US Textbooks Research Articles

Assessing the incorporation of the 'Five Moments for Hand Hygiene' into nursing procedure textbooks

AimOur aim was to conduct a thorough comparison between the hand hygiene information included in international nursing textbooks and the Slovenian nursing textbook's equivalent content as it relates to nursing procedures. BackgroundHand hygiene practices are crucial in preventing healthcare-associated infections, which affect millions of patients annually. The idea behind "Five Moments for Hand Hygiene" is to encourage assessing success and boosting self-efficacy. DesignComparison of hand hygiene content in international nursing textbooks with the content in a Slovenian nursing textbook. MethodsA study was conducted between March 2023 and March 2024 to compare hand hygiene content in international nursing textbooks. The study included textbooks from the USA and UK, as well as Slovenian (SI) textbooks. The final phase involved comparing hand hygiene performance practices against the WHO Five Moments for Hand Hygiene. ResultsThe study reviewed 470 nursing procedures across three textbooks, identifying four common ones: female indwelling urinary catheterisation, small-bore feeding tube insertion, enema administration and subcutaneous injections. The USA textbook had the highest number of steps, while the UK textbook had the lowest. Clean protective gloves are not recommended for all nursing procedures, only for small-bore feeding tube insertion and enema administration. The US textbook omitted 12 steps for the female indwelling urinary catheter procedure, while the UK textbook included 10 steps. The SI textbook omitted 8 steps. ConclusionsHand hygiene is crucial for healthcare infections prevention and control. The study found differences in the frequency of hand hygiene in these nursing procedures. WHO's Five Moments for Hand Hygiene guidelines are not universally accepted, with inadequate hygiene often observed before patient contact. Future research should review foreign textbooks and update existing ones.

A Content Analysis of Tasks Involving Two-Dimensional Cartesian Graphs in Grade 6–8 U. S. Textbooks

ABSTRACT Understanding and supporting students’ development of graph literacy is important. We studied how aspects of graph literacy might be supported (or hindered) in middle school by analyzing the content in textbooks. Specifically, we conducted a content analysis of tasks involving two-dimensional Cartesian graphs presented in grade 6–8 US textbooks. Three elements were analyzed: the type of activity involved in graphing, the nature of the graph, and the relevant mathematical topic. We first present three illustrative tasks to demonstrate how we made sense of these three elements with graphing tasks. Second, we present the frequency of different types of coordinate system activity, graph activity, and coordinate system types involved in textbook tasks and how they change across grade level and mathematical domain. Our findings reveal varying levels of explosure to different graphing elements students might encounter through textbooks. We discuss implications of our findings on research, teaching, and curriculum development.

주요 국가의 교육 과정과 교과서에 제시된 원자력 발전 내용 분석

Objectives The purposes of this study were to analyze status, history and policy, science and social studies curriculum, textbooks of nuclear power in major countries.
 Methods In accordance with global nuclear policies, the United States and Japan were selected as countries to expand and maintain nuclear power plants. In the case of a country abolishing it, Korea, Germany, France were chosen. Australia is one of the countries that doesn't have it. We identified the current status of nuclear power through the number of nuclear power plants, generation, historical and policy data in major countries. And this study investigated nuclear power generation after collecting data from science and social studies curriculum and textbooks published by selected countries and discussed the implications.
 Results In terms of the curriculum, science subject was more than social studies subject, especially in high school physics and chemistry. Textbooks of the 2009 Revised Curriculum and US textbooks showed high in frequency. In domestic textbooks and foreign science textbooks, contents were many “pros and cons, and controversial situations of nuclear power generation”. In foreign social studies textbooks, contents were many “nuclear accident”.
 Conclusions In order to students to properly understand the issue of nuclear power generation, nuclear content and educational methods should be planned systematically from elementary school.

“The Pearl Harbor of the Twenty-first Century”?

Abstract In the aftermath of the 11 September 2001 attacks against the United States, people immediately compared the attack with the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor sixty years prior. In this article, we explore how US and world history textbooks published shortly after Pearl Harbor and 9/11 depicted and contextualized both events. The textbooks demonstrate that the depictions of Pearl Harbor neatly fit within a chapter about the origins, battles and home fronts of the Second World War. However, textbooks struggled to situate 9/11, placing it within histories of terrorism, histories of the modern Middle East, or twenty-first century problems. Moreover, the textbook authors likely relied on the powerful collective memories that each event triggered because the textbook descriptions of both attacks are exceedingly brief.

