for real-world writing within any field of study. The composition of "Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing" offers an open-source text for students, teachers, and policy-makers at all levels. Exposure to an open space for learning encourages access to information,…

Textbook coverage of a common topic: fluid management of patients after surgery.

PubMed

Chawla, Gunjan; Drummond, Gordon B

2008-06-01

Maintenance fluid therapy is a protean topic but is clinically often mismanaged. Our teaching of medical students led us to suspect that textbooks provide limited information about the topic, so we set out to verify this possibility by reviewing the content of books written in English that covered perioperative care. We reviewed publishers' lists of textbooks and found 22 suitable books. After compiling a standard list of questions on intravenous therapy, we read each book to find out to what extent it delivered the answers, and listed the information obtained. Only 13 books answered more than half of the questions. The information varied considerably. Suggested quantities of daily fluid, sodium and potassium requirements varied hugely. Information provided in standard textbooks to guide fluid prescription is scant and variable. This could be a cogent reason why junior doctors prescribe postoperative fluids badly: the information in textbooks is inadequate and varies from book to book. The reasons for the poor coverage are not clear. Perhaps other common topics that are often poorly managed are also badly addressed by standard books.

Jigsaw: Because Reading Your Math Book Shouldn't Be a Puzzle.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Draper, Roni Jo

1997-01-01

Describes a jigsaw puzzle activity, a two-part cooperative learning activity useful at any level of mathematics instruction, intended to teach students to become "strategic readers" of their mathematics textbooks. (SR)

The Process of Stress Assignment in Reading Aloud: Critical Issues from Studies on Italian

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sulpizio, Simone; Burani, Cristina; Colombo, Lucia

2015-01-01

In polysyllabic languages the assignment of stress is crucial for understanding the reading process. Here we review empirical evidence, drawn mainly from studies on Italian, and discuss critical issues in understanding reading. We first discuss the lexical and sublexical mechanisms responsible for stress assignment and propose that the former is…

Learning Science Process Through Data Exploration and Writing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prothero, W. A.

2007-12-01

One of the most effective ways of teaching science process is to have students take part in the same activities that practicing scientists engage in. These activities include studying the current research in the field, discussing ideas with colleagues, formulating a research problem, making a proposal defining the problem and plan of attack, presenting and writing about the results of the study, and critically reviewing the work of others. An inquiry curriculum can use these activities to guide the scaffolding of assignments and learning experiences that help students learn science process. At UCSB, students in a large general education oceanography class use real Earth data to study plate tectonics, the Indian Monsoon, climate change, and the health of the world fisheries. The end product for each subject has been a science paper based on Earth data. Over a period of approximately 15 years, the scaffolding of activities to prepare each student for the written assignments has been modified and improved, in response to student feedback and their success with the assignments. I have found that the following resources and sequence of activities help the oceanography students write good science papers. 1. Lecture: motivation and the opportunity for feedback and questions. 2. Textbook: background information. It is also possible to get the information from the internet, but unless the scope of reading is strictly defined, students don't know when to stop reading and become unhappy. 3. Online assignments: automatically graded assignments that force the student to keep up with reading. 4. Questions of the day: in-class handouts, with diagrams that the students either complete, or answer questions about. They are handed in and tallied, but not graded. They also inform the instructor of misconceptions. 5. Thought questions: student answers are posted on a threaded discussion list, and are due prior to lecture. The answers provide instructor feedback and guide the lecture. Students see their peers' answers only after entering their own. They can then improve their own answer ("Just In Time Teaching"). 6. Laboratory section activities: these introduce students to the course software, especially the data browsers, and the meaning of the data for the next writing assignment. For each meeting, a group inquiry activity results in a short class presentation by each group. This informs the teaching assistant (who teaches the lab section) of student understanding of the material, helps students become comfortable with the software, and supports students helping each other. 7. Written assignments. The assignments each require an approximately 1100-1600 word paper that includes abstract, introduction, data, interpretation, summary, and references. Images are captured from the data browser and included in the paper. The writing technology has evolved from papers handed in and graded by hand, to fully online hand-in and grading, to calibrated peer review, which was incorporated in the 2005 course. Calibrated peer review has the advantage that students see and evaluate their peers' papers. About 20% of the papers are graded by the instructor, resulting in a much lower instructor grading workload. Also, I suspect that a greater number of very short writing assignments in response to thought questions or min- inquiries might be an effective modification. The new "Learning With Data Workshop" will support many of the inquiry activities described here.

How Preservice Teachers Make Meaning of Mathematics Methods Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harkness, Shelly Sheats; Brass, Amy

2017-01-01

Mathematics methods texts are important resources for supporting preservice teachers' learning. Methods instructors routinely assign readings from texts. Yet, anecdotally and also based on reading compliance literature, many students report that they do not read assigned readings. Within this paper we briefly describe the findings from a survey of…

Lee y trabaja: Libro de lectura 2, nivel 1 (Read and Work: Reader 2, Level 1).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Emiliano; and Others

This reading textbook, the second of a series, is an anthology of stories designed to relate to the natural interest of the elementary school child. On this level the number of words to memorize is increased (on the average, four per unit) while at the same time, the study of word variants is introduced to begin analysis exercises based on the…

Clustering: An Interactive Technique to Enhance Learning in Biology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ambron, Joanna

1988-01-01

Explains an interdisciplinary approach to biology and writing which increases students' mastery of vocabulary, scientific concepts, creativity, and expression. Describes modifications of the clustering technique used to summarize lectures, integrate reading and understand textbook material. (RT)

Financial Management: An Organic Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laux, Judy

2013-01-01

Although textbooks present corporate finance using a topical approach, good financial management requires an organic approach that integrates the various assignments financial managers confront every day. Breaking the tasks into meaningful subcategories, the current article offers one approach.

Comparing the efficacy of multimedia modules with traditional textbooks for learning introductory physics content

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stelzer, Timothy; Gladding, Gary; Mestre, José P.; Brookes, David T.

2009-02-01

We compared the efficacy of multimedia learning modules with traditional textbooks for the first few topics of a calculus-based introductory electricity and magnetism course. Students were randomly assigned to three groups. One group received the multimedia learning module presentations, and the other two received the presentations via written text. All students were then tested on their learning immediately following the presentations as well as 2weeks later. The students receiving the multimedia learning modules performed significantly better on both tests than the students experiencing the text-based presentations.

Seeing Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miles, Rhea; Zambone, Alana

2017-01-01

Students who are blind or visually impaired (BVI), like all students, need to conduct scientific investigations that involve measurements and reading experimental procedures. Best instructional practices for BVI students include touch and hearing experiences. Related strategies and tools include electronic textbooks, assistive technologies such as…

Teaching Comprehension Processes Using Magazines, Paperback Novels, and Content Area Textbooks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nist, Sherrie L.; And Others

1983-01-01

Argues that teaching students the process of comprehension and ways to improve their own comprehension helps to develop skills in reluctant or poor readers. Offers teaching ideas that involve a variety of reading materials. (FL)

Transformational Play as a Curricular Scaffold: Using Videogames to Support Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barab, Sasha A.; Scott, Brianna; Siyahhan, Sinem; Goldstone, Robert; Ingram-Goble, Adam; Zuiker, Steven J.; Warren, Scott

2009-08-01

Drawing on game-design principles and an underlying situated theoretical perspective, we developed and researched a 3D game-based curriculum designed to teach water quality concepts. We compared undergraduate student dyads assigned randomly to four different instructional design conditions where the content had increasingly level of contextualization: (a) expository textbook condition, (b) simplistic framing condition, (c) immersive world condition, and (d) a single-user immersive world condition. Results indicated that the immersive-world dyad and immersive-world single user conditions performed significantly better than the electronic textbook group on standardized items. The immersive-world dyad condition also performed significantly better than either the expository textbook or the descriptive framing condition on a performance-based transfer task, and performed significantly better than the expository textbook condition on standardized test items. Implications for science education, and consistent with the goals of this special issue, are that immersive game-based learning environments provide a powerful new form of curriculum for teaching and learning science.

Reading efficiency can be improved by minor modification of assigned duties; a pilot study on a small team of general radiologists.

PubMed

Yokota, Hajime; Goto, Mariko; Bamba, Chisa; Kiba, Maki; Yamada, Kei

2017-05-01

To assess whether alterations in the type of duty assignment system can affect the reading efficiency and stress level of diagnostic radiologists. Fourteen board-certified diagnostic radiologists were enrolled. We investigated three different reading systems for 1 week each. System 1 is our default, in which there are no assigned duties and everyone finishes when all cases are done. In system 2, two late shift readers are assigned every day, and, after everyone else leaves at a fixed time (5:30 p.m.), they take all remaining cases until they are finished. In system 3, a dedicated single reader is assigned to finish 30 cases, and everyone else will read all remaining cases. The total time required for reading and the number of cases read were recorded. In addition, participants completed two questionnaires regarding work-related stress. There was a trend toward shorter finishing time in system 2 and 3 compared to system 1 (P = 0.072 and 0.012). In terms of working stress, the subjective burden was lighter when systems 2 or 3 were employed. Minor modification of the duty assignment system has the potential to improve working efficiency and may reduce the work-related stress of diagnostic radiologists.

Using Content Reading Assignments in a Psychology Course to Teach Critical Reading Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Camp, Debbie; Van Camp, Wesley

2013-01-01

Liberal arts students are expected to graduate college with fully developed critical reading and writing skills. However, for a variety of reasons these skills are not always as well developed as they might be--both during and upon completion of college. This paper describes a reading assignment that was designed to increase students'…

Repeated Reading Intervention: Outcomes and Interactions with Readers' Skills and Classroom Instruction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vadasy, Patricia F.; Sanders, Elizabeth A.

2008-01-01

This study examined effects of a repeated reading intervention, Quick Reads, with incidental word-level scaffolding instruction. Second- and third-grade students with passage-reading fluency performance between the 10th and 60th percentiles were randomly assigned to dyads, which were in turn randomly assigned to treatment (paired tutoring, n = 82)…

The Effectiveness of Two Comprehensible-Input Approaches to Foreign Language Instruction at the Intermediate Level

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodrigo, Victoria; Krashen, Stephen; Gribbons, Barry

2004-01-01

Fourth semester students of Spanish as a foreign language at the university level in the US participated in two kinds of comprehensible-input based instruction, an extensive reading class that combined assigned and self-selected reading, and a "Reading-Discussion" class that consisted of assigned reading, debates and discussions. Students in both…

Life experience of sixth-grade students in analog domains of sixth-grade science textbooks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wagamon, Barbara J.

This study was conducted to determine if analog domains in sixth grade science textbooks were common to the life experience of sixth grade students and if experience differed according to moderating variables. The researcher reviewed three sixth grade general science textbooks and selected analogies that were unsupported by extended text, photos, or diagrams. Analogies were limited to ones which were unsupported because the intent was to identify students who were ready by virtue of life experience to confront analogies unaided by contextual clues. The researcher designed the Life Experiences in Analog Domains (LEAD) Questionnaire to survey students in 50 analog domains. Subjects of the study were 331 sixth grade students from an urban school district. Thirty were tested with the instrument one year later. Data on age, gender, ethnicity and income were analyzed for variance. Standardized achievement test scores were correlated to the LEAD Questionnaire. Results revealed sharp contrasts of experience by analog domain. Experience in analog domains was indicated 52% of the time overall. There were significant differences in the experience of students grouped by moderating variables. Younger students reported more experience than older students. The higher income group reported more experience than the lower income group. Caucasian students reported more experience overall than African American students. Chi-square tests revealed that differences in scores by ethnicity were not controlled by income. of three skills, reading comprehension, mathematics, and science, reading comprehension was most closely correlated to questionnaire score. Results suggest that many of the sixth grade students in the study may be without experience in analog domains when they encounter analogies in a textbook. Assuming subsequent implementations of the Questionnaire confirm these results, teachers should survey life experience of students and help them develop experiences that complement their science text. Textbook authors should explain all but the simplest analogies.

The Write Stuff: Teaching the Introductory Public Relations Writing Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Cynthia M.

2001-01-01

Outlines an introductory public relations writing course. Presents course topics and objectives, and assignments designed to meet them. Provides a sample grading rubric and evaluates major public relations writing textbooks. Discusses learning and assessment strategies. (SR)

[Gutiérrez Bueno (1745-1822), textbooks and a new public for chemistry in the last third of the 18th century].

PubMed

García Belmar, A; Bertomeu Sánchez, J R

2001-01-01

This paper is a part of a general research project on the role that chemistry played in the transition of materia medica to experimental pharmacology during 19th century Spain. Within this general framework, the paper deals with the main characteristics of Spanish textbooks aimed at pharmaceutical and medical students. In a former study, published in this journal, we outlined the institutional context in which these books were read, written and published. Some of these issues are developed in the present paper through analysis of the "Curso de química" written by Pedro Gutiérrez Bueno. New light is shed on the public for chemistry during the late XVIII century Spain and their role in shaping the contents and organisation of chemistry textbooks.

Quantitative and qualitative analysis of student textbook summary writing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Demaree, Dedra; Allie, Saalih; Low, Michael; Taylor, Julian

2008-10-01

The majority of "special access" students at the University of Cape Town are second language English speakers for whom reading the physics textbook is daunting. As a strategy to encourage meaningful engagement with the text, students wrote textbook summaries due the day material was covered in class. The summaries were returned, and they could bring them or re-write them for use during their examinations. A framework was developed to analyze the summaries based on Waywood, defining three cognitive levels seen in mathematics journaling: recounting, summarizing, and dialoging. This framework was refined, expanded, and tested. Interviews with students were conducted for their views on summary writing and survey questions were included on their final exams. The study was carried out in the 2007 spring semester of the "Foundation Physics Course," a component of the special access program.

Boerhaave on Fire

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diemente, Damon

2000-01-01

In 1741 an English translation of Herman Boerhaave's celebrated textbook Elementa Chemic was published under the title A New Method of Chemistry. True to its time, this book included elaborate discussions of the elements earth, water, air, and fire. This article offers to teachers for classroom use a selection of passages from Boerhaave's chapter on fire. Now, today's teacher of chemistry is apt to feel that little of significance to the modern classroom can be gleaned from a two-and-a-half-centuries-old text, and especially from a topic as old-fashioned as fire. But this view is decidedly shortsighted. Boerhaave offers demonstrations and experiments that can be instructively performed today, quantitative data that can be checked against modern equations, and much theory and hypothesis that can be assessed in light of modern chemical ideas. In the readings presented here I have found material for discussion in class, for investigation in the laboratory, and for a few homework assignments. Modern students are well able to comprehend and paraphrase Boerhaave, to check his results, appreciate his insights, and identify his shortfalls. From him they learn firsthand how painstaking and difficult it was to imagine and develop the concepts of thermochemistry. To read from his chapter on fire is to stand witness to the birth and infancy of thermodynamics as conceived in the mind of a great chemist from the age when coherent chemical theory was just beginning to emerge.

"Romantic", "Classic" and "Baroque" Views of Nature: An Analysis of Pictures About the Environment in Greek Primary School Textbooks—Diachronic Considerations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemoni, Rea; Stamou, Anastasia G.; Stamou, George P.

2011-11-01

Taking the view that pictures are not a transparent but rather a deforming mirror of reality, shaping representations of the world bound up with the interests of the social institutions within which pictures are circulated and read, our aim is to explore what view of nature and of the human-nature relationship is built in Greek natural science school textbooks. The particular textbooks analysed have been recently introduced (in 2006 and 2007) into Greek education. The pictorial analysis suggests that a "baroque" view of nature and of the human-nature relationship predominantly emerges, according to which nature is constantly in motion, and therefore random and unpredictable natural change could be "normal". Natural environments are viewed in materialistic terms, being transformed by humans and serving as a resource. A comparison with our analysis of the older textbooks written in the early 1980s (Korfiatis et al. 2004) seems to indicate important conceptual differences between the two series of textbooks. The "romantic" and "classic" views of nature in the old textbooks could express the vigour, the optimism and the innocence characterising industrial societies (or in the process of industrialisation) about human interventions in the environment. Conversely, the "baroque" view found in the new textbooks probably marks the scepticism of post-industrial societies about natural phenomena.

