Classroom Textbooks Research Articles

The pressure-flow hypothesisof phloem transport: misconceptions in the A-level textbooks

Schoolteachers perceive the pressure-flow hypothesis as difficult to teach. A look at some textbooks in use inthe sixth-form classroom gives the reason why. This article criticises the treatment given to the pressure-flow hypothesis by nine textbooks while showing how this model for long-distance sugar movement in plants canbe explained simply and effectively. Questions of a wider, educational nature are raised.

Textbooks, teaching and learning in primary mathematics classrooms

This paper describes a research project that was undertaken to explore the impact of a textbook, Maths for all, in primary mathematics classrooms. A quasi-experimental design was used, and a random sample of 14 classrooms from ex-DET primary schools in Cape Town was selected, 10 of which were given class sets of the textbook at the start of the project, and 4 were given these sets only after the project was completed. Data from interviews, questionnaires, classroom observation and pre-and post-tests were collected. An analysis of aspects of the textbook was undertaken, and of its use by teachers in classrooms. It is argued that the inductive style prioritised by the textbook is in tension with the preferred deductive style of most of the teachers, resulting in the fragmenting of its semantic structure. Statistical analysis of pre- and post-tests revealed no educationally significant differences between students with access to the textbook and those without access. The majority of learners (n=538) performed very poorly on the test. While the data analysis does not allow strong claims to be made about the impact of the textbook on learner performance, it raises important pedagogic issues about the contexts into which textbooks are inserted, especially with respect to the specialisation of time.

Generative linguistics: A historical perspective By Frederick J. Newmeyer (review)

900 LANGUAGE, VOLUME 73, NUMBER 4 (1997) section we learn about optimality theory, and in syntax the minimalist program is introduced. This is a book that is definitely up to date. Both of these research paradigms are presented in enough detail so that their appeal to the general linguistic audience is obvious. The tone of the book is remarkable and consistent throughout. The author remains an excited proponent of all topics, eager to share her knowledge and discoveries with the reader. She adopts a friendly, chatty tone. The book is written very much in the first person ; at the end of the book one almost feels as if one knows the author. All of these features work successfully, I think, to engage the reader in the somewhat daunting task of assimilating all of the material in the book. As a teacher, I like the many fresh examples, many of which come from Italian and Japanese, but also from American Sign Language . I think these and others from other unfamiliar languages will also engage students. The cross-referencing is prolific, and the indexes are just what a student would want. The first contains languages, the second contains new terminology (even distinctive features), and the third a subject index. With these extensive indexes and cross referencing , the reader is less disturbed by the minimalist table of contents—five chapter titles, the bibliography , and indexes. The care with which this sizable volume has been put together and overseen is impressive : I found only one typo in the entire book. I don't think this book should be limited solely to a classroom textbook. It could also serve as something of a reference. Chapters are amply referenced so that students can follow up on topics that pique their interest . Furthermore, its ample size guarantees that there will always be something to come back to. [G. Tucker Childs, Portland State University.] Möglichkeiten und Mechanismen kontaktbewegten Sprachwandels unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Finnischen. By Nicole Nau. (Edition Linguistik 8.) Munich & Newcastle: Lincom Europa, 1995. Pp. 216. DM 47.00, $36.20. In this Ph.D. thesis, Nau gives an overview of language change. Many theories abound in this area, and N does not offer a theory of her own but rather applies current theories to Finnish. Not only does she adduce examples from Standard Finnish but also from Colloquial Finnish and from Finnish dialects which have been more influenced by other languages . In addition, N uses plenty of examples from other (mostly European) languages. The book contains eight chapters of which the first four are introductory chapters. After a short introduction (1-3), Ch. 2, 'Theorien, Thesen, Modelle zum Sprachwandel' (4-30), discusses relevant theories of language change and grammaticalization. Ch. 3, 'Vom Sprachkontakt zur Sprachmischung' (31-47), does the same for language contact. It also contains a short history of the Finnish language. Finally, Ch. 4, 'Klassifikation von Entlehnungen und Untersuchungsmethoden ' (48-55), examines which elements are typically borrowed. The next three chapters form the core of the book. Ch. 5, 'Vom Lexicon in die Grammatik' (56-93), deals with borrowings and their effect on Finnish. N gives us examples from phonology (borrowing of phonemes such as voiced stops, syllable structure, vowel harmony in borrowings, and stress) and morphology (ways of borrowing of derivational morphology ). In addition, N treats the incorporation of suffixes denoting femininity in nouns denoting female animals and professions and the effects these suffixes have on the rules of Finnish phonology and morphology. Ch. 6, 'Zwischen Lexikon und Grammatik: Inhalts - und Funktionswörter' (94-122), is the most interesting chapter. It deals in detail with the development of auxiliaries, comparison, and the article. Section 6.2 deals with the development of future expressions in Finnish. N sketches the different ways ofexpressing the future since the first written Finnish documents. Section 6.3 deals with four ways to express the superlative in Finnish and the adjacent Uralic languages: a suffix, which goes back to an older Uralic suffix, an analytic construction with a form denoting 'all', a construction with an article, and a construction borrowed from Russian. Languages which have the latter construction (Karelian, Veps, and Vot) have borrowed m some form...