Asian American Representation in US History Textbooks

The US history curriculum is an indispensable part of American education and taught throughout all high schools. Though educational resources have diversified over the years, the most important tool used to inform the curriculum remains to be the textbook. Debates about the content and administration of the US history curriculum and textbook have been continuing for decades; a particularly popular debate is the portrayal of minorities within US history textbooks. Though the deficiency of representation is well documented within Native Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans history, the representation of Asian Americans is severely lacking. Our paper will examine two US history textbooks, both used widely across the country in public school curriculums, and identify the patterns of Asian American representation. Our results show that Asian American representation is quite limited and passive. Accomplishments are stated vaguely, and important historical Asian American figures are completely absent. Textbook authors and history teachers throughout the US should recognize these limitations and work to reform the curriculum to create a more inclusive US history class.

The theory of school arithmetic: Fractions

In 1999, Liping Ma's study of US and Chinese elementary teachers’ mathematical knowledge presented readers with a puzzle. Why did the US teachers, all of whom had tertiary degrees and were enrolled in intensive post-graduate programs, show less knowledge of school mathematics than the Chinese teachers, who had so much less education? Why were the Chinese teachers able to connect procedural topics such as algorithms with conceptual topics such as place value and the distributive law? We believe that an important part of the explanation is that the school arithmetic in the two countries was profoundly different: Unlike the school arithmetic of their US counterparts, the solid substance of the school arithmetic learned and taught by the Chinese teachers afforded mathematical reasoning. We illustrate this claim and the meaning of “solid substance” by presenting a logical system distilled from 19th-century US and 20th-century Chinese elementary textbooks. This system extends the system described in our 2018 article “The Theory of School Arithmetic: Whole Numbers.”

Seeing the Woods for the Trees Again: Analyzing Evolutionary Diagrams in German and US University-Level Textbooks

Phylogenetic trees are important tools for teaching and understanding evolution, yet students struggle to read and interpret them correctly. In this study, we extend a study conducted by Catley and Novick (2008) by investigating depictions of evolutionary trees in US textbooks. We investigated 1197 diagrams from 11 German and 11 United States university textbooks, conducting a cross-country comparison and comparing the results with data from the 2008 study. A coding manual was developed based on the 2008 study, with extensions focused on additional important aspects of evolutionary trees. The US and German books showed only a low number of significant differences, typically with very small impacts. In both samples, some characteristics that can render reading trees more difficult or foster misconceptions were found to be prevalent in various portions of the diagrams. Furthermore, US textbooks showed fewer problematic properties in our sample than in the 2008 sample. We conclude that evolutionary trees in US and German textbooks are represented comparably and that depictions in US textbooks have improved over the past 12 years. As students are confronted with comparable depictions of evolutionary relatedness, we argue that findings and materials from one country should easily be transferable to the other.

The comparison of social studies textbooks in Turkey, the United States and France based on values education

The present study aimed to compare social studies or equivalent course textbooks in Turkey, the United States, and France (ethics-citizenship education) based on values education content. The study was designed with the holistic multi-case method, a qualitative research approach, and the study data were collected with document analysis. The study group was assigned with criterion sampling, a purposive sampling method. The study data were analyzed with the content analysis technique. The study findings were as follows: Value dimensions in the textbooks employed in the three countries were similar in the self-transcendence value dimension in Turkey and France, while self-enhancement value dimension was identified in the US (New York) textbooks. Analysis of the value types identified in the textbooks of the three countries demonstrated that the achievement category was prominent in Turkish and American (New York) textbooks, while universalism-concern value type was observed in France. Modesty value type was observed the least in the USA (New York) and France textbooks. However, the least frequent category was prestige in Turkish textbooks. The instruction approaches that were frequently observed in the textbook learning-instruction processes in the three countries were similar and the value explanation approach was adopted in Turkish and American (New York) social studies and French ethics-citizenship textbooks. The least frequent value instruction approaches in the textbooks were value instruction by observation in Turkish and French textbooks and moral reasoning method in the American (New York) social studies textbooks. Furthermore, American (New York) textbooks did not employ the value instruction by observation approach.

Understanding development requires assessing the relevant environment: Examples from mathematics learning

Although almost everyone agrees that the environment shapes children's learning, surprisingly few studies assess in detail the specific environments that shape children's learning of specific content. The present article briefly reviews examples of how such environmental assessments have improved understanding of child development in diverse areas, and examines in depth the contributions of analyses of one type of environment to one type of learning: how biased distributions of problems in mathematics textbooks influence children's learning of fraction arithmetic. We find extensive parallels between types of problems that are rarely presented in US textbooks and problems where children in the US encounter greater difficulty than might be expected from the apparent difficulty of the procedures involved. We also consider how some children master fraction arithmetic despite also learning the textbook distributions. Finally, we present findings from a recent intervention that indicates how children's fraction learning can be improved.