Representing the nature of science in a science textbook: Exploring author-editor-publisher interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Digiuseppe, Maurizio

Current reforms in elementary and secondary science education call for students and teachers to develop more informed views of the nature of science---a process in which learning materials like science textbooks play a significant role. This dissertation reports on a case study of the development of representations of the nature of science in one unit of a senior high school chemistry textbook by the book's author, editor, and publisher. The study examines the multiple discourses that arose as the developers reflected on their personal and shared understandings of the nature of science; squared these understandings with mandated curricula, the educational needs of chemistry students and teachers, and the exigencies of large-scale commercial textbook publishing; and developed and incorporated into the textbook representations of the nature of science they believed were the most suitable. Analyses of the data in this study indicate that a number of factors significantly influenced the development of representations of the nature of science, including representational accuracy (the degree to which suggested representations of the nature of science conformed to what the developers believed were contemporary understandings of the nature of science), representational consistency (the degree to which similar representations of the nature of science in different parts of the textbook conveyed the same meaning), representational appropriateness (the age-, grade-, and reading-level suitability of the suggested nature of science representations), representational alignment (the degree to which suggested representations of the nature of science addressed the requirements of mandated curricula), representational marketability (the degree to which textbook developers believed suggested representations of the nature of science would affect sales of the textbook in the marketplace), and a number of "Workplace Resources" factors such as the availability of time, relevant expertise, effective channels of communication, and opportunities for professional development. The developers of the unit of the textbook studied in this thesis made judicious decisions in the face of competing interests as they endeavoured to represent the nature of science in their science textbook.

Maximizing Completion and Comprehension of Reading Assignments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Owen, Leanne R.

2017-01-01

The author presents self-report data from students in three upper-level undergraduate courses to illustrate the comparative effectiveness of different out-of-class assessment approaches in promoting completion and comprehension of reading assignments. Students reported agreeing or strongly agreeing that all three assignments motivated them to…

Artificial Intelligence: A Selected Bibliography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Linda C., Comp.

1984-01-01

This 19-item annotated bibliography introducing the literature of artificial intelligence (AI) is arranged by type of material--handbook, books (general interest, textbooks, collected readings), journals and newsletters, and conferences and workshops. The availability of technical reports from AI laboratories at universities and private companies…

Carnivorous Plants.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Canipe, Stephen

This biology lesson on carnivorous (insectivorous) plants is designed to supplement the textbook in the areas of plant diversity, ecology, and distribution. An introduction provides general background information for use as lecture material by the teacher or as reading and/or study material for students. The introduction also includes…

Readability Approaches: Implications for Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ulusoy, Mustafa

2006-01-01

Finding the right fit between students' reading ability and textbooks is very important for comprehension. Readability studies aim to analyse texts to find the right fit between students and texts. In this literature review, readability studies are classified under quantitative, qualitative and combined quantitative-qualitative readability…

PLATO Esperanto Materials.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sherwood, Judith

1981-01-01

A summary is presented of types of Esperanto materials available on PLATO--a general overview section, a picture introduction, lessons that accompany a textbook, vocabulary drills, crossword puzzles, dictation drills, reading practice, and a concentration game. The general overview lesson gives a comprehensive summary of the history and…

COURSE AND CURRICULUM IMPROVEMENT PROFECTS--MATHEMATICS, SCIENCE, ENGINEERING.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

FONTAINE, THOMAS D.

ELEMENTARY, SECONDARY, AND COLLEGE LEVEL SCIENCE COURSE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS ARE DESCRIBED. INDIVIDUAL PROJECTS ARE CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL AND ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE. MANY OF THE PROJECTS REPRESENT COMPLETE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND INCLUDE SUCH MATERIALS AS STUDENT TEXTBOOKS, LABORATORY MANUALS, SUPPLEMENTARY READINGS, TEACHER…

The Meanings of "Purpose."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walzer, Arthur E.

"Purpose" is an important term in rhetorical theory and writing pedagogy. An analysis of the presentation of "purpose" in three well-regarded, theory-based textbooks ("Writing in the Liberal Arts Tradition: A Rhetoric with Readings,""Writing with a Purpose," and "Form and Surprise in Composition")…

End-of-life care content in 50 textbooks from multiple specialties.

PubMed

Rabow, M W; Hardie, G E; Fair, J M; McPhee, S J

2000-02-09

Prior reviews of small numbers of medical textbooks suggest that end-of-life care is not well covered in textbooks. No broad study of end-of-life care content analysis has been performed on textbooks across a wide range of medical, pediatric, psychiatric, and surgical specialties. To determine the quantity and rate the adequacy of information on end-of-life care in textbooks from multiple medical disciplines. DESIGN AND SOURCES: A 1998 review of 50 top-selling textbooks from multiple specialties (cardiology, emergency medicine, family and primary care medicine, geriatrics, infectious disease and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome [AIDS], internal medicine, neurology, oncology and hematology, pediatrics, psychiatry, pulmonary medicine, and surgery) for the presence and adequacy of content in 13 end-of-life care domains. Chapters on diseases commonly causing death and those devoted to end-of-life care were identified, read, rated, and compared by textbook specialty, chapter, and domain for the presence of helpful information in the 13 domains. Content for each domain was rated as absent, minimally present, or helpful. Textbook indexes were analyzed for the number of pages relevant to end-of-life care. Overall, helpful information was provided in 24.1% (range, 8.7%-44.2%) of the expected end-of-life content domains; in 19.1% (range, 6.2%-38.5%), expected content received minimal attention; and in 56.9% (range, 23.1 %-77.9%), expected content was absent. As a group, the textbooks with the highest percentages of absent content were in surgery (71.8%), infectious diseases and AIDS (70%), and oncology and hematology (61.9%). Textbooks with the highest percentage of helpful end-of-life care content were in family medicine (34.4%), geriatrics (34.4%), and psychiatry (29.6%). In internal medicine textbooks, the content domains with the greatest amount of helpful information were epidemiology and natural history. Content domains covered least well were social, spiritual, ethical, and family issues, as well as physician after-death responsibilities. On average, textbook indexes cited 2% of their total pages as pertinent to end-of-life care. Top-selling textbooks generally offered little helpful information on caring for patients at the end of life. Most disease-oriented chapters had no or minimal end-of-life care content. Specialty textbooks with information about particular diseases often did not contain helpful information on caring for patients dying from those diseases.

Economic Education in Japanese and American Secondary Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ellington, J. Lucien; Tadahisa, Uozumi

1988-01-01

Reports a study that compared and contrasted economic education in U.S. and Japanese secondary schools. Examines economics in the curricula; textbooks; characteristics of teachers responsible for economics instruction; and the level of emphasis teachers assign to economic concepts. (Author/BSR)

A study of the effects of gender and different instructional media (computer-assisted instruction tutorials vs. textbook) on student attitudes and achievement in a team-taught integrated science class

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eardley, Julie Anne

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of different instructional media (computer assisted instruction (CAI) tutorial vs. traditional textbook) on student attitudes toward science and computers and achievement scores in a team-taught integrated science course, ENS 1001, "The Whole Earth Course," which was offered at Florida Institute of Technology during the Fall 2000 term. The effect of gender on student attitudes toward science and computers and achievement scores was also investigated. This study employed a randomized pretest-posttest control group experimental research design with a sample of 30 students (12 males and 18 females). Students had registered for weekly lab sessions that accompanied the course and had been randomly assigned to the treatment or control group. The treatment group used a CAI tutorial for completing homework assignments and the control group used the required textbook for completing homework assignments. The Attitude toward Science and Computers Questionnaire and Achievement Test were the two instruments administered during this study to measure students' attitudes and achievement score changes. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), using hierarchical multiple regression/correlation (MRC), was employed to determine: (1) treatment versus control group attitude and achievement differences; and (2) male versus female attitude and achievement differences. The differences between the treatment group's and control group's homework averages were determined by t test analyses. The overall MANCOVA model was found to be significant at p < .05. Examining research factor set independent variables separately resulted in gender being the only variable that significantly contributed in explaining the variability in a dependent variable, attitudes toward science and computers. T test analyses of the homework averages showed no significant differences. Contradictory to the findings of this study, anecdotal information from personal communication, course evaluations, and homework assignments indicated favorable attitudes and higher achievement scores for a majority of the students in the treatment group.

Learner-Centered Teaching and Improving Learning by Writing Down the Statement of Problems in an Introductory Physics Course

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aurora, Tarlok

2005-04-01

In a calculus-based introductory physics course, students were assigned to write the statements of word problems (along with the accompanying diagrams if any), analyze these, identify important concepts/equations and try to solve these end-of- chapter homework problems. They were required to bring to class their written assignment until the chapter was completed in lecture. These were quickly checked at the beginning of the class. In addition, re-doing selected solved examples in the textbook were assigned as homework. Where possible, students were asked to look for similarities between the solved-examples and the end-of-the-chapter problems, or occasionally these were brought to the students' attention. It was observed that many students were able to solve several of the solved-examples on the test even though the instructor had not solved these in class. This was seen as an improvement over the previous years. It made the students more responsible for their learning. Another benefit was that it alleviated the problems previously created by many students not bringing the textbooks to class. It allowed more time for problem solving/discussions in class.

Paradigms in epidemiology textbooks: in the footsteps of Thomas Kuhn.

PubMed Central

Bhopal, R

1999-01-01

This article attempts to contribute to the debate on the future of epidemiology by combining Thomas Kuhn's ideas on scientific paradigms with the author's observations on some epidemiology textbooks. The author's interpretations were based on his readings of Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, epidemiology textbooks, and papers on the future of epidemiology. Thomas Kuhn's view is that sciences mostly work with a single paradigm driven by exemplars of successful work, and that proposals for paradigm change are resisted. Sciences that are maturing or changing do not have a dominant paradigm. Epidemiology textbooks showed diversity in their concepts, content, and approach. Most exemplars related to etiologic research rather than public health practice. One key focus of the recent controversy regarding the role of epidemiology has been the increasing inability of epidemiology to solve socially based public health problems. Kuhn's views help explain the polarization of views expressed. Kuhn's philosophy of science offers insights into controversies such as whether a paradigm shift is needed or imminent and the gap between epidemiology and public health practice. Interaction between science philosophers, epidemiologists, and public health practitioners may be valuable. PMID:10432899

Are our textbooks too good to be good? Let students own their textbooks to own the skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tao, Xiuping

The two new yearlong high school courses, AP Physics 1 and 2, are equivalent to the two-semester algebra-based introductory Physics college course. The AP courses have more than 300 instruction hours, while the college course less than 100. This partially explains why college instructors always struggle to cover the important topics to not necessarily prepared students. To make it worse, many college students are not buying or reading textbooks and rely on instructors to get the course content. The fragmented reception is preventing students from getting a complete picture of the course. Not that there is a shortage of textbooks. There are many 1000-page tomes costing 200 or more, too good to be good. All the struggles contribute to U.S. students' relatively low STEM skills. I propose to let students own their books to own the skills. Students need much shorter (thus manageable) and much more affordable books, and they need to own it for good. Cross-culture comparison reveals that students learn better when they truly own their books (without planning to resell).

Paradigms in epidemiology textbooks: in the footsteps of Thomas Kuhn.

PubMed

Bhopal, R

1999-08-01

This article attempts to contribute to the debate on the future of epidemiology by combining Thomas Kuhn's ideas on scientific paradigms with the author's observations on some epidemiology textbooks. The author's interpretations were based on his readings of Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, epidemiology textbooks, and papers on the future of epidemiology. Thomas Kuhn's view is that sciences mostly work with a single paradigm driven by exemplars of successful work, and that proposals for paradigm change are resisted. Sciences that are maturing or changing do not have a dominant paradigm. Epidemiology textbooks showed diversity in their concepts, content, and approach. Most exemplars related to etiologic research rather than public health practice. One key focus of the recent controversy regarding the role of epidemiology has been the increasing inability of epidemiology to solve socially based public health problems. Kuhn's views help explain the polarization of views expressed. Kuhn's philosophy of science offers insights into controversies such as whether a paradigm shift is needed or imminent and the gap between epidemiology and public health practice. Interaction between science philosophers, epidemiologists, and public health practitioners may be valuable.

Teacher-Directed and Student-Mediated Textbook Comprehension Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reynolds, Catharine J.; Salend, Spencer J.

1990-01-01

The article describes teacher-directed and student-mediated comprehension strategies to improve the text comprehension skills of mainstreamed students with mild disabilities. Techniques include advance organizers, study guides, color coding, oral reading, critical thinking maps, and self-questioning techniques. Guidelines are offered for assessing…

Unlocking Academic Vocabulary

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

DeLuca, Eileen

2010-01-01

How can we teach science to English language learners (ELLs) when even our native English speakers have trouble reading the textbook? To help science teachers meet this challenge, this article presents six text-comprehension strategies used by English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) teachers: metalinguistic awareness development,…

Industry Sources Form Reading List in No-Text Class.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Korda, Ronald

1988-01-01

Discusses the use of broadcast industry sources to develop broadcast journalism course materials. Asserts that industry sources (trade journals, audience research reports, press releases, and videotapes of programs, promotions, or special industry presentations) can effectively replace textbook materials by integrating the academic and…

The everyday meets the academic: How bilingual Latino/a third graders use sociocultural resources to learn in science and social studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McIntosh Ciechanowski, Kathryn E.

Driven by questions surrounding the documented "fourth-grade slump" in student test scores and about the content learning of English language learners, this dissertation examines the science and social studies literacy practices of third grade bilingual Latino/as in an urban school. Using qualitative and quantitative methods, I examined three questions: (a) What content area demands are evident in instruction and in the assigned texts that children read? (b) What sociocultural knowledge do students draw on in the reading and writing of content area texts? How does it shape their reading and writing? and (c) What linguistic knowledge do students draw on in the reading and writing of content area texts? How does it shape their reading and writing? These questions are premised on three key tenets from the extant research literature. First, research has documented that middle grade students struggle to make sense of content texts, which could be caused by not only a scarcity of expository texts in early grades but also by discipline-specific demands in the content texts. Second, although all students may struggle to read specialized texts, students from non-mainstream backgrounds may struggle more because they do not possess the social and linguistic capital valued in mainstream schools. Third, sociocultural research has documented the importance of social and cultural funds of knowledge in classroom learning and knowledge construction. Guided by these tenets, I observed for six months in 2 classes and recorded field notes, interviewed participants, collected artifacts, and conducted pre- and post-unit assessments. Analytic methods included quantitative evaluation of assessments and constant comparative and discourse analyses. Findings indicate that the textbooks posed linguistic and conceptual demands and represented multiple discourses including the discourses of the natural and social sciences. To make sense of texts, students drew from various sociocultural resources such as popular culture, family, and children's literature. The teacher was more likely to take up these resources (although briefly) when they tightly aligned with instructional goals. Bilingual students faced great complexity as they drew upon linguistic resources to learn technical language and content in two languages and within multiple academic and everyday discourses.

Dental students' attitudes towards digital textbooks.

PubMed

Strother, Elizabeth A; Brunet, Darlene P; Bates, Michael L; Gallo, John R

2009-12-01

Dental students at the Louisiana State University School of Dentistry (LSUSD) have participated in the VitalSource Bookshelf digital textbook program for the last four years. The Bookshelf, a collection of downloadable textbooks, includes the Contemporary Dental Library (CDL), a basic package of sixty books, plus additional titles selected by course directors. A survey was sent to students in the four LSUSD classes to assess satisfaction with the program. Eighty-two (34.2 percent) students completed the survey. In addition, exit interviews of graduating seniors contained a question on the Bookshelf. In both the survey and the exit interview, LSUSD students overwhelmingly expressed dissatisfaction with reading extensive amounts of text online and indicated a preference for printed books. Some students also resented paying for books in the CDL that were not required by instructors and felt that, considering how infrequently they used the Bookshelf, the cost was too high.

Beach Books: 2016-2017. What Do Colleges and Universities Want Students to Read outside Class?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Randall, David

2017-01-01

"Beach Books 2016-17," which covers 348 colleges and universities, continues the National Association of Scholars' long-running record of providing the most comprehensive information about colleges and universities that assign common readings to incoming freshmen. Although there are several databases of common reading assignments, Beach…

Re-Envisioning the Introductory Physics Sequence at Georgia Gwinnett College (GGC)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, Scott J.; Sales, Kenneth B.

2013-03-01

GGC is a new, 4-year, open-access institution located in the northeast of Atlanta. As an open access college, many of the students who take the introductory physics sequence do not have a strong mathematical background. A large percentage of the students have significant work or family obligations in addition to being full-time students. To better serve these students, the first semester of the trig-based introductory physics sequence was modified in a manner that focuses and structures the material to be completed by the students both outside and inside of class such that the time spent outside of class can be reduced. Specifically, focused notes were provided to the students with an online assignment prior to class in place of reading from a textbook. Class time was then focused on a deeper understanding of the concepts to be covered instead of an initial (or secondary) introduction to the material. Data was collected for specific exam questions and compared with the results from previous classes taught by the same instructors. An overview of the results and observations of the instructors using this method will be discussed.