Reflections: A Lesson in Related Rates

My objective in teaching an Advanced Placement calculus course is not only to help students pass the AP examination each spring but also to help them develop insights into advanced problem solving and real-world applications. I continually search for examples in my students' daily environment that can help them make a tangible connection from the classroom textbook to the real world. In this article, I discuss a general application of a basic concept with which all first-year-calculus students must contend: the problem of related rates.

Rhetorical contexts and hedges

(1990). Rhetorical contexts and hedges. Rhetoric Society Quarterly: Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 49-59.

Classroom Uses of Specialized Magazines

There are many specialized magazines for young readers of all ages on the mark t today. Historical Times, for example, is a magazine for high school students that publishes articles concerning the colonial period and mid-nineteenth century. Other magazines focus on scientific discoveries, current events, computer technology, health, fiction, art, and other subjects. Many teachers recognize that specialized magazines are good supplements to classroom textbooks (Appel and Turkish 1984; Memory 1984; Seminoff 1986). These magazines are worthwhile because they (1) contain highinterest articles, (2) are visually attractive, and, most important, (3) provide informative articles that students enjoy reading. In some instances, teachers use magazines primarily for recreational reading or as rewards for hard work or achievement. In other instances, teachers use magazines as primary teaching tools, relying on the content in the magazines for much of the curriculum in their classes. Since there have been no recent studies regarding classroom uses of magazines, this study was designed to determine the extent to which teachers use magazines in their classrooms and the instructional uses they make of them.

The business of ethics

literature into four major groups: first, those books which have a general thesis or issue with which they are concerned, such as Management of Values or The Social Challenge of Business (1975); second, a variety of anthologies which provide either a thematic orienta tion, dealing with a set of issues that confront the business world, like Just Business: New Introductory Essays in Business Ethics, edited by Tom Regan (1984), or a collection of papers presented at one conference or another, like Proceedings of the First National Con ference on Business Ethics, edited by Michael Hoffman (1977, there are also later collections); third, text books for class use at the undergraduate level, the standard of which is Richard DeGeorge, Business Ethics (1982, 2nd edition 1986); fourth, and in greater supply, there are various collections of case studies, one of the first was Cases in Business Ethics, edited by T. M. Garrett et al (1963). A current example is Policies and Persons. These four groups can be divided also according to specific subject-matters or general attitudes towards this growing discipline. For example, one could distinguish (within the first group) between those books concerned with public policy or financial policy issues and all the others. One could also combine the third and fourth groups and label them "classroom textbooks". And finally, one could separate all those books which are critical of the business world in general, providing specific issues and cases to demonstrate the inherent evils of the business world as we know it in the U.SA (modern capitalism), and all those books which attempt in one way or another to defend this same business world and provide some minor aspects for internal and voluntary reform. From the days in which teachers and scholars were unable to find enough resources for their own understanding and classroom presentations, we have reached a level of saturation in which the choice may be overwhelming. In addition, there is some added confusion because the treatment of ethics as it

Comprehension and Production of Basic Semantic Concepts by Older Hearing-Impaired Children

Comprehension of semantic concepts considered basic to academic performance in the early grades was evaluated with the Boehm Test of Basic Concepts (BTBC) for 15 orally trained, severely and profoundly hearing-imparied children, ages 13--14 years. The children also were required to construct written sentences using these same concepts. Teachers of the hearing-impaired children completed a questionnaire of their expectation levels of the vocabulary competence, comprehension, and production for each child on the 50 items of the BTBC. Classroom texts used by the children were examined for the presence of these specific concepts. The measure of comprehension showed that four-fifths of the children scored lower than the 10th percentile for second-grade hearing children, and two-thirds scored at or below the 1st percentile. Evaluating production, 68% of the sentences produced by the children contained semantic, syntactic, or semantic-syntactic errors. The individual's level of vocabulary comprehension was higher than each child's level of production. Classroom teachers were able to predict accurately each child's comprehension and production scores. Finally, the survey of the classroom textbooks used by the children revealed that approximately 80% of the BTBC test items appeared within the texts. Implications are discussed.