수학적 모델링 관점에 따른 한국과 미국의 중학교 1학년 교과서 기하 영역에 제시된 과제 분석

The purpose of this study is to analyze tasks reflected in Korean and US textbooks according to the mathematical modeling perspectives, and then to compare the diversity of learning opportunities given to students from both countries. For this, we analyzed mathematical modeling tasks of textbooks based on three aspects: mathematical modeling process, data, and expression. Results are as follows. First, with respect to modeling process, Korean textbook provides a high percentage of the task at all stages of modeling than US textbook. Second, with respect to data, both countries’ textbooks have the highest percentage of matching task. Korean textbooks have a large gap in data characteristics by textbook. Third, with respect to expression, both countries’ textbooks have the highest percentage of text and picture. Korean textbooks have a large gap in the type of expression than US textbooks, and some textbooks have no other expression except for text and picture. Fourth, tasks were analyzed by integrating the three features. The three features were not combined in various ways. It is necessary to diversify the integration of the three features.

Migration and Immigrants in Social Studies Textbooks (Turkey and US Sample)

In this research, it is discussed how migration and immigrant issues were examined in a comparative way in textbooks in Turkey and the United States. For this purpose, Life Studies and Social Studies textbooks of both countries were determined and of how migration and immigrants in terms were handled comparatively in these books. This research is a descriptive study. Document analysis technique was used for data collection. Both countries are trying to present the concepts of migration and immigrant under the student acquisition and competence related to cultural differences in curriculum. Overall, is the knowledge is given of what kind of migration and immigrant in Turkey's textbooks at the same time it is seen that contact with immigrants and tried to give the idea of integrating them into society to help them streamline their behalf. In the US textbooks, it is seen that the concepts of migration and immigrant are given meaning and the difficulties faced by immigrants are emphasized. More emphasis on immigrants is that they can achieve significant success as a US citizen and maintain their culture comfortably.

The earliest teaching and learning of probability in Singapore, the US, and Indonesia from the perspectives of textbooks analysis

This study analyzed how the earliest teaching and learning of probability was organized in Singapore, the US, and Indonesia through an analysis of textbook as an intended mathematics curriculum. An analytical framework was developed comprising four perspectives: representational forms, cognitive demand levels, contextual features, and organization of topics and its uniqueness. This study disclosed that the organization of the earliest teaching and learning of probability in the three countries focused on approximately similar topics, such as basic concepts of probability and probability measurements, although they were intended for different educational levels. Nevertheless, the uniqueness of the organization indicated that students in the three countries may receive different opportunity-to-learn in the earliest teaching and learning of probability in schools. In addition, Singaporean textbook had more exposure to higher-cognitive demand levels and written forms, while the US textbook put more concerns on lower-level demands and visual forms, Indonesian textbook included more proportions of lower- cognitive demand levels and written forms. Moreover, the three textbooks provided considerable opportunity to engage in real-life situations. Considering these results, more studies analyzing other standards-based textbooks and teaching practices might be needed to have further understanding of the organization of probability teaching and learning in schools.

Ernst Haeckel's contribution to Evo-Devo and scientific debate: a re-evaluation of Haeckel's controversial illustrations in US textbooks in response to creationist accusations.

As Blackwell (Am Biol Teach 69:135-136, 2007) pointed out, multiple authors have attempted to discredit Haeckel, stating that modern embryological studies have shown that Haeckel's drawings are stylized or embellished. More importantly, though, it has been shown that the discussion within the scientific community concerning Haeckel's drawings and the question of whether embryonic similarities are convergent or conserved have been extrapolated outside the science community in an attempt to discredit Darwin and evolutionary theory in general (Behe in Science 281:347-351, 1998; Blackwell in Am Biol Teach 69:135-136, 2007; Pickett et al. in Am Biol Teach 67:275, 2005; Wells in Am Biol Teach 61:345-349, 1999; Icons of evolution: science or myth? Why much of what we teach about evolution is wrong. Regnery Publishing, Washington, 2002). In this paper, we address the controversy surrounding Haeckel and his work in order to clarify the line between the shortcomings and the benefits of his research and illustrations. Specifically, we show that while his illustrations were not perfect anatomical representations, they were useful educational visualizations and did serve an important role in furthering studies in embryology.

Understanding length × width × height with modified tasks

In this article, we describe one possible way to modify volume tasks in textbooks to promote conceptual understanding of the volume formula: length × width × height. From the results of previous studies regarding students’ understanding of volume measurement, we identified three conceptual ideas key to understanding volume: filling three-dimensional space with equal-sized units, layer structure, and linking layer structure to the volume formula. Our examination of three popular US textbook series showed that these three conceptual ideas were not well-presented. We conclude with recommendations for one possible way to modify tasks to improve conceptually-based volume instruction.

“The Triumph of the West”: American Education and the Narrative of Decolonization, 1930–1965

This article examines representations of imperialism, anti-colonial nationalism, and decolonization in US textbooks for