Light and Dark Waves.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Henry H.; Sturdivant, Ann

1966-01-01

Several Latin textbooks are described and evaluated in terms of their affectiveness in teaching language mastery. These are: (1) "Using Latin," Scott, Foresman, (2) "Latin for Americans," Macmillan, (3) "Lingua Latina," by Burns, Medicus, and Sherburne, and (4) "A Basic Course in Latin,""An Intermediate Course in Latin--Reading," and "An…

Teaching Concept Mapping and University Level Study Strategies Using Computers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mikulecky, Larry; And Others

1989-01-01

Assesses the utility and effectiveness of three interactive computer programs and associated print materials in instructing and modeling for undergraduates how to comprehend and reconceptualize scientific textbook material. Finds that "how to" reading strategies can be taught via computer and transferred to new material. (RS)

Report Card on Basal Readers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodman, Kenneth S.; And Others

This report examines the nature of the modern basal reader, its economics, and use. First, the report provides a history showing how the confluence of business principles, positivistic science, and behavioral psychology led to the transformation of reading textbooks into basal readers. Next, the report examines objectives and subjective factors…

Reliving the Gold Rush: An Outdoor Education Program in the Old West.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bankie, Brett

1979-01-01

In teaching fifth-grade outdoor education in the forest and in an old gold rush town, the outdoor education staff seldom uses textbooks but does use many reading/communication techniques to help transfer knowledge of many disciplines in a direct way. (Author/SB)

Mirrors & Windows into Student Noticing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dominguez, Higinio

2016-01-01

In many classrooms, students solve problems posed by others--teachers, textbooks, and test materials. These problems typically describe a contrived situation followed by a question about an unknown that students are expected to resolve. Unsurprisingly, many students avoid reading these problems for meaning and instead engage in a suspension of…

The Media Reader.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valdes, Joan; Crow, Jeanne

An anthology of readings in the media correlates chapter-by-chapter to the authors' textbook, "The Media Works." Fifteen chapters cover the study of newspapers, magazines, comics, popular music, television, movies, and advertising. The authors included represent varied perspectives on the media. The selections were chosen with the help of a…

Intellectual Freedom: The Censorship War Continues.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spicola, Rose; Stephens, Carolyn

1989-01-01

Censorship efforts are taking place throughout the country in spite of greater activism among anticensorship forces. One of the alarming trends is that many of the censors are now attacking the curriculum of the schools, challenging textbooks in reading, literature, history, science, health, and social studies. The International Reading…

Sex Education Representations in Spanish Combined Biology and Geology Textbooks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Cabeza, Belén; Sánchez-Bello, Ana

2013-07-01

Sex education is principally dealt with as part of the combined subject of Biology and Geology in the Spanish school curriculum. Teachers of this subject are not specifically trained to teach sex education, and thus the contents of their assigned textbooks are the main source of information available to them in this field. The main goal of this study was to determine what information Biology and Geology textbooks provide with regard to sex education and the vision of sexuality they give, but above all to reveal which perspectives of sex education they legitimise and which they silence. We analysed the textbooks in question by interpreting both visual and text representations, as a means of enabling us to investigate the nature of the discourse on sex education. With this aim, we have used a qualitative methodology, based on the content analysis. The main analytical tool was an in-house grid constructed to allow us to analyse the visual and textual representations. Our analysis of the combined Biology and Geology textbooks for Secondary Year 3 revealed that there is a tendency to reproduce models of sex education that take place within a framework of the more traditional discourses. Besides, the results suggested that the most of the sample chosen for this study makes a superficial, incomplete, incorrect or biased approach to sex education.

Aging in community nutrition, diet therapy, and nutrition and aging textbooks.

PubMed

O'Neill, Peggy Schafer; Wellman, Nancy S; Himburg, Susan P; Johnson, Paulette; Elfenbien, Pamela

2005-01-01

Using content analysis, this study evaluated the aging content and context in 11 nutrition sub-specialty textbooks: community nutrition (n = 3), diet therapy (n = 4), and nutrition and aging (n = 4). Pages with paragraphs on aging were identified in community nutrition and diet therapy textbooks, and 10% random samples of pages were evaluated in nutrition and aging textbooks. Paragraphs were assigned to one of four categories: gerontology, nutrition as primary, nutrition as secondary, or tertiary prevention. A total of 310 pages was qualitatively analyzed using NUD*IST 5 software and quantitatively with percentages. Only 7% of community nutrition and 2% of diet therapy pages were devoted to aging. There was little integration of aging beyond the chapters on aging. Community nutrition had the most gerontology (30%) and primary prevention (43%) content. Diet therapy and nutrition and aging had more secondary prevention (33% and 42%, respectively) and tertiary prevention (27% each) content. Some important databases and studies were absent. Of the 1,239 ageism words, 10% were positive, 53% neutral, and 36% negative. Photographs were generally positive. Women, but not minorities, reflected current older adult demographics. Future textbook editions should address aging more comprehensively and positively to better prepare dietitians for the job market. Recommendations for authors, course instructors, and publishers are given.

Representing Nature of Science in a Science Textbook: Exploring author-editor-publisher interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

DiGiuseppe, Maurice

2014-05-01

Current reforms in elementary and secondary science education call for students and teachers to develop more informed views of the nature of science (NOS)-a process in which science textbooks play a significant role. This paper reports on a case study of the development of representations of the NOS in a senior high school chemistry textbook by the book's author, editor, and publisher. The study examines the multiple discourses that arose as the developers reflected on their personal and shared understandings of NOS; squared these with mandated curricula, the educational needs of chemistry students and teachers, and the exigencies of large-scale commercial textbook publishing. As a result, the team developed and incorporated, in the textbook, representations of NOS they believed were the most pedagogically suitable. Analysis of the data in this study indicates that a number of factors significantly influenced the development of representations of NOS, including representational accuracy (the degree to which representations of NOS conformed to informed views of the NOS), representational consistency (the degree to which representations of NOS in different parts of the book conveyed the same meaning), representational appropriateness (the age-, grade-, and reading-level appropriateness of the NOS representations), representational alignment (the degree to which NOS representations aligned with mandated curriculum), representational marketability (the degree to which NOS representations would affect sales of the textbook), and 'Workplace Resources' factors including availability of time, relevant expertise, and opportunities for professional development.

Algorithmic Case Pedagogy, Learning and Gender

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bromley, Robert; Huang, Zhenyu

2015-01-01

Great investment has been made in developing algorithmically-based cases within online homework management systems. This has been done because publishers are convinced that textbook adoption decisions are influenced by the incorporation of these systems within their products. These algorithmic assignments are thought to promote learning while…

An Instructor’s Guide to (Some of) the Most Amazing Papers in Neuroscience

PubMed Central

Harrington, Ian A.; Grisham, William; Brasier, D. J.; Gallagher, Shawn P.; Gizerian, Samantha S.; Gordon, Rupa G.; Hagenauer, Megan H.; Linden, Monica L.; Lom, Barbara; Olivo, Richard; Sandstrom, Noah J.; Stough, Shara; Vilinsky, Ilya; Wiest, Michael C.

2015-01-01

Although textbooks are still assigned in many undergraduate science courses, it is now not uncommon, even in some of the earliest courses in the curriculum, to supplement texts with primary source readings from the scientific literature. Not only does reading these articles help students develop an understanding of specific course content, it also helps foster an ability to engage with the discipline the way its practitioners do. One challenge with this approach, however, is that it can be difficult for instructors to select appropriate readings on topics outside of their areas of expertise as would be required in a survey course, for example. Here we present a subset of the papers that were offered in response to a request for the “most amazing papers in neuroscience” that appeared on the listserv of the Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience (FUN). Each contributor was subsequently asked to describe briefly the content of their recommended papers, their pedagogical value, and the audiences for which these papers are best suited. Our goal is to provide readers with sufficient information to decide whether such articles might be useful in their own classes. It is not our intention that any article within this collection will provide the final word on an area of investigation, nor that this collection will provide the final word for the discipline as a whole. Rather, this article is a collection of papers that have proven themselves valuable in the hands of these particular educators. Indeed, it is our hope that this collection represents the inaugural offering of what will become a regular feature in this journal, so that we can continue to benefit from the diverse expertise of the FUN community. PMID:26557803

Physics Textbooks Don't Always Tell the Truth

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Franklin, Allan

2016-04-01

Anyone who studies the history of physics quickly realizes that the history presented in physics textbooks is often inaccurate. I will discuss three episodes from the history of modern physics: (1) Robert Millikan's experiments on the photoelectric effect, (2) the Michelson-Morley experiment, and (3) the Ellis-Wooster experiment on the energy spectrum in β decay. Everyone knows that Millikan's work established the photon theory of light and that the Michelson-Morley experiment was crucial in the genesis of Albert Einstein's special theory of relativity. The problem is that what everyone knows is wrong. Neither experiment played the role assigned to it by physics textbooks. The Ellis-Wooster experiment, on the other hand, is rarely discussed in physics texts, but it should be. It led to Wolfgang Pauli's suggestion of the neutrino. I will present a more accurate history of these three experiments than those given in physics texts.

Going Blended with a Triple-Entry Activity: Students' Online Discussions of Assigned Readings Using "Marginalia"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kanevsky, Lannie; Xin, Cindy; Ram, Ilana

2016-01-01

In this paper, we describe and investigate small group discussions of assigned readings in an online version of a "triple-entry activity" in a blended course used an annotation tool, "Marginalia". We wondered if students would interact in this structured, critical, reflective reading activity as effectively online as they had…

Effects Of The Contingency For Homework Submission On Homework Submission And Quiz Performance In A College Course

PubMed Central

2005-01-01

Effects of the contingency for submission of homework assignments on the probability of assignment submission and on quiz grades were assessed in an undergraduate psychology course. Under an alternating treatments design, each student was assigned to a points condition for 5 of 10 quiz-related homework assignments corresponding to textbook chapters. Points were available for homework submission under this condition; points were not available under the no-points condition. The group-mean percentage of homework assignments submitted and quiz grades were higher for all chapters under the points condition than in the no-points condition. These findings, which were replicated in Experiment 2, demonstrate that homework submission was not maintained when the only consequences were instructor-provided feedback and expectation of improved quiz performance. PMID:15898476

Readability Levels of the 1975 Third Grade Macmillan Basal Readers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McKinney, Ernestine Williams

1983-01-01

Analysis of third-grade books in the New Macmillan Reading Program reveals that the books exceeded the publisher's designation of readability and did not progress in difficulty from easy to more difficult. Findings suggest the need for more complete and reliable information from publishers concerning textbook readability. (FL)

Constructing Histories on Television: Reading the Country.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craik, Jennifer

The current tension in the writing of histories has been between the defense of "textbook" histories--i.e., the conventional approach which focuses on great events, great individuals, and great collectivities--and progressive--i.e., populist or alternative histories which focus on ordinary people. A new form has been engineered by…

Some Comments on the Nature of Chinese ESP Coursebooks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johns, Ann M.

English for specific purposes (ESP) coursebooks compiled by writers in the People's Republic of China are described. Eight textbooks are examined focusing on their common features in terms of reading passages, reliance upon Chinese language, focus upon the Chinese environment, emphasis upon structural grammar, focus upon vocabulary, rhetorical…

Senda: Lectura 4 (Senda: Reader 4).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peniche Leger, Maria Elena, Ed.

This textbook, the fourth in a series of six, is designed to give the intermediate elementary school student continued practice in reading Spanish. It contains some 30 sections with passages of increasing degrees of difficulty. Colored illustrations are included. In this volume, Quetzalcoatl, god of the winds, conducts a group of children to…

Gender Tales: Tensions in the Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kleinfeld, Judith S., Ed.; Yerian, Suzanne, Ed.

This casebook is intended to supplement textbooks and readings that present theory and research findings on gender equity. Many of these cases originated in real classroom settings and are intended for use with preservice teachers. Part 1, "The Meaning of Gender Equality in the Schools," contains: "'Girlspeak' and "Boyspeak': Gender Differences in…

Is That Penguin Stuffed or Real?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ohanian, Susan

1996-01-01

Like sugaring, teaching requires immense patience. Superintendents can force textbooks on teachers but cannot make them use them. Not every high schooler needs an elitist, college-bound education, but no one needs to be bribed or threatened into learning or reading. Alternative texts and approaches can be used to help students discover a…

Primary Students and Informational Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yopp, Hallie Kay; Yopp, Ruth Helen

2006-01-01

Anyone who has spent time looking at science books with young children has no doubt experienced the endless questions that the information and visuals in the books can stimulate. Books prompt questions, which can lead to further reading about and investigation of science topics. Whether from a textbook or a nonfiction trade book, informational…

Learning to Teach and Do

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Warren, Thomas L.

2015-01-01

Teaching technical writing without formal training can be daunting. However, there are many resources available that can provide background and materials for teaching. My approach involved reading textbooks and articles not only on approaches to technical writing but also on what students can expect once they complete their education and are…

NCLB Heads Down Alice's Rabbit Hole

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Starnes, Bobby Ann

2005-01-01

This article describes one unconventional elementary school teacher's frustrations with colleagues doubting her competence, intelligence, and sense of purpose as a teacher. In her classroom, she never used textbooks or had a teacher's desk. There were no contests, gold stars, or redbird reading groups. There were no school-supply decorations,…

Student Perceptions of College Faculty Who Use OER

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vojtech, Gabrielle; Grissett, Judy

2017-01-01

Research indicates that students find open educational resources (OER) favorable, but there is no research regarding students' perceptions of faculty who use open textbooks. In the present study we examined this topic experimentally with two undergraduate psychology courses at a small public university. Participants read two passages--one about an…

Fundamentals of Literacy Instruction and Assessment, Pre-K-6

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hougen, Martha C., Ed.; Smartt, Susan M., Ed.

2012-01-01

For future literacy teachers just beginning their professional education, nothing's more important than the first core text that builds their foundation for classroom success. That's why every preservice teacher should start with this introductory reading textbook, ideal for teaching fundamental literacy skills to students in pre-K-Grade 6. Based…

Cultural Studies and Curricular Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carr, Jean Ferguson

1990-01-01

The renaming of literature appreciation as cultural studies marks a rethinking of what is experienced as cultural materials, going beyond reading and writing to media, popular culture, newspapers, advertising, textbooks, and advice manuals. It also marks the movement away from the study of an object to the study of criticism. (MSE)

The Effects of Explicit Visual Cues in Reading Biological Diagrams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ge, Yun-Ping; Unsworth, Len; Wang, Kuo-Hua

2017-01-01

Drawing on cognitive theories, this study intends to investigate the effects of explicit visual cues which have been proposed as a critical factor in facilitating understanding of biological images. Three diagrams from Taiwanese textbooks with implicit visual cues, involving the concepts of biological classification systems, fish taxonomy, and…

Designing and Delivering Cross-Cultural Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ben-Yoseph, Miriam

A course on management in a cross-cultural environment was designed to address dilemmas and opportunities that individuals might encounter in work or study. The course attracted students with a broad variety of backgrounds. A main textbook was supplemented with readings, guest lectures, and a variety of class activities including case studies,…

Augmenting Traditional Books with Context-Aware Learning Supports from Online Learning Communities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chen, Gwo-Dong; Chao, Po-Yao

2008-01-01

Recent advances in ubiquitous computing technologies have brought reality augmentation of traditional objects to context-aware and social supports. Although a significant proportion of students prefer poring over traditional paper textbooks over electronic books, few studies have enhanced reading practice of traditional books with ubiquitous…

Women and Girls in Readers and Texts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chevat, Edith S.

The prevalence of sex role stereotyping in school readers, textbooks, workbooks, and reading materials used from kindergarten through college must first be recognized by students and teachers as well as by authors, illustrators, and publishers. Teachers should then work to foster environments and experiences in which females and males are equally…

Senda: Lectura 6 (Senda: Reader 6).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peniche Leger, Maria Elena, Ed.

This textbook, the sixth in a series of six, is designed to give the advanced elementary school student continued practice in reading Spanish. It contains some 30 sections with passages of increasing degrees of difficulty. Illustrations are included. The text includes selections from authors such as Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Melville, Santos…

How Adults Read. A Staff Development Curriculum.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rance-Roney, Judith A.; Ditmars, Jane W.

This textbook/sourcebook and accompanying trainer's guide, which were issued as part of a project to republish important staff development project reports/materials, are updated and repackaged versions of a staff development curriculum in adult literacy and learning. The first part of the sourcebook contains 20 "keys" or quick overviews…

Students' Opinions of Instructional Strategies in a Graduate-Level Creativity Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knowlton, Dave S.; Sharp, David C.

2015-01-01

This paper empirically examines a variety of instructional strategies as impetus for creative thinking and achievement in a graduate-level university course. This empiricism considers students' opinions about the strategies used and the resulting effect of the class more holistically. Results indicate that reading the textbook and writing…

From teachers' perspective: Implementation of literacy materials in middle school science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weingartner, Judith A.