A Primer of Formal Logic by John C. Cooley, Ph. D. (review)

204 FRANCISCAN STUDIES There are a few corrections to be made in Dr. Tozzer’s notes. (1 ) It is not only irrelevant but also irreverent to say (p. 16, note 93) that "God also provided Cortés with a mistress.” (2 ) Cifuéntes, the Spanish town where Landa was born and buried, is said (p. 44, note 44) to be in the province of Toledo, whereas this town is in the Alcarria, a desolate and mountainous region in the province of Guadalajara. (3) Landa was the fifth, not the fourth Bishop of Yucatan; Tozzer evidently did not take into ac­ count the first bishop, Father Julian Garcés, O. P., 1519. (4) Tozzer errs in stating (p. 84, note 352) that the professorship of Scotus at the Spanish University of Alcalá "was probably in honor of Michael Scot, who had posthumous fame as an author on alchemy, astrology, and other occult sci­ ences. He died about 1291." Tozzer has confused Michael with John Duns Scotiis. The Chair of Scotus at the great University founded in Spain bv the Franciscan Cardinal Ximénez de Cisneros was for the study and teaching of the works of John Duns Scotus, the great Franciscan Scholastic (12651308 ). The Michael Scott to whom Tozzer refers was a Scottish mathe­ matician, scientist, and philosopher, born about 1175, died probably in 1235, who lived some years in Toledo, Spain, where he translated some works of Aristotle, Avicena, and Averroes into Latin from the Arabic. He was a cleric, but not a friar, and he was offered nominations to become Archbishoo of Cashel, Ireland, and of Canterbury, England. His fame as a medieval scientist became legendary, and he figures as a "magician” in Dante’s Inferno, Boccaccio’s Decatnerone, and in Sir Walter Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel. (5 )We also note the omission in Tozzer’s Bibliography of the important work by the great Spanish historian, Manuel Serrano y Sanz, entitled: Vida y escritos de Fr. Diego de Landa, published first in the Revista de Archivos, Bibliotecas y Museos. 3a época, I (1897), 54-60, 109-117. There is no doubt that this eighth edition of Landa’s Relación de las Cosas de Yucatan by Dr. Tozzer will henceforth be considered the definitive edition, a most important contribution in the field of Hispanic-American History, a source-book of information concerning Maya studies, and á treasure-store of data for some future Franciscan history of the Americas. R oderick W h eeler , O. F. M. Franciscan Institute, St. Bonaventure College, St. Bonaventure, N .Y . A Primer of Formal Logic. By John C. Cooley, Ph.D. (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1942. Pp. xii+378.) The highly abstract and formalistic character of modern logic usually has a negative effect even on many of those who are not a priori opposed to it. To those the Primer of Formal Logic offers a comparatively easy, and in any case more "natural,” way of getting acquainted with modern sym­ bolic logic— or, to be exact, with that logic which is developed in the Principia Mathematica by Whitehead and Russell. The book is primarily conceived as a classroom textbook, but it seems to provide a suitable basis for private study as well. For it explains every step and every symbol to such an extent that further explanations by a teacher may be dispensed with- BOOK REVIEWS 205 Thus Cooley has succeeded in writing an introduction to Symbolic Logic which will earn him the gratitude of those who try to learn or to teach the mysteries of modern Formalism. The book can be divided into four parts. The first part is meant only as an introduction to the notion of formality and the symbolism of modern logic. It starts with a discussion of conditional syllogisms, and then leads (gradually adding, and step by step explaining, new symbolism) to a nondeductive treatment of the prepositional calculus (Chapters II and III), to the lower functional calculus (quantification theory), and even to a very elementary theory of classes and relations (Chapters IV and V ). The second part recapitulates the whole matter discussed in the previous chapters, but develops it as an elementary deductive system (or...

A Basic Classroom Textbook in FrenchModern French Course. Mathurin Dondo

Previous articleNext article No AccessEducational WritingsA Basic Classroom Textbook in French Modern French Course. Mathurin Dondo Ruth V. NormanRuth V. Norman Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Volume 38, Number 4Apr., 1930 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/439019 Journal History This article was published in The School Review (1893-1979), which is continued by the American Journal of Education (1979-present). PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.