Documentation of adolescents' difficulty in comprehending textbooks spans a century. For just as long, researchers have advocated that explicit instruction of reading strategies can help students' comprehension of text; many have recommended that the best place to teach these strategies is within the content classroom (science, math, etc.), and taught by the content teacher. Despite this research, reading strategy instruction in content classrooms is not a common occurrence. In a large district with 300 middle school science teachers, some science teachers expressed concern about their students' reading difficulties with the district's science text. In response to those concerns, the middle school science coordinator organized a small committee to develop the Reading Strategies Handbook for Middle School Science for Teachers (the Handbook), believing that this tool would guide teachers' in implementing the Handbook's reading strategies and improve students' comprehension of the text. This was a qualitative study that explored 11 middle school science teachers' responses to implementing the Handbook. Data for this study were gathered through an e-mailed questionnaire, a classroom visitation, and one interview with each teacher participant. The study found that teachers' varied backgrounds influenced their beliefs about teaching and learning, and impacted their classroom practices. Teachers faced their district's expectations to implement reading strategies in the Handbook with minimal support and cited influences beyond their control that created tension with their decision whether to implement the Handbook. Teachers commented that a "one size fits all" curriculum and textbook-specific issues influenced their degree of using the Handbook's reading strategies. In addition, teachers identified time and pressure to cover curriculum as obstacles to implementing the Handbook. Implications of these findings include: (a) Professional development studies related to content literacy are needed that include attention to teachers' beliefs and attitudes, and (b) Policy makers need to direct funding for the professional development needs of content-area teachers.

An Internet-Based Accounting Information Systems Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Louise

2012-01-01

This paper describes a student project assignment used in an accounting information systems course. We are now truly immersed in the internet age, and while many required accounting information systems courses and textbooks introduce database design, accounting software development, cloud computing, and internet security, projects involving the…

MinION™ nanopore sequencing of environmental metagenomes: a synthetic approach

PubMed Central

Watson, Mick; Minot, Samuel S.; Rivera, Maria C.; Franklin, Rima B.

2017-01-01

Abstract Background: Environmental metagenomic analysis is typically accomplished by assigning taxonomy and/or function from whole genome sequencing or 16S amplicon sequences. Both of these approaches are limited, however, by read length, among other technical and biological factors. A nanopore-based sequencing platform, MinION™, produces reads that are ≥1 × 104 bp in length, potentially providing for more precise assignment, thereby alleviating some of the limitations inherent in determining metagenome composition from short reads. We tested the ability of sequence data produced by MinION (R7.3 flow cells) to correctly assign taxonomy in single bacterial species runs and in three types of low-complexity synthetic communities: a mixture of DNA using equal mass from four species, a community with one relatively rare (1%) and three abundant (33% each) components, and a mixture of genomic DNA from 20 bacterial strains of staggered representation. Taxonomic composition of the low-complexity communities was assessed by analyzing the MinION sequence data with three different bioinformatic approaches: Kraken, MG-RAST, and One Codex. Results: Long read sequences generated from libraries prepared from single strains using the version 5 kit and chemistry, run on the original MinION device, yielded as few as 224 to as many as 3497 bidirectional high-quality (2D) reads with an average overall study length of 6000 bp. For the single-strain analyses, assignment of reads to the correct genus by different methods ranged from 53.1% to 99.5%, assignment to the correct species ranged from 23.9% to 99.5%, and the majority of misassigned reads were to closely related organisms. A synthetic metagenome sequenced with the same setup yielded 714 high quality 2D reads of approximately 5500 bp that were up to 98% correctly assigned to the species level. Synthetic metagenome MinION libraries generated using version 6 kit and chemistry yielded from 899 to 3497 2D reads with lengths averaging 5700 bp with up to 98% assignment accuracy at the species level. The observed community proportions for “equal” and “rare” synthetic libraries were close to the known proportions, deviating from 0.1% to 10% across all tests. For a 20-species mock community with staggered contributions, a sequencing run detected all but 3 species (each included at <0.05% of DNA in the total mixture), 91% of reads were assigned to the correct species, 93% of reads were assigned to the correct genus, and >99% of reads were assigned to the correct family. Conclusions: At the current level of output and sequence quality (just under 4 × 103 2D reads for a synthetic metagenome), MinION sequencing followed by Kraken or One Codex analysis has the potential to provide rapid and accurate metagenomic analysis where the consortium is comprised of a limited number of taxa. Important considerations noted in this study included: high sensitivity of the MinION platform to the quality of input DNA, high variability of sequencing results across libraries and flow cells, and relatively small numbers of 2D reads per analysis limit. Together, these limited detection of very rare components of the microbial consortia, and would likely limit the utility of MinION for the sequencing of high-complexity metagenomic communities where thousands of taxa are expected. Furthermore, the limitations of the currently available data analysis tools suggest there is considerable room for improvement in the analytical approaches for the characterization of microbial communities using long reads. Nevertheless, the fact that the accurate taxonomic assignment of high-quality reads generated by MinION is approaching 99.5% and, in most cases, the inferred community structure mirrors the known proportions of a synthetic mixture warrants further exploration of practical application to environmental metagenomics as the platform continues to develop and improve. With further improvement in sequence throughput and error rate reduction, this platform shows great promise for precise real-time analysis of the composition and structure of more complex microbial communities. PMID:28327976

MinION™ nanopore sequencing of environmental metagenomes: a synthetic approach.

PubMed

Brown, Bonnie L; Watson, Mick; Minot, Samuel S; Rivera, Maria C; Franklin, Rima B

2017-03-01

Environmental metagenomic analysis is typically accomplished by assigning taxonomy and/or function from whole genome sequencing or 16S amplicon sequences. Both of these approaches are limited, however, by read length, among other technical and biological factors. A nanopore-based sequencing platform, MinION™, produces reads that are ≥1 × 104 bp in length, potentially providing for more precise assignment, thereby alleviating some of the limitations inherent in determining metagenome composition from short reads. We tested the ability of sequence data produced by MinION (R7.3 flow cells) to correctly assign taxonomy in single bacterial species runs and in three types of low-complexity synthetic communities: a mixture of DNA using equal mass from four species, a community with one relatively rare (1%) and three abundant (33% each) components, and a mixture of genomic DNA from 20 bacterial strains of staggered representation. Taxonomic composition of the low-complexity communities was assessed by analyzing the MinION sequence data with three different bioinformatic approaches: Kraken, MG-RAST, and One Codex. Results: Long read sequences generated from libraries prepared from single strains using the version 5 kit and chemistry, run on the original MinION device, yielded as few as 224 to as many as 3497 bidirectional high-quality (2D) reads with an average overall study length of 6000 bp. For the single-strain analyses, assignment of reads to the correct genus by different methods ranged from 53.1% to 99.5%, assignment to the correct species ranged from 23.9% to 99.5%, and the majority of misassigned reads were to closely related organisms. A synthetic metagenome sequenced with the same setup yielded 714 high quality 2D reads of approximately 5500 bp that were up to 98% correctly assigned to the species level. Synthetic metagenome MinION libraries generated using version 6 kit and chemistry yielded from 899 to 3497 2D reads with lengths averaging 5700 bp with up to 98% assignment accuracy at the species level. The observed community proportions for “equal” and “rare” synthetic libraries were close to the known proportions, deviating from 0.1% to 10% across all tests. For a 20-species mock community with staggered contributions, a sequencing run detected all but 3 species (each included at <0.05% of DNA in the total mixture), 91% of reads were assigned to the correct species, 93% of reads were assigned to the correct genus, and >99% of reads were assigned to the correct family. Conclusions: At the current level of output and sequence quality (just under 4 × 103 2D reads for a synthetic metagenome), MinION sequencing followed by Kraken or One Codex analysis has the potential to provide rapid and accurate metagenomic analysis where the consortium is comprised of a limited number of taxa. Important considerations noted in this study included: high sensitivity of the MinION platform to the quality of input DNA, high variability of sequencing results across libraries and flow cells, and relatively small numbers of 2D reads per analysis limit. Together, these limited detection of very rare components of the microbial consortia, and would likely limit the utility of MinION for the sequencing of high-complexity metagenomic communities where thousands of taxa are expected. Furthermore, the limitations of the currently available data analysis tools suggest there is considerable room for improvement in the analytical approaches for the characterization of microbial communities using long reads. Nevertheless, the fact that the accurate taxonomic assignment of high-quality reads generated by MinION is approaching 99.5% and, in most cases, the inferred community structure mirrors the known proportions of a synthetic mixture warrants further exploration of practical application to environmental metagenomics as the platform continues to develop and improve. With further improvement in sequence throughput and error rate reduction, this platform shows great promise for precise real-time analysis of the composition and structure of more complex microbial communities. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

BOOK REVIEW: Key Science Physics: New Edition and Key Science Physics for International Schools: Extension File

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maybank, Maureen

1999-09-01

When handling , I recalled how one set of sixth-form students that I taught affectionately referred to Jim Breithaupt's large format book Understanding Physics for Advanced Level as `Big Jim'. This package, for GCSE students and teachers, is its younger brother. Key Science Physics was reviewed in this journal over four years ago. Now it is in a new edition with an expanded ring file of teacher resources (a Teacher's Guide and Extension File). It has been expanded for a wider range of students to meet the requirements of all GCSE syllabuses with additional topics for IGCSE and IB. The international bit seems to be among materials in the file of resources and does not appear in the title of the students' textbook. This is not one of those purchases that will only get occasional use and be left in a department library but it is one that contains sufficient excellent material to become central to any GCSE Physics course. For the students there is a single-volume 396-page textbook in full colour (not a heavyweight book). Marginal comments point out places where an Activity or Assignment from the Extension File fits in. All the materials in the teacher's Extension File are cross referenced to the numbering of this textbook, i.e. its Themes, Topics, Checkpoints, Tests etc, not to page numbers. The margin is used in other attractive ways to highlight a summary, propose a first thought or provide a topic summary. The text is fruitful mix of pure physics, applications and personalities. To support the students' practical work the Extension File contains photocopiable sheets. For the activities and assignments a few contain a harder version to give access to the higher levels of attainment. Four alternatives to practical questions are given; there are also exam questions and multiple choice questions for each topic. These all have helpful mark schemes on the teacher's answers pages. What else do you get? A Glossary collection of sheets to photocopy with space to enter a definition in a second language. Versions of many key diagrams in the student book are enlarged and reworked in clear black and white to make OHP transparencies. There is a mention of these also being in colour on a CD-ROM. The organization of the Extension File is as clear as is reasonably possible. As a user, I would add coloured page dividers to mark the sections within it. The Teacher's Guide is admirable in its restraint - just 26 sides of topic notes - which includes the answers to the non-numerical checkpoint questions missing in the student book. It is not wordy or full of educational theory but succinct and relevant to the day-to-day business of learning with these materials. Reading it, I was aware of the snags that a novice teacher might be glad to know but were missing. As always, materials like these should come with a health warning - try out all homework sheets, instructions for activities and assignments before your students!

Effectiveness of false correction strategy on science reading comprehension

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghent, Cynthia Anne

False-correction reading strategy theoretically prompted college students to activate their prior knowledge when provided false statements linked to a portion of their biology textbook. This strategy is based in elaborative interrogation theory, which suggests that prompting readers to answer interrogatives about text students are reading increases their comprehension of that text. These interrogatives always asked "why" statements pulled from a text, one sentence in length, were "true." True statements in this study based on a text were converted by the experimenter into false statements, one sentence in length. Students were requested to rewrite each statement (n=12) on average every 200 words in a text as they were reading, converting each false statement into a true statement. These students outperformed other students requested to reread the same biology text twice (an established placebo-control strategy). These students, in turn, outperformed still other students reading an unrelated control text taken from the same textbook used only to establish a prior knowledge baseline for all students included in this study. Students participating in this study were enrolled students in an undergraduate introductory general biology course designed for non-majors. A three-group, posttest-only, randomized experimental control-group design was used to prevent pretest activation of students' prior knowledge thus increasing chances of producing evidence of false-correction effectiveness and to begin augmenting potential generalizability to science classrooms. Students' (n=357) general biology knowledge, verbal ability, and attempts to use the false correction strategy were collected and analyzed. Eight of the participants were interviewed by the researcher in a first attempt in this domain to collect data on participants' points of view about the strategy. The results of this study are not yet recommended for use in authentic school settings as further research is indicated.

Principles of Economics without the Prince of Denmark

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Phipps, Barbara J.; Strom, Robert J.; Baumol, William J.

2012-01-01

In most introductory textbooks on principles of economics, discussion of the theory or practice of entrepreneurship is almost entirely absent. This omission is striking, given the important role in economic growth that economists assign to the entrepreneur. While there are plausible explanations for this omission, new research suggests the…

Psychology of Physical Activity: What Should Students Know?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCullagh, Penny; Wilson, Gabriel

2007-01-01

The assignment for the 76th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Kinesiology and Physical Education was to define the psychology subdiscipline of kinesiology. Ten undergraduate sport and exercise psychology textbooks, 27 undergraduate course syllabi, and three articles which examined the most popular contents of prominent journals were…

Establishing Sociological Imagination before Blame in Historical Events

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bousalis, Rina

2017-01-01

Although finding fault with someone or something is part of human nature, blame is merely a perception. Before assigning blame in the causation of historical events, students should be given the opportunity to look past textbook generalizations and establish sociological imagination, or the ability to recognize history's connection to society and…

Developing the Sixth Sense: Play

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baines, Lawrence A.; Slutsky, Ruslan

2009-01-01

Traditional ways of teaching--working from a textbook, designing quizzes, and assigning seat work--are predicated on the idea of students' ability and desire to self-regulate. However, these sedentary techniques are ineffective with unmotivated students and poor readers. Teachers commonly invoke fear of failure in an attempt to engage students in…

Using Time-on-Task Measurements to Understand Student Performance in a Physics Class: A Ten-Year Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stewart, John

2015-04-01

The amount of time spent on out-of-class activities such as working homework, reading, and studying for examinations is presented for 10 years of an introductory, calculus-based physics class at a large public university. While the class underwent significant change in the 10 years studied, the amount of time invested by students in weeks not containing an in-semester examination was constant and did not vary with the length of the reading or homework assignments. The amount of time spent preparing for examinations did change as the course was modified. The time spent on class assignments, both reading and homework, did not scale linearly with the length of the assignment. The time invested in both reading and homework per length of the assignment decreased as the assignments became longer. The class average time invested in examination preparation did change with the average performance on previous examinations in the same class, with more time spent in preparation for lower previous examination scores (R2 = 0 . 70).

Exploring High School Biology Students' Engagement with More and Less Epistemologically Considerate Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kloser, Matthew

2013-01-01

Texts play an integral role in science research and science classrooms yet biology textbooks have traditionally failed to reflect the epistemic elements of the discipline such as justification of claims and visual representations of empirical data. This study investigates high school biology students' reading experiences when engaging more…

Is There Room for Pragmatic Knowledge in English Books in Iranian High Schools?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gholami, Javad

2015-01-01

Pragmatic competence and its development has been a pivotal issue in ELT in the last two decades. This paper explored pragmatic knowledge incorporation into Iranian EFL textbooks. Three high school English books named "English Book 2," "English Book 3" and "Learning to Read English for Pre-University Students" were…

Developing the Use of Visual Representations to Explain Basic Astronomy Phenomena

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Galano, Silvia; Colantonio, Arturo; Leccia, Silvio; Marzoli, Irene; Puddu, Emanuella; Testa, Italo

2018-01-01

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Astronomy Education Research.] Several decades of research have contributed to our understanding of students' reasoning about astronomical phenomena. Some authors have pointed out the difficulty in reading and interpreting images used in school textbooks as factors that may justify the persistence…

Psychology of Sport. Issues & Insights.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, A. Craig, Ed.

This book is designed to provide instructors and students in sport psychology courses with a learning instrument that combines the continuity of a textbook with the range of opinion, in-depth treatment of selected issues, and insight into research methods of a book of readings. The subject is divided into four topical categories. Under the heading…

CATS--Content Area Teaching Strategies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clary, Linda Mixon

This paper discusses methods of teaching reading in the content areas at the middle school, junior high school, and secondary school levels. If a textbook is to be used, teachers should examine it by administering a readability formula and by checking the book's vocabulary, sentence patterns, and introduction of abstract concepts. To find how well…

Media Literacy in the Social Studies Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nielsen, Greg

2011-01-01

Previous generations of students learned about history from reading the textbooks, listening to teachers, and analyzing primary source documents. Today, these forms of instruction take a backseat to learning about the past from such media as Hollywood commercial film, YouTube, Netflix, and video games. Teachers must find ways to teach students to…

The Textevaluator Tool: Helping Teachers and Test Developers Select Texts for Use in Instruction and Assessment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sheehan, Kathleen M.; Kostin, Irene; Napolitano, Diane; Flor, Michael

2014-01-01

This article describes TextEvaluator, a comprehensive text-analysis system designed to help teachers, textbook publishers, test developers, and literacy researchers select reading materials that are consistent with the text complexity goals outlined in the Common Core State Standards. Three particular aspects of the TextEvaluator measurement…

Resistance to Persuasion as a Consequence of Influence Attempts in Advertising and Non-Advertising Communications.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schwarz, Norbert; And Others

1986-01-01

College students read a communication about a textbook, designated either as a "review" or an "advertisement," and containing either a highly explicit or a less explicit influence attempt. Both presenting the communication as an advertisement and a highly explicit influence attempt reduced the communication's effectiveness, indicating the…

World History--Part 2: Teacher's Guide [and Student Guide]. Parallel Alternative Strategies for Students (PASS).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schaap, Eileen, Ed.; Fresen, Sue, Ed.

This teacher's guide and student guide unit contains supplemental readings, activities, and methods adapted for secondary students who have disabilities and other students with diverse learning needs. The materials differ from standard textbooks and workbooks in several ways: simplified text; smaller units of study; reduced vocabulary level;…

Generative Learning Strategy Use and Self-Regulatory Prompting in Digital Text

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reid, Alan J.; Morrison, Gary M.

2014-01-01

The digital revolution is shifting print-based textbooks to digital text, and it has afforded the opportunity to incorporate meaningful learning strategies and otherwise separate metacognitive activities directly into these texts as embedded support. A sample of 89 undergraduates read a digital, expository text on the basics of photography. The…

Incorporating Children's Literature into the Content Reading Classroom.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goerss, Betty L.

The trend in many schools is to move away from using the textbook exclusively in content area classrooms and move toward the integration of various pieces of children's literature, in many instances as a thematic unit. Using a thematic approach and incorporating trade books provides students with opportunities for cumulative learning and the…

A Classroom of Engineers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schachter, Ron

2012-01-01

Due in part to testing pressures, for years the science subject has taken a back seat to reading and math. And though topics like volcanos and time travel have the potential to get kids' attention, science's status as a curricular stepchild typically translates into dull textbooks and little budget for experiments or supplies. The tide is…

Student-Described Engagement with Text: Insights Are Discovered from Fourth Graders

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weih, Timothy G.

2014-01-01

This article reports on a research study investigating student-described engagement with self-selected text in a classroom where a core reading program (in the context of this study meaning instruction based primarily on manuals and commercial textbooks) comprised the majority of their literacy instruction. Fourth grade students were invited to…

Picturing Quantum Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coecke, Bob; Kissinger, Aleks

2017-03-01

Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Guide to reading this textbook; 3. Processes as diagrams; 4. String diagrams; 5. Hilbert space from diagrams; 6. Quantum processes; 7. Quantum measurement; 8. Picturing classical-quantum processes; 9. Picturing phases and complementarity; 10. Quantum theory: the full picture; 11. Quantum foundations; 12. Quantum computation; 13. Quantum resources; 14. Quantomatic; Appendix A. Some notations; References; Index.

Psychology Teacher's Resource Book. First Course, Third Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Margo, Ed.; Wertheimer, Michael, Ed.

Now in its third edition, this book contains background materials and resources for teaching introductory high school psychology. There are 11 chapters. Textbooks appropriate for introductory courses are reviewed in the first chapter. Books of reading which are a potentially valuable source of information to both student and teacher are listed in…

Consumer Mathematics. Teacher's Guide [and Student Guide]. Parallel Alternative Strategies for Students (PASS).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Walford, Sylvia B.; Thomas, Portia R.

This teacher's guide and student guide are designed to accompany a consumer mathematics textbook that contains supplemental readings, activities, and methods adapted for secondary students who have disabilities and other students with diverse learning needs. The materials are designed to help these students succeed in regular education content…

The Impact of Providing Web-Based PowerPoint Slides as Study Guides in Undergraduate Business Classes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frank, Jonathan; Shaw, Lewis; Wilson, Elizabeth

2009-01-01

This study examines undergraduate business students' use of PowerPoint slides provided as a supplement to class attendance, textbook reading, and other traditional course resources. We survey students in 4 diverse (accounting, marketing, management, and information systems) lower-level undergraduate courses in which the instructor provided…

Making Science Trade Book Choices for Elementary Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Atkinson, Terry S.; Matusevich, Melissa N.; Huber, Lisa

2009-01-01

Teachers often use science trade books in the classroom for a number of reasons: to enhance science instruction, to augment an adopted science textbook, or to integrate literacy with subject-area content. Using Patricia Hunsader's mathematics trade book evaluation rubric published in the April 2004 issue of "Reading Teacher" as a model, the…

Current Practices in Instruction in the Literary Braille Code University Personnel Preparation Programs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenblum, L. Penny; Lewis, Sandra; D'Andrea, Frances Mary

2010-01-01

University instructors were surveyed to determine the requirements for their literary braille courses. Twenty-one instructors provided information on the textbooks they used; how they determined errors; reading proficiency requirements; and other pertinent information, such as methods of assessing mastery of the production of braille using a…

Student Attitude towards and Use of Powerpoint[R] Slides as Study Guides in Undergraduate Introductory Financial Accounting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kozub, Robert M.

2010-01-01

This study examines undergraduate business students' attitude towards and use of Powerpoint[R] slides provided as a supplement to class attendance, textbook reading, and other traditional course resources. A survey of students with six majors (accounting, finance, marketing, management, international business and management information systems)…

Applying the Multilevel Framework of Discourse Comprehension to Evaluate the Text Characteristics of General Chemistry Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pyburn, Daniel T.; Pazicni, Samuel

2014-01-01

Prior chemistry education research has demonstrated a relationship between student reading skill and general chemistry course performance. In addition to student characteristics, however, the qualities of the learning materials with which students interact also impact student learning. For example, low-knowledge students benefit from texts that…

Student's Perceptions of Online Academic English Tutoring

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheng, Hsiao-fang

2015-01-01

English textbooks are widely used in every discipline in the majority of colleges and universities in Taiwan. To prepare college students for their future careers, it is necessary they be given systematic training and practice in reading these books. However, due to time constraints, most content teachers focus on the delivery of content rather…

COURSE OUTLINE FOR FIRST SIX WEEKS FOR SCIENCE-LEVEL II, TALENT PRESERVATION CLASSES.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Houston Independent School District, TX.

THE FIRST 6-WEEK UNIT CONCERNS ANIMAL LIFE, AND TOPICS INCLUDE PROTOZOA, INVERTEBRATES, AND VERTEBRATES. UNIT II, "THE HUMAN BODY", INCLUDES BODY SYSTEMS, HEALTH, AND SAFETY. TEXTBOOK REFERENCES, CONTENT OUTLINE, TEACHING SUGGESTIONS, REFERENCE READINGS, AND AUDIOVISUAL AIDS ARE GIVEN UNDER EACH TOPIC. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT FIRST…

La ciudad: Libro de lectura 1, nivel 2 (The City: Reader 1, Level 2).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Emiliano; And Others

This reading textbook was designed for the elementary school Spanish-speaking student. It presents short selections pertaining to city life, with special emphasis on streets, transportation, public services, personal relations, and the urban environment. The presentation includes color illustrations. See FL 004 070 for the accompanying workbook.…

Lecturas de Baja California (Readings from Baja California).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Munoz, Gabriel Trujillo, Ed.

This anthology/textbook is part of a Mexican series of instructional materials designed for Spanish speaking adults who are in the process of becoming literate or have recently become literate in their native language. This document presents a collection of works from important writers directed to the population of Baja California, especially to…

Syntactic Enhancement and Second Language Literacy: An Experimental Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Youngmin; Warschauer, Mark

2016-01-01

This experimental study examined how the reading and writing development of sixth-grade L2 students was affected by syntactic enhancement. Visual-syntactic text formatting (VSTF) technology, which visualizes syntactic structures, was used to convert a textbook to the one with syntactic enhancement. The sample (n = 282), which was drawn from a…

Reading from the Right

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cavanagh, Sean

2005-01-01

In this article, the author talks about Neal Frey, who for more than two decades has labored on behalf of Educational Research Analysts, a conservative Christian textbook-reviewing organization in Longview, Texas that was founded by the famously outspoken husband-and-wife team of Mel and Norma Gabler. When Mr. Gabler died at the age of 89, and…

An Examination of the Efficacy of a Multitiered Intervention on Early Reading Outcomes for First Grade Students at Risk for Reading Difficulties

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fien, Hank; Smith, Jean Louise M.; Smolkowski, Keith; Baker, Scott K.; Nelson, Nancy J.; Chaparro, Erin

2015-01-01

This article presents findings of an efficacy trial examining the effect of a multitiered instruction and intervention model on first grade at-risk students' reading outcomes. Schools (N = 16) were randomly assigned to the treatment or control condition. In the fall of Grade 1, students were assigned to an instructional tier on the basis of…

The effect of reading assignments in guided inquiry learning on students’ critical thinking skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Syarkowi, A.

2018-05-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of reading assignment in guided inquiry learning on senior high school students’ critical thinking skills. The research method which was used in this research was quasi-experiment research method with reading task as the treatment. Topic of inquiry process was Kirchhoff law. The instrument was used for this research was 25 multiple choice interpretive exercises with justification. The multiple choice test was divided on 3 categories such as involve basic clarification, the bases for a decision and inference skills. The result of significance test proved the improvement of students’ critical thinking skills of experiment class was significantly higher when compared with the control class, so it could be concluded that reading assignment can improve students’ critical thinking skills.

Using Objective Structured Clinical Examinations to Assess Intern Orthopaedic Physical Examination Skills: A Multimodal Didactic Comparison.

PubMed

Phillips, Donna; Pean, Christian A; Allen, Kathleen; Zuckerman, Joseph; Egol, Kenneth

Patient care is 1 of the 6 core competencies defined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The physical examination (PE) is a fundamental skill to evaluate patients and make an accurate diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate 3 different methods to teach PE skills and to assess the ability to do a complete PE in a simulated patient encounter. Prospective, uncontrolled, observational. Northeastern academic medical center. A total of 32 orthopedic surgery residents participated and were divided into 3 didactic groups: Group 1 (n = 12) live interactive lectures, demonstration on standardized patients, and textbook reading; Group 2 (n = 11) video recordings of the lectures given to Group 1 and textbook reading alone; Group 3 (n = 9): 90-minute modules taught by residents to interns in near-peer format and textbook reading. The overall score for objective structured clinical examinations from the combined groups was 66%. There was a trend toward more complete PEs in Group 1 taught via live lectures and demonstrations compared to Group 2 that relied on video recording. Near-peer taught residents from Group 3 significantly outperformed Group 2 residents overall (p = 0.02), and trended toward significantly outperforming Group 1 residents as well, with significantly higher scores in the ankle (p = 0.02) and shoulder (p = 0.02) PE cases. This study found that orthopedic interns taught musculoskeletal PE skills by near-peers outperformed other groups overall. An overall score of 66% for the combined didactic groups suggests a baseline deficit in first-year resident musculoskeletal PE skills. The PE should continue to be taught and objectively assessed throughout residency to confirm that budding surgeons have mastered these fundamental skills before going into practice. Copyright © 2017 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Resources and instructional strategies effective middle school science teachers use to improve content area reading skills

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beaver, Melanie S.

This study examined the resources and instructional strategies effective middle school science teachers use to improve content area reading skills. Reading instruction in the middle school years should follow the natural cognitive progression that occurs in the adolescent brain from learning to read to reading to learn. Scientific reading is a different type of reading than most middle school students are accustomed to. It is important to understand that students will continue to be expected to read non-fiction critically for success in the 21st century. Effective teachers know this, and they perceive themselves as teachers of reading regardless of the content area in which their expertise lies. This qualitative research study was conducted at a rural middle school with three science teachers who employ before, during, and after literacy strategies when reading the textbook content with their students. The methodologies used in this study were interviews, observations, and document collection. The results of this study revealed the students' reading difficulties perceived by the teacher participants, the literacy strategies used by the teacher participants, the instructional resources the teacher participants used to improve comprehension, and the need for professional development in content area literacy.

Content, format, gender and grade level differences in elementary students' ability to read science materials as measured by the cloze procedure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Williams, Richard L.; Yore, Larry D.

Present instructional trends in science indicate a need to reexamine a traditional concern in science education: the readability of science textbooks. An area of reading research not well documented is the effect of color, visuals, and page layout on readability of science materials. Using the cloze readability method, the present study explored the relationships between page format, grade level, sex, content, and elementary school students ability to read science material. Significant relationships were found between cloze scores and both grade level and content, and there was a significant interaction effect between grade and sex in favor of older males. No significant relationships could be attributed to page format and sex. In the area of science content, biological materials were most difficult in terms of readability followed by earth science and physical science. Grade level data indicated that grade five materials were more difficult for that level than either grade four or grade six materials were for students at each respective level. In eight of nine cases, the science text materials would be classified at or near the frustration level of readability. The implications for textbook writers and publishers are that science reading materials need to be produced with greater attention to readability and known design principles regarding visual supplements. The implication for teachers is that students need direct instruction in using visual materials to increase their learning from text material. Present visual materials appear to neither help nor hinder the student to gain information from text material.

Effects of Differentiated Reading on Elementary Students' Reading Comprehension and Attitudes toward Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaunessy-Dedrick, Elizabeth; Evans, Linda; Ferron, John; Lindo, Myriam

2015-01-01

In this investigation, we examined the effects of a differentiated reading approach on fourth grade students' reading comprehension and attitudes toward reading. Eight Title I schools within one urban district were randomly assigned to treatment (Schoolwide Enrichment Model-Reading [SEM-R]) or control (district reading curriculum) conditions.…

Incorporating a Rich Media Presentation Format into a Lecture-Based Course Structure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moss, Nicholas

2005-01-01

The e-syllabus is a set of Web pages in which each course in the curriculum is assigned a "course page" and multiple "session pages." Course pages have a standardized format that provides course objectives, course policies, required or recommended textbooks, grading scales, and faculty listings. A separate session page is…

Electrician's Mate 3 & 2. Rate Training Manual and Nonresident Career Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gallant, Thomas E.; Hawley, John F.

This Rate Training Manual (Textbook) and Nonresident Career Course form a correspondence, self-study package to provide information related to tasks assigned to the Electrician's Mate Third and Second Class. Focus is on operating and maintaining power and lighting systems and associated equipment. The 16 chapters in the text are (1) The…

Checking the Mathematical Consistency of Geometric Figures

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeo, Joseph

2017-01-01

In many countries, teachers often have to set their own questions for tests and examinations: some of them even set their own questions for assignments for students. These teachers do not usually select questions from textbooks used by the students because the latter would have seen the questions. If the teachers take the questions from other…

"As Simple as Possible, but Not Simpler"--The Case of Dehydroascorbic Acid

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kerber, Robert C.

2008-01-01

Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is an essential nutrient, whose metabolic roles depend on its function as a reducing agent. Textbooks routinely assign its oxidized form, dehydroascorbic acid, a tricarbonyl structure that is highly improbable in aqueous solution and inconsistent with its colorless appearance. The actual structures of the various forms of…

Derivational Suffixes as Cues to Stress Position in Reading Greek

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grimani, Aikaterini; Protopapas, Athanassios

2017-01-01

Background: In languages with lexical stress, reading aloud must include stress assignment. Stress information sources across languages include word-final letter sequences. Here, we examine whether such sequences account for stress assignment in Greek and whether this is attributable to absolute rules involving accenting morphemes or to…

Sources of Information for Stress Assignment in Reading Greek

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Protopapas, Athanassios; Gerakaki, Svetlana; Alexandri, Stella

2007-01-01

To assign lexical stress when reading, the Greek reader can potentially rely on lexical information (knowledge of the word), visual-orthographic information (processing of the written diacritic), or a default metrical strategy (penultimate stress pattern). Previous studies with secondary education children have shown strong lexical effects on…

Textbook presentations of weight: Conceptual difficulties and language ambiguities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taibu, Rex; Rudge, David; Schuster, David

2015-06-01

The term "weight" has multiple related meanings in both scientific and everyday usage. Even among experts and in textbooks, weight is ambiguously defined as either the gravitational force on an object or operationally as the magnitude of the force an object exerts on a measuring scale. This poses both conceptual and language difficulties for learners, especially for accelerating objects where the scale reading is different from the gravitational force. But while the underlying physical constructs behind the two referents for the term weight (and their relation to each other) are well understood scientifically, it is unclear how the concept of weight should be introduced to students and how the language ambiguities should be dealt with. We investigated treatments of weight in a sample of twenty introductory college physics textbooks, analyzing and coding their content based on the definition adopted, how the distinct constructs were dealt with in various situations, terminologies used, and whether and how language issues were handled. Results indicate that language-related issues, such as different, inconsistent, or ambiguous uses of the terms weight, "apparent weight," and "weightlessness," were prevalent both across and within textbooks. The physics of the related constructs was not always clearly presented, particularly for accelerating bodies such as astronauts in spaceships, and the language issue was rarely addressed. Our analysis of both literature and textbooks leads us to an instructional position which focuses on the physics constructs before introducing the term weight, and which explicitly discusses the associated language issues.

Think outside the Book

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carney, Kevin

2011-01-01

Many students are capable of reading a chapter, doing the end-of-chapter questions, studying a little bit, and passing the chapter test. Many teachers are in the habit of using a textbook as a crutch to fall back on when creativity is lacking. Others are capable of teaching incredibly creative lessons based on state standards but are bound by the…

James Albert Michener (1907-97): Educator, Textbook Editor, Journalist, Novelist, and Educational Philanthropist--An Imaginary Conversation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Franklin; Parker, Betty

This paper presents an imaginary conversation between an interviewer and the novelist, James Michener (1907-1997). Starting with Michener's early life experiences in Doylestown (Pennsylvania), the conversation includes his family's poverty, his wanderings across the United States, and his reading at the local public library. The dialogue includes…

Otros amigos, otras culturas: Libro de actividades, 2 (Other Friends, Other Cultures: Workbook 2).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Emiliano; And Others

This workbook was designed for use with the textbook of the same name. It contains exercises for the recognition of sounds and letters, reading comprehension, oral expression, and the use of diphthongs, compound words, idioms, synonyms and antonyms, word families, and dictionaries. The presentation includes drawings, puzzles, and games with color…

The Role of Children's Literature in One Rural Town's Elementary School: A Case Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Altieri, Jennifer L.

1997-01-01

Surveys all 11 teachers in one rural setting to determine complexities surrounding literature use in that school. Finds the basal played a predominant role in classrooms--only the Chapter I teacher used literature during reading. Finds that "textbooks" were important for teachers and that trade books did not figure much in instruction.…

Japanese Culture: Tradition and Change. For Students in Grades Nine through Twelve. Instructional Materials about Japan (IMAJ).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Ray W.; Reeves, William; Settles, Lois; Sheehan, Valerie Henderson; Spellman, Steve

This manual provides suggestions and materials for teaching about Japan. Designed as a supplement to typical textbook treatments, the lessons provide a range of readings, visuals, and activities to enrich and deepen student learning about Japan. Organized around topics dealing with history, geography, government, economics, and culture, the…

Understanding of Graphs in Social Science Undergraduate Students: Selection and Interpretation of Graphs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pérez-Echeverría, Ma. del Puy; Postigo, Yolanda; Marín, Cristina

2018-01-01

How do university students understand the graphs that they read in their textbooks? How does their knowledge regarding the content and their statistical training influence this understanding? Does the kind of task demand also influence this understanding? To answer these questions, we asked a group of psychology students and a group of economics…

Feline arrhythmias: an update.

PubMed

Côté, Etienne

2010-07-01

In the cat, electrocardiography is indicated for assessing the rhythm of the heartbeat and identifying and monitoring the effect of certain systemic disorders on the heart. Basic information regarding feline electrocardiography is contained in several textbooks, and the reader is referred to these sources for background reading. This article describes selected clinical advances in feline cardiac arrhythmias and electrocardiography from the past decade.

Rewired: Understanding the generation and the Way They Learn

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosen, Larry D.

2010-01-01

Look around at today's youth and you can see how technology has changed their lives. They lie on their beds and study while listening to mp3 players, texting and chatting online with friends, and reading and posting Facebook messages. How does the new, charged-up, multitasking generation respond to traditional textbooks and lectures? Are we…

An Investigation of Concept Mapping to Improve the Reading Comprehension of Science Texts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oliver, Kevin

2009-01-01

This study investigated how well 74 6th-grade science students represented text structures from a 900-word textbook chapter on soil conservation, given a concept map template with four superordinate terms and 24 unsorted concepts. Findings suggest students were more successful at classifying pre-selected terms under given superordinate categories…

A Person Stands on a Balance in an Elevator: What Happens When the Elevator Starts to Fall?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Balukovic, Jasmina; Slisko, Josip; Cruz, Adrián Corona

2018-01-01

Physics textbook authors commonly introduce the concept of weightlessness (apparent or real) through a "thought experiment" in which a person weighs herself or himself in an elevator. When the elevator falls freely, the spring balance should show zero weight. There is an unresolved controversy about how this "zero reading"…

Leaders for Literacy: Papers from the Conference (1st, Oxford, Ohio, June 20-23, 1988).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berger, Allen, Ed.

The 10 papers collected in this book deal with reading and writing instruction, the relationship between teachers and researchers, the role of the school administration in promoting literacy, the dangers of inappropriate standards, using poetry to improve literacy, and textbook adoptions. Papers include: (1) "Knowing What to Do--And Doing…

"Batter up, Student on Deck": The Utility of Moneyball in Management Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McHugh, Patrick P.

2009-01-01

The book "Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game", by Michael Lewis, has intrigued management practitioners and researchers. This article describes the use of the book as a supplementary reading in a management course. The book was found to be a useful complement to a traditional textbook when addressing topics such as organizational change…

The Child Writer: Graphic Literacy and the Scottish Educational System, 1700-1820

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eddy, Matthew Daniel

2016-01-01

The story of Enlightenment literacy is often reconstructed from textbooks and manuals, with the implicit focus being what children were reading. But far less attention has been devoted to how they mastered the scribal techniques that allowed them to manage knowledge on paper. Focusing on Scotland, handwritten manuscripts are used to reveal that…

Teaching about Consumerism through Stories

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haas, Kay Parks

2010-01-01

One of the best methods in the English language arts classroom is to educate students through the world of stories. The beauty of storytelling is that it often has a more powerful impact on young adults than a didactic lecture or a textbook chapter. Many times students would say that they internalize a message much more willingly through reading a…

Prentice Hall/Pearson Literature© (2007-15). What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

What Works Clearinghouse, 2017

2017-01-01

"Prentice Hall/Pearson Literature©" (2007-15) is an English language arts curriculum designed for students in grades 6-12 that focuses on building reading, vocabulary, literary analysis, and writing skills. It uses passages from fiction and nonfiction texts, poetry, and contemporary digital media. The curriculum is based on a textbook.…

Lee y trabaja: Libro de actividades, 2 (Read and Work: Workbook 2).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Emiliano; And Others

This workbook, designed to be used with the textbook of the same title (FL 004 272), contains exercises, riddles, puzzles, coloring activities, and reinforcement of various word-perception skills and sentences. Included is a step-by-step procedure of phonetic analysis. The intention of the workbook is to enable students to increase their ability…

Mira y lee: Libro de actividades, 1 (Look and Read: Workbook 1).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Emiliano; And Others

This workbook, designed to be used with the textbook of the same title (FL 004 271), contains exercises, riddles, puzzles, coloring activities, and reinforcement of various word-perception skills and sentences. Included is a step-by-step procedure of phonetic analysis. The intention of the workbook is to enable students to increase their ability…

Success in Gateway Business Courses: What Matters and What Can We Do?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Berry, Tom; Cook, Lori; Hill, Nancy Thorley; Stevens, Kevin T.

2013-01-01

Introductory business classes, particularly those with a quantitative emphasis, can often serve as a barrier to students rather than as a gateway. This study looks at how study skills, aptitude, and external factors affect classroom performance. We examine whether, when, how, and how much students read their textbook. We also look at selected deep…

When Less Is More: Meaningful Learning from Visual and Verbal Summaries of Science Textbook Lessons.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayer, Richard E.; And Others

1996-01-01

In 3 experiments, 163 college students who read a summary with a sequence of short captions with simple illustrations depicting steps in a process recalled the steps and solved transfer problems as well as or better than students who received the full text with a summary or alone. (SLD)

Yours for the Taking: Thousands of Free Books Are Now Available Online

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minkel, Walter

2004-01-01

Minkel Walter, recently read about a school district in Texas that's supplying its fifth- and sixth-grade students with laptops. Along with electronic copies of textbooks, the laptops will also contain a "library" of about 2,000 books--"classics of Western civilization"--packaged by Vital Source Technologies and sold for about 5200 per computer.…

Using Graphic Organizers to Improve Reading Comprehension Skills for the Middle School ESL Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Praveen, Sam D.; Rajan, Premalatha

2013-01-01

"A picture is worth a thousand words." In a modern-day classroom, students are surrounded by visual imagery through textbooks, notice boards, television, videos, or computers. Many middle school classrooms are filled with colorful pictures and photographs. However, it is unclear how--or if --these images impact the middle school ESL…

Medication error reduction and the use of PDA technology.

PubMed

Greenfield, Sue

2007-03-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether nursing medication errors could be reduced and nursing care provided more efficiently using personal digital assistant (PDA) technology. The sample for this study consisted of junior and senior undergraduate baccalaureate nursing students. By self-selection of owning a PDA or not, students were placed in the PDA (experimental) group or the textbook (control) group, provided with a case study to read, and asked to answer six questions (i.e., three medication administration calculations and three clinical decisions based on medication administration). The analysis of collected data, calculated using a t test, revealed that the PDA group answered the six questions with greater accuracy and speed than did the textbook group.

Investigations of protein structure and function using the scientific literature: an assignment for an undergraduate cell physiology course.

PubMed

Mulnix, Amy B

2003-01-01

Undergraduate biology curricula are being modified to model and teach the activities of scientists better. The assignment described here, one that investigates protein structure and function, was designed for use in a sophomore-level cell physiology course at Earlham College. Students work in small groups to read and present in poster format on the content of a single research article reporting on the structure and/or function of a protein. Goals of the assignment include highlighting the interdependence of protein structure and function; asking students to review, integrate, and apply previously acquired knowledge; and helping students see protein structure/function in a context larger than cell physiology. The assignment also is designed to build skills in reading scientific literature, oral and written communication, and collaboration among peers. Assessment of student perceptions of the assignment in two separate offerings indicates that the project successfully achieves these goals. Data specifically show that students relied heavily on their peers to understand their article. The assignment was also shown to require students to read articles more carefully than previously. In addition, the data suggest that the assignment could be modified and used successfully in other courses and at other institutions.

A teaching-learning sequence about weather map reading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mandrikas, Achilleas; Stavrou, Dimitrios; Skordoulis, Constantine

2017-07-01

In this paper a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) introducing pre-service elementary teachers (PET) to weather map reading, with emphasis on wind assignment, is presented. The TLS includes activities about recognition of wind symbols, assignment of wind direction and wind speed on a weather map and identification of wind characteristics in a weather forecast. Sixty PET capabilities and difficulties in understanding weather maps were investigated, using inquiry-based learning activities. The results show that most PET became more capable of reading weather maps and assigning wind direction and speed on them. Our results also show that PET could be guided to understand meteorology concepts useful in everyday life and in teaching their future students.

The effects of the use of children's literature as an instructional approach on the science knowledge achievement and attitudes of third-grade students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Royce, Christine Anne

This study examined three instructional approaches to determine the comparative effects of using children's literature on the development of factual and conceptual knowledge of third-grade students as well as their attitudes toward the method of instruction and science. Students from four intact classes were taught a six-week, researcher developed unit on the topic of invertebrates for 30 minutes per day that utilized the Directed Reading Approach (DRA). The Naive Comparison Group served as the control for this study and received no instruction on invertebrates. The Textbook Group obtained their information from the Houghton Mifflin Discovery Works textbook series. The Combined Group obtained their information from both textbook series and selected children's tradebooks. The Tradebook Group obtained their information from selected children's tradebooks. This study utilized an adaptation on a non-randomized Pretest-Posttest Group Design. All four intact groups took a pretest and posttest to measure their factual and conceptual knowledge of invertebrates. This data was scored and analyzed for significance at the.05 level using an ANCOVA. No significant differences were found between the four groups for the achievement test. All four intact groups took a pre- and post-attitude survey, which addressed their attitudes toward textbooks, tradebooks, and science. This data was scored and analyzed for significance at the .05 level using three separate, analyses of variance with repeated measures. There were no significant differences between the pre- and post-attitude surveys on the topic of textbooks or tradebooks. There was a significant difference between the pre- and post-attitude surveys for the students' attitudes toward science. It was concluded that the use of tradebooks in place of or in conjunction with textbooks is a viable alternative to the use of textbooks in the elementary science classroom.

Chemical Characterization and Source Apportionment of Size Fractionated Atmospheric Aerosols, and, Evaluating Student Attitudes and Learning in Large Lecture General Chemistry Classes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allen, Gregory Harold

Chemical speciation and source apportionment of size fractionated atmospheric aerosols were investigated using laser desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LD TOF-MS) and source apportionment was carried out using carbon-14 accelerator mass spectrometry (14C AMS). Sample collection was carried out using the Davis Rotating-drum Unit for Monitoring impact analyzer in Davis, Colfax, and Yosemite, CA. Ambient atmospheric aerosols collected during the winter of 2010/11 and 2011/12 showed a significant difference in the types of compounds found in the small and large sized particles. The difference was due to the increase number of oxidized carbon species that were found in the small particles size ranges, but not in the large particles size ranges. Overall, the ambient atmospheric aerosols collected during the winter in Davis, CA had and average fraction modern of F14C = 0.753 +/- 0.006, indicating that the majority of the size fractionated particles originated from biogenic sources. Samples collected during the King Fire in Colfax, CA were used to determine the contribution of biomass burning (wildfire) aerosols. Factor analysis was used to reduce the ions found in the LD TOF-MS analysis of the King Fire samples. The final factor analysis generated a total of four factors that explained an overall 83% of the variance in the data set. Two of the factors correlated heavily with increased smoke events during the sample period. The increased smoke events produced a large number of highly oxidized organic aerosols (OOA2) and aromatic compounds that are indicative of biomass burning organic aerosols (WBOA). The signal intensities of the factors generated in the King Fire data were investigated in samples collected in Yosemite and Davis, CA to look at the impact of biomass burning on ambient atmospheric aerosols. In both comparison sample collections the OOA2 and WBOA factors both increased during biomass burning events located near the sampling sites. The correlation between the OOA2 and WBOA factors and smoke levels indicates that these factors can be used to identify the influence of biomass burning on ambient aerosols. The effectiveness of using the ChemWiki instead of a traditional textbook was investigated during the spring quarter of 2014. Student performance was measured using common midterms, a final, and a pre/post content exams. We also employed surveys, the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) for Chemistry, and a weekly time-on-task survey to quantify students' attitudes and study habits. The effectiveness of the ChemWiki compared to a traditional textbook was examined using multiple linear regression analysis with a standard non-inferiority testing framework. Results show that the performance of students in the section who were assigned readings from the ChemWiki was non-inferior to the performance of students in the section who were assigned readings from the traditional textbook, indicating that the ChemWiki does not substantially differ from the standard textbook in terms of student learning outcomes. The results from the surveys also suggest that the two classes were similar in their beliefs about chemistry and overall average time spent studying. These results indicate that the ChemWiki is a viable cost-saving alternative to traditional textbooks. The impact of using active learning techniques in a large lecture general chemistry class was investigated by assessing student performance and attitudes during the fall 2014 and winter 2015 quarters. One instructor applied active learning strategies while the remaining instructors employed more traditional lecture styles. Student performance, learning, learning environments, and attitudes were measured using a standardized pre/post exams, common final exams, classroom observations, and the CLASS chemistry instrument in large lecture general chemistry courses. Classroom observation data showed that the active learning class was the most student centered and of the other classes two instructors were transitional in their teaching style and the remaining two primarily employed traditional lecture techniques. The active learning class had the highest student performance but the difference was only statistically significant when compared to the two traditional lecture classes. Overall, our data showed a trend that student performance increased as the instructional style became more student centered. Student attitudes didn't seem to correlate with any specific instructional style and the students in the active learning class had similar attitudes to the other general students. The active learning class was successful in increasing the average time students spent studying outside of the class, a statistically significant difference of about 1.5 to 3.0 hrs/week.

"Let's get physical": advantages of a physical model over 3D computer models and textbooks in learning imaging anatomy.

PubMed

Preece, Daniel; Williams, Sarah B; Lam, Richard; Weller, Renate

2013-01-01

Three-dimensional (3D) information plays an important part in medical and veterinary education. Appreciating complex 3D spatial relationships requires a strong foundational understanding of anatomy and mental 3D visualization skills. Novel learning resources have been introduced to anatomy training to achieve this. Objective evaluation of their comparative efficacies remains scarce in the literature. This study developed and evaluated the use of a physical model in demonstrating the complex spatial relationships of the equine foot. It was hypothesized that the newly developed physical model would be more effective for students to learn magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) anatomy of the foot than textbooks or computer-based 3D models. Third year veterinary medicine students were randomly assigned to one of three teaching aid groups (physical model; textbooks; 3D computer model). The comparative efficacies of the three teaching aids were assessed through students' abilities to identify anatomical structures on MR images. Overall mean MRI assessment scores were significantly higher in students utilizing the physical model (86.39%) compared with students using textbooks (62.61%) and the 3D computer model (63.68%) (P < 0.001), with no significant difference between the textbook and 3D computer model groups (P = 0.685). Student feedback was also more positive in the physical model group compared with both the textbook and 3D computer model groups. Our results suggest that physical models may hold a significant advantage over alternative learning resources in enhancing visuospatial and 3D understanding of complex anatomical architecture, and that 3D computer models have significant limitations with regards to 3D learning. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.

Writing a Movie.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hoffner, Helen

2003-01-01

Explains a reading and writing assignment called "Writing a Movie" in which students view a short film segment and write a script in which they describe the scene. Notes that this assignment uses films to develop fluency and helps students understand the reading and writing connections. Concludes that students learn to summarize a scene from film,…

A Teaching-Learning Sequence about Weather Map Reading

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mandrikas, Achilleas; Stavrou, Dimitrios; Skordoulis, Constantine

2017-01-01

In this paper a teaching-learning sequence (TLS) introducing pre-service elementary teachers (PET) to weather map reading, with emphasis on wind assignment, is presented. The TLS includes activities about recognition of wind symbols, assignment of wind direction and wind speed on a weather map and identification of wind characteristics in a…

The Effects of Guided Notes on Pre-Lecture Quiz Scores in Introductory Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glodowski, Kathryn; Thompson, Rachel

2018-01-01

Guided notes covering lectures have been shown to improve note quality and increase scores on quizzes covering lecture material. We sought to determine whether guided notes would also be beneficial in helping students prepare for quizzes covering assigned readings. We evaluated the efficacy of guided notes for reading assignments on…

The Use of Mobile Apps to Enhance Student Learning in Introduction to Psychology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diliberto-Macaluso, Kristen; Hughes, Alan

2016-01-01

The current study examined the impact of mobile applications or apps on student learning in an introduction to psychology course. Students were assigned to complete a learner-centered worksheet activity on the brain and central nervous system using either an interactive 3-D Brain app or their online course textbook. We measured student learning…

An Experiment in the Evaluation of Instruction at the Junior College.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Partridge, Patrick V.

This study was designed to determine the effectiveness of textbook and lecture methods of instruction on student achievement during 10 days of an introductory psychology course. The 48 subjects were randomly assigned to four treatment groups. The same examination was given as pretest and as post-test. The test was concerned with recall of factual…

How Does the "Digital Generation" Get Help on Their Mathematics Homework?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van de Sande, Carla; Boggess, May; Hart-Weber, Catherine

2013-01-01

Homework is a daily activity for at least twelve years of most students' school experience, and every assignment requires the time, energy, and emotional engagement of all those involved. Traditionally, students seeking homework help could refer to their class notes and textbooks, or ask their friends, tutors, and, perhaps, as last resort, their…

The Impact of Interactive Computer Simulations on the Nature and Quality of Postgraduate Science Teachers' Explanations in Physics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zacharia, Zacharias C.

2005-01-01

This study investigated how individuals' construction of explanations--a way of ascertaining how well an individual understands a concept--develops from an interactive simulation. Specifically, the purpose was to investigate the effect of interactive computer simulations or science textbook assignments on the nature and quality of postgraduate…

Class Manual for Information Resources in the Humanities (LIS 382L.2).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roy, Loriene

Basic course information and worksheets are presented in this textbook/workbook for "Information Resources in the Humanities," a course offered by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Texas at Austin. The guide is divided into eight sections. The first presents the syllabus, lists assignments (e.g.,…

Researching, Producing, Presenting: Students' Use of Technology for Global Advocacy in the Social Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maguth, Brad M.; Yamaguchi, Misato; Elliott, Jeff

2010-01-01

Research has pointed out that an over reliance on textbooks and lecturing in the social studies often devolves instruction into narrow perspectives and uninspiring activities. Thus, teachers allowed their students to use something they were interested in, technology, to access a wide range of resources for a class project. This assignment, the…

Using Primary Literature in an Undergraduate Assignment: Demonstrating Connections among Cellular Processes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yeong, Foong May

2015-01-01

Learning basic cell biology in an essential module can be daunting to second-year undergraduates, given the depth of information that is provided in major molecular and cell biology textbooks. Moreover, lectures on cellular pathways are organised into sections, such that at the end of lectures, students might not see how various processes are…

"You Get What You Need": A Study of Students' Attitudes towards Using Wikipedia When Doing School Assignments

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blikstad-Balas, Marte

2016-01-01

In traditional classrooms, a textbook was often the only source of knowledge available; in stark contrast, today's classrooms have an infinite number of knowledge sources available through the Internet. Nevertheless, a range of studies suggest that students systematically favor Wikipedia in their school-related literacy practices. The present…

Wooden Peg Game: Implementations as Both a Web App and as an Android App

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martincic, Cynthia J.

2016-01-01

Mobile application development is currently an important component of CS/IS education. Because of the rapid rate of change in the mobile application field, there are many websites that provide instructional material in tutorial format, but it is difficult to find a textbook that includes mobile application programming assignments and exercises.…

Undergraduate Students' Use of Online Information in World Geography: Source Types and Selection Criteria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hong, Jung Eun; Jo, Injeong

2017-01-01

Offering up-to-date information and diverse perspectives on issues, online information can be a valuable resource that supplements traditional course materials like textbooks. In this paper, the source types that students' use for a course assignment and the criteria they apply to determine usefulness of the online information are examined.…

Cramster: Friend or Foe?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grams, Michael

2011-01-01

Recently when teaching a first-semester calculus-based physics course for engineers, I was perplexed by a particular group of students. These individuals were able to solve nearly every homework problem assigned from the end-of-chapter exercises in our textbook, and in some cases were able to do so using methods that we had not covered in class.…

Builder 3 & 2. Naval Education and Training Command Rate Training Manual and Nonresident Career Course. Revised.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Countryman, Gene L.

This Rate Training Manual (Textbook) and Nonresident Career Course form a correspondence, self-study package to provide information related to tasks assigned to Builders Third and Second Class. Focus is on constructing, maintaining, and repairing wooden, concrete, and masonry structures, concrete pavement, and waterfront and underwater structures;…

Fluency Gains in Struggling College Readers from Wide Reading and Repeated Readings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ari, Omer

2015-01-01

Effects of wide reading and repeated readings were examined on struggling college readers' silent reading rate and reading comprehension relative to a vocabulary study control condition. Randomly assigned to a condition, community college students (N = 30) completed 25-min sessions individually in class three times a week for three weeks.…

Reading Strategies to Improve Writing Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bulakowski, Carole

Reading instructors have valuable expertise to share with writing instructors to improve the writing ability of students. Writing instructors often give reading assignments to provide topics for students' essays or discussion, without understanding the reading process. A reading teacher can (1) show the writing instructor how to determine the…

Towards a Reconceptualisation of "Word" for High Frequency Word Generation in Word Knowledge Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sibanda, Jabulani; Baxen, Jean

2014-01-01

The present paper derives from a PhD study investigating the nexus between Grade 4 textbook vocabulary demands and Grade 3 isiXhosa-speaking learners' knowledge of that vocabulary to enable them to read to learn in Grade 4. The paper challenges the efficacy of the four current definitions of "word" for generating high frequency words…

Developing Academic English Language Proficiency Prototypes for 5th Grade Reading: Psychometric and Linguistic Profiles of Tasks. CSE Technical Report 727

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bailey, Alison L.; Huang, Becky H.; Shin, Hye Won; Farnsworth, Tim; Butler, Frances A.

2007-01-01

Within an evidentiary framework for operationally defining academic English language proficiency (AELP), linguistic analyses of standards, classroom discourse, and textbooks have led to specifications for assessment of AELP. The test development process described here is novel due to the emphasis on using linguistic profiles to inform the …

An Annotated Bibliography of Materials for Teaching Advanced Written Skills in English as a Second Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Macha, Dyne; Angelis, Paul

This bibliography includes textbooks useful for the teaching of written skills in English as a second language to college and university students. The major emphasis of the texts listed is the teaching of writing but some contain material on reading as well. The first section contains only texts designed specifically for second language use. The…

Hispanics in U.S. History. Volume 1: Through 1865. Volume 2: 1865 to the Present. The Newcomers Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Varona, Frank; And Others

Each of these two textbooks on Hispanic-American history contains 4 units divided into 20 chapters. Each chapter includes an overarching question; text; reading comprehension questions; study tips; an activity involving geography skills, links between past and present, or daily life; an activity involving arts and technology or using primary…

Structuring of Gender in Israeli Society through Children's Reading and Textbooks: Where Is Mom's Apron?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shachar, Rina

2012-01-01

This study examines changes that have transpired in the reflection of gender structuring in children's books over several decades. The issue of gender in the education system, the structuring of gender stereotypes, and their influence on the distribution of roles between males and females in society are discussed. The study examines children's…

Otros amigos, otras culturas: Libro de lectura 2, nivel 2 (Other Friends, Other Cultures: Reader 2, Level 2).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martinez, Emiliano; And Others

This reading textbook was designed for the elementary school Spanish-speaking student. It contains short passages which provide an initiation into knowledge of other countries and ways of life to encourage development of the senses of friendship, curiosity, and solidarity. See FL 004 069 for the accompanying workbook. (Author/SK)

"Na Wahine Mana": A Postcolonial Reading of Classroom Discourse on the Imperial Rescue of Oppressed Hawaiian Women

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kaomea, Julie

2006-01-01

"White men are saving brown women from brown men." Gayatri Spivak suggests that this phrase is for her as fundamental for an investigation of colonial dynamics as Freud's formulation "a child is being beaten" was for his inquiry into sexuality. Through a deconstructive interrogation of elementary Hawaiian history textbooks, Hawaiian studies…

Effects of Help Options in a Multimedia Listening Environment on L2 Vocabulary Acquisition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mohsen, Mohammed Ali

2016-01-01

Several types of help options have been incorporated into reading and listening comprehension activities to aid second language (L2) vocabulary acquisition. Textbook authors, teachers, and sometimes even students may pick and choose which help options they wish to use. In this paper, I investigate the effects of two help options in a multimedia…

Expository Discourse in Children, Adolescents, and Adults: Development and Disorders. New Directions in Communication Disorders Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nippold, Marilyn A., Ed.; Scott, Cheryl M., Ed.

2009-01-01

School success in the 21st century requires proficiency with expository discourse--the use and understanding of informative language in spoken and written modalities. This occurs, for example, when high school students read their textbooks and listen to their teachers' lectures, and later are asked to demonstrate their knowledge of this complex…

Vertical or Horizontal? Impact of Text Orientations on Performance and Preference for Young Readers of Chinese in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sun, Yu-Lin

2010-01-01

The Chinese writing system has traditionally organized the typographic text vertically, with one square-shaped character placed on top of another. With the influence of globalization, an increasing number of reading materials have been presented in the Western horizontal format, including school textbooks for children in Taiwan. This study looked…

English Textbooks for Russian Students: Problems and Specific Features

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Solnyshkina, Marina I.; Vishnyakova, Ol'ga D.; Gafiyatova, Elzara V.; Gabitov, Azat I.

2017-01-01

The research identifies the complexity level of eight texts from Spotlight 11 used in Russian TEFL to prepare students for National Unified Exam in English and assess their reading skills. The results of the analyses conducted with the help of T.E.R.A., an automated text processor, prove that all texts fell within the range of 6-9 Flesch-Kincaid…

Can Animations Effectively Substitute for Traditional Teaching Methods? Part II: Potential for Differentiated Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gregorius, Roberto Ma.; Santos, Rhodora; Dano, Judith B.; Gutierrez, Jose J.

2010-01-01

Animations were prepared using Adobe Flash MX and tested on elementary (3rd-5th grade) and secondary chemistry students. A pre- and post-test study was used to compare the learning gains of students who received the animations with those who received textbook reading time and discussion in class. The control and experimental groups were further…

In der fachsprachlichen Didaktik ist der "fachneutrale" Vorkurs ein Umweg (In Teaching Technical Language, a "Neutral Area" Course is an Evasion)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Becker, Norbert

1974-01-01

In learning to read technical language, texts in specialized technical fields are preferable to "neutral area" or popular science texts. Assorted textbooks are suggested, along with suitable types of exercises and their use. Model preparatory exercises and model drills are included. (Text is in German.) (IFS/WGA)

Post-Secondary Community College History Survey Curriculum: Using Historical Fiction and Literature to Encourage the Learning of History

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tirado, Patricia Michele

2016-01-01

Many community college students show a lack of interest and engagement in studying history; students' disinterest in history curriculum appears to stem from a teacher centered pedagogy of lecturing and reading unaesthetic history textbooks. Using historical fiction to teach history and develop student interest and engagement is examined in this…

The Determinants of Educational Outcomes: The Impact of Families, Peers, Teachers, and Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bridge, R. Gary; And Others

This book presents the results of 15 years of input-output (I-O) research on schooling effectiveness. The I-O approach identifies and measures the inschool and out-of-school factors that contribute to schooling outcomes, especially reading skills and verbal and mathematics achievement. Five categories of inputs are reviewed in this textbook: (1)…

Updating Best Practices: Applying On-Screen Reading Strategies to Résumé Writing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diaz, Charlsye Smith

2013-01-01

The best practices presented in textbooks and professional publications provide separate guidelines for paper-based and electronic or "scannable" résumés. This article recommends changing these practices so that writers can prepare one résumé for both paper and electronic delivery. These recommendations focus on three areas. Résumés…

The Fear of Lying: Examining a Source of Bias for PR Students in an Ethics Course.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cline, Carolyn; Motes, Susan

A 1981 survey of public relations teachers revealed two primary ethical concerns of their students: relationships with employers or clients and deliberate distortion of information. A study analyzed nine textbooks and three books of selected readings to determine the extent to which they exposed students to the concept of the public relations…

Frederick Douglass and I: Writing to Read and Relate History with Life among African American Adolescents at a High-Poverty Urban School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morphy, Paul

2013-01-01

Purpose: Black history as represented in social studies textbooks often lacks depth demanded by historians and authenticity required for cultural relevance to African American students. However, important Black historical narratives sometimes contain difficult prose and refer to times or circumstances that are far removed from students' life…

Impact of historical science short stories on students' attitudes and NOS understanding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hall, Garrett

This study examines the impact of historical short stories on upper and lower level high school chemistry students in the second semester of a two-semester course at a large Midwestern suburban school. Research focused on improved understanding of six fundamental nature of science (NOS) concepts made explicit in the stories, recollection of historical examples from the stories that supported student NOS thinking; student attitudes toward historical stories in comparison to traditional textbook readings as well as student attitudes regarding scientists and the development of science ideas. Data collection included surveys over six NOS concepts, attitudes towards science and reading, and semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the data collected in this study indicated significant increases in understanding for three of the six NOS concepts within the upper-level students and one of the six concepts for lower level students. Students were able to draw upon examples from the stories to defend their NOS views but did so more frequently when responding verbally in comparison to written responses on the surveys. The analysis also showed that students in both levels would rather utilize historical short stories over a traditional textbook and found value in learning about scientists and how scientific ideas are developed.

Astronomy, Visual Literacy, and Liberal Arts Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crider, Anthony

2016-01-01

With the exponentially growing amount of visual content that twenty-first century students will face throughout their lives, teaching them to respond to it with visual and information literacy skills should be a clear priority for liberal arts education. While visual literacy is more commonly covered within humanities curricula, I will argue that because astronomy is inherently a visual science, it is a fertile academic discipline for the teaching and learning of visual literacy. Astronomers, like many scientists, rely on three basic types of visuals to convey information: images, qualitative diagrams, and quantitative plots. In this talk, I will highlight classroom methods that can be used to teach students to "read" and "write" these three separate visuals. Examples of "reading" exercises include questioning the authorship and veracity of images, confronting the distorted scales of many diagrams published in astronomy textbooks, and extracting quantitative information from published plots. Examples of "writing" exercises include capturing astronomical images with smartphones, re-sketching textbook diagrams on whiteboards, and plotting data with Google Motion Charts or iPython notebooks. Students can be further pushed to synthesize these skills with end-of-semester slide presentations that incorporate relevant images, diagrams, and plots rather than relying solely on bulleted lists.

Learning our L.I.M.I.T.S.: less is more in teaching science.

PubMed

Hoskins, Sally G; Stevens, Leslie M

2009-03-01

The rapid and accelerating pace of change in physiology and cell biology, along with the easy access to huge amounts of content, have altered the playing field for science students, yet most students are still mainly taught from textbooks. Of necessity, textbooks are usually broad in scope, cover topics much more superficially than do journal articles, and present the scientific process as a linear string of successful experiments, largely ignoring the reality of rejected hypotheses, unanticipated discoveries, or surprising findings that may shift paradigms. We suggest that a more narrow focus on scientific thinking, using a new method for reading a series of journal articles that track the evolution of a single project over a period of years, can more realistically convey the excitement and challenges of research science and perhaps stimulate some students to consider research careers for themselves. Our approach, termed "CREATE" (for Consider, Read, Elucidate hypotheses, Analyze data, and Think of the next Experiment), has proven successful at both demystifying the scientific literature and humanizing science/scientists in undergraduate biology courses (8), and we suggest that it could be profitably expanded to physiology courses.

Does Early Reading Failure Decrease Children's Reading Motivation?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morgan, Paul L.; Fuchs, Douglas; Compton, Donald L.; Cordray, David S.; Fuchs, Lynn S.

2008-01-01

The authors used a pretest-posttest control group design with random assignment to evaluate whether early reading failure decreases children's motivation to practice reading. First, they investigated whether 60 first-grade children would report substantially different levels of interest in reading as a function of their relative success or failure…

Impacts of Dialogical Storybook Reading on Young Children's Reading Attitudes and Vocabulary Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kotaman, Huseyin

2013-01-01

The current study assessed the impact of parents' dialogical storybook reading on their children's receptive vocabulary and reading attitudes. Forty parents and their preschoolers participated in the study. Parents were randomly assigned to experimental or control groups. The experimental group received dialogical storybook reading training.…

Computerized Silent Reading Rate and Strategy Instruction for Fourth Graders at Risk in Silent Reading Rate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niedo, Jasmin; Lee, Yen-Ling; Breznitz, Zvia; Berninger, Virginia W.

2014-01-01

Fourth graders whose silent word reading and/or sentence reading rate was, on average, two-thirds standard deviation below their oral reading of real and pseudowords and reading comprehension accuracy were randomly assigned to treatment ("n" = 7) or wait-listed ("n" = 7) control groups. Following nine sessions combining…

Investigations of Protein Structure and Function Using the Scientific Literature: An Assignment for an Undergraduate Cell Physiology Course

PubMed Central

Mulnix, Amy B.

2003-01-01

Undergraduate biology curricula are being modified to model and teach the activities of scientists better. The assignment described here, one that investigates protein structure and function, was designed for use in a sophomore-level cell physiology course at Earlham College. Students work in small groups to read and present in poster format on the content of a single research article reporting on the structure and/or function of a protein. Goals of the assignment include highlighting the interdependence of protein structure and function; asking students to review, integrate, and apply previously acquired knowledge; and helping students see protein structure/function in a context larger than cell physiology. The assignment also is designed to build skills in reading scientific literature, oral and written communication, and collaboration among peers. Assessment of student perceptions of the assignment in two separate offerings indicates that the project successfully achieves these goals. Data specifically show that students relied heavily on their peers to understand their article. The assignment was also shown to require students to read articles more carefully than previously. In addition, the data suggest that the assignment could be modified and used successfully in other courses and at other institutions. PMID:14673490

Reading and Abstracting Journal Articles in Sedimentology and Stratigraphy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Conrad, Susan Howes

1991-01-01

An assignment centered on reading journal articles and writing abstracts is an effective way to improve student reading and writing skills in sedimentology and stratigraphy laboratories. Each student reads two articles and writes informative abstracts from the author's point of view. (PR)

Interpretive versus noninterpretive content in top-selling radiology textbooks: what are we teaching medical students?

PubMed

Webb, Emily M; Vella, Maya; Straus, Christopher M; Phelps, Andrew; Naeger, David M

2015-04-01

There are little data as to whether appropriate, cost effective, and safe ordering of imaging examinations are adequately taught in US medical school curricula. We sought to determine the proportion of noninterpretive content (such as appropriate ordering) versus interpretive content (such as reading a chest x-ray) in the top-selling medical student radiology textbooks. We performed an online search to identify a ranked list of the six top-selling general radiology textbooks for medical students. Each textbook was reviewed including content in the text, tables, images, figures, appendices, practice questions, question explanations, and glossaries. Individual pages of text and individual images were semiquantitatively scored on a six-level scale as to the percentage of material that was interpretive versus noninterpretive. The predominant imaging modality addressed in each was also recorded. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed. All six books had more interpretive content. On average, 1.4 pages of text focused on interpretation for every one page focused on noninterpretive content. Seventeen images/figures were dedicated to interpretive skills for every one focused on noninterpretive skills. In all books, the largest proportion of text and image content was dedicated to plain films (51.2%), with computed tomography (CT) a distant second (16%). The content on radiographs (3.1:1) and CT (1.6:1) was more interpretive than not. The current six top-selling medical student radiology textbooks contain a preponderance of material teaching image interpretation compared to material teaching noninterpretive skills, such as appropriate imaging examination selection, rational utilization, and patient safety. Copyright © 2015 AUR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Effects of Pre-Reading Activities on Reading Comprehension of Iranian EFL Learners

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moghaddam, Nahid Nemati; Mahmoudi, Asgar

2016-01-01

This study investigated the effects of three types of pre-reading activities (movie-watching, vocabulary presentation, and pre-reading summarization) on the reading comprehension of 76 elementary-level EFL Iranian learners. The participants were randomly assigned to one control and three experimental conditions and then a pretest was given to…

Online versus Paper-Based Instruction: Comparing Two Strategy Training Modules for Improving Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Hsin-chou

2014-01-01

This study investigates the effectiveness of online versus paper-based reading strategy instruction on EFL learners' reading comprehension. Fifty-seven university students from two intact reading classes with comparable proficiency levels were assigned to participate in either a paper-based or an online reading instructional module. Both groups…

Interventions for Reading Difficulties: A Comparison of Response to Intervention by ELL and EFL Struggling Readers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lovett, Maureen W.; De Palma, Maria; Frijters, Jan; Steinbach, Karen; Temple, Meredith; Benson, Nancy; Lacerenza, Lea

2008-01-01

This article explores whether struggling readers from different primary language backgrounds differ in response to phonologically based remediation. Following random assignment to one of three reading interventions or to a special education reading control program, reading and reading-related outcomes of 166 struggling readers were assessed…

Effects of an Informational Text Reading Comprehension Intervention for Fifth-Grade Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ritchey, Kristen D.; Palombo, Kimberly; Silverman, Rebecca D.; Speece, Deborah L.

2017-01-01

Upper elementary school students who have reading problems may have difficulty in one or more areas of reading, each requiring specific types of interventions. This study evaluated a short-term reading intervention for 46 fifth-grade students with poor reading comprehension. Students were randomly assigned to an intervention or no treatment…

Promoting Contextual Vocabulary Learning through an Adaptive Computer-Assisted EFL Reading System

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Y.-H.

2016-01-01

The study developed an adaptive computer-assisted reading system and investigated its effect on promoting English as a foreign language learner-readers' contextual vocabulary learning performance. Seventy Taiwanese college students were assigned to two reading groups. Participants in the customised reading group read online English texts, each of…

Using Facebook to Improve L2 German Students' Socio-Pragmatic Skills

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harting, Axel

2017-01-01

This study explores ways of using Facebook as a tool to improve the pragmatic competence of students of German as a foreign language in Japan. Nine students of a textbook-based German class (CFER level A2) voluntarily participated in this blended learning approach, in which they were assigned weekly online tasks aimed at eliciting speech acts…

The Curricular Indian Agent: Discursive Colonization and Indigenous (Dys)Agency in U.S. History Textbooks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stanton, Christine Rogers

2014-01-01

In the 1800s and early 1900s, the United States assigned Indian Agents--non-Native employees of the federal government--to coordinate intergovernmental efforts, to encourage the assimilation of Native peoples into European-American society, and to serve as advocates for individual tribes. Although Indian Agents no longer exist in an official…

An Inexpensive Kinetic Study: The Reaction of FD&C Red #3 (Erythrosin B) with Hypochlorite

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Henary, Maher M.; Russell, Arlene A.

2007-01-01

Kinetics constitutes a core topic in both the lecture and laboratory components of lower- level chemistry courses. While textbook examples can ignore issues of time, temperature and safety, the laboratory can not. Reactions must occur slowly enough to be detected by students, occur rapidly enough for data collection in the few hours assigned to a…

Readability, Reading Ability, and Readership.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kern, Richard P.; And Others

This paper presents data describing large differences between the reading difficulty levels of printed materials used in certain military occupational specialties (MOSs) and the relatively lower reading ability levels of men assigned to these MOSs. Initial data explore the relationship between reading ability and utilization of printed materials…

Comparing Examples: WebAssign versus Textbook

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Richards, Evan; Polak, Jeff; Hardin, Ashley; Risley, John, , Dr.

2005-11-01

Research shows students can learn from worked examples.^1 This pilot study compared two groups of students' performance (10 each) in solving physics problems. One group had access to interactive examples^2 released in WebAssign^3, while the other group had access to the counterpart textbook examples. Verbal data from students in problem solving sessions was collected using a think aloud protocol^4 and the data was analyzed using Chi's procedures.^5 An explanation of the methodology and results will be presented. Future phases of this pilot study based upon these results will also be discussed. ^1Atkinson, R.K., Derry, S.J., Renkl A., Wortham, D. (2000). ``Learning from Examples: Instructional Principles from the Worked Examples Research'', Review of Educational Research, vol. 70, n. 2, pp. 181-214. ^2Serway, R.A. & Faughn, J.S. (2006). College Physics (7^th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole. ^3 see www.webassign.net ^4 Ericsson, K.A. & Simon, H.A. (1984). Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. ^5 Chi, Michelene T.H. (1997). ``Quantifying Qualitative Analyses of Verbal Data: A Practical Guide,'' The Journal of the Learning Sciences, vol. 6, n. 3, pp. 271-315.

Academic performance and comparative effectiveness of computer- and textbook-based self-instruction.

PubMed

Kurihara, Yukio; Kuramoto, Shu; Matsuura, Kimio; Miki, Yoichiro; Oda, Katsushi; Seo, Hiromi; Watabe, Teruaki; Qayumi, A Karim

2004-01-01

We intended to clarify the influence of student academic ability on the effectiveness of CAI, using data of a study to assess the effectiveness of a new type of CAI software, cyberPatient (CP), at Kochi Medical School (KMS). A total of 59 third-year students were randomly assigned to four groups: Group-1 used a textbook for self-instruction, Group-2 used CP, Group-3 used both types of learning materials, and Group-4 did not learn. Learning performance was evaluated by multiple-choice examination and OSCE. In order to clarify the influence of students' academic ability on the effectiveness of CAI, statistical analyses were conducted, assigning students as either high or medium or low performance students. High performance students from Group-1, -2 and -3 did not differ significantly in test performance after self-instruction. However, low performance students in Group-1 scored significantly lower than those in Group-2 and -3. All students in Group-2 and -3 reported that CP stimulated willingness to learn and assisted understanding. The present analysis suggested that effectiveness of CAI might be associated with the academic ability of students.

Teach Astronomy: An Online Textbook for Introductory Astronomy Courses and Resources for Informal Learners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hardegree-Ullman, Kevin; Impey, C. D.; Patikkal, A.

2012-05-01

This year we implemented Teach Astronomy (www.teachastronomy.com) as a free online resource to be used as a teaching tool for non-science major astronomy courses and for a general audience interested in the subject. The comprehensive content includes: an introductory astronomy text book by Chris Impey, astronomy articles on Wikipedia, images from the Astronomy Picture of the Day, two to three minute topical video clips by Chris Impey, podcasts from 365 Days of Astronomy, and astronomy news from Science Daily. Teach Astronomy utilizes a novel technology to cluster, display, and navigate search results, called a Wikimap. Steep increases in textbook prices and the unique capabilities of emerging web technology motivated the development of this free online resource. Recent additions to Teach Astronomy include: images and diagrams for the textbook articles, mobile device implementation, and suggested homework assignments for instructors that utilize recent discoveries in astronomy. We present an overview of how Teach Astronomy has been implemented for use in the classroom and informal settings, and suggestions for utilizing the rich content and features of the web site.

Where Non-Science Majors Get Information about Science and How They Rate that Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Buxner, Sanlyn; Impey, Chris; Nieberding, Megan; Romine, James

2014-11-01

College non-science major courses represent one of the last science courses many students will ever take. We report on a study of 400 undergraduate non-majors students enrolled in introductory astronomy courses at the University of Arizona to gain insight into where they get their information about science and their perception of that information. Students completed an online survey during the 2013-2014 school year. In addition to demographic information, students reported where they obtained information about science when they want to know something both for their own knowledge as well as information for a course assignment. They reported their interest in different science topics, rated the reliability of different sources of information, and reported how important science was to their life, including their future career choice.Overall, students reported getting information from a variety of online sources when looking up a topic for their own knowledge, including internet searches (71%), Wikipedia (46%), and online science sites (e.g. NASA) (45%). When asked where they got information for course assignments, most reported from assigned readings (82%) but a large percentage still reported getting information from online sources such as internet searches (60%), Wikipedia (30%) and online science sites (e.g. NASA) (20%). Overall, students rated professors/teachers and textbooks at the most reliable sources of scientific information and rated social media sites, blogs and Wikipedia as the least reliable sources of scientific information. Additionally, friends and family members were rated as less reliable sources of scientific information than similar information found on multiple websites. Students’ interest in science and self-reported knowledge in science was positively correlated. There was a significant positive correlation between those who reported that they liked science and felt that science was important to their future career. Overall, our results are giving us insights into how our non-science majors get and evaluate scientific information.

Sexism and anatomy, as discerned in textbooks and as perceived by medical students at Cardiff University and University of Paris Descartes.

PubMed

Morgan, Susan; Plaisant, Odile; Lignier, Baptiste; Moxham, Bernard J

2014-03-01

Contemporary textbooks of anatomy and surface anatomy were evaluated to ascertain whether they were gender-neutral. The evidence of this, and previous studies, suggests that, both in terms of imagery and text, many textbooks lack neutrality. To further investigate such matters, we provided second-year medical students studying at Cardiff University (n = 293) and at the Paris Descartes University (n = 142) during the 2011-2012 academic year with a questionnaire inviting them to address the possibility that social/gender factors hinder the dispassionate representation of anatomy. Ethical approval was obtained from both Cardiff and Paris universities. Eighty-six percent of the students at Cardiff and 39% at Paris Descartes responded and provided data for analysis. The hypothesis tested is that medical students perceive a gender bias that is reflected in the books they read and the tuition they receive. Our findings suggest that, while students recognise the importance of gender issues and do not wish to associate with sexism, most are unaware of the possible negative aspects of sexism within anatomy. In this respect, the findings do not support our hypothesis. Nevertheless, we recommended that teachers of anatomy and authors of anatomy textbooks should be aware of the possibility of adverse effects on professional matters relating to equality and diversity issues. © 2013 Anatomical Society.

Sexism and anatomy, as discerned in textbooks and as perceived by medical students at Cardiff University and University of Paris Descartes

PubMed Central

Morgan, Susan; Plaisant, Odile; Lignier, Baptiste; Moxham, Bernard J

2014-01-01

Contemporary textbooks of anatomy and surface anatomy were evaluated to ascertain whether they were gender-neutral. The evidence of this, and previous studies, suggests that, both in terms of imagery and text, many textbooks lack neutrality. To further investigate such matters, we provided second-year medical students studying at Cardiff University (n = 293) and at the Paris Descartes University (n = 142) during the 2011–2012 academic year with a questionnaire inviting them to address the possibility that social/gender factors hinder the dispassionate representation of anatomy. Ethical approval was obtained from both Cardiff and Paris universities. Eighty-six percent of the students at Cardiff and 39% at Paris Descartes responded and provided data for analysis. The hypothesis tested is that medical students perceive a gender bias that is reflected in the books they read and the tuition they receive. Our findings suggest that, while students recognise the importance of gender issues and do not wish to associate with sexism, most are unaware of the possible negative aspects of sexism within anatomy. In this respect, the findings do not support our hypothesis. Nevertheless, we recommended that teachers of anatomy and authors of anatomy textbooks should be aware of the possibility of adverse effects on professional matters relating to equality and diversity issues. PMID:23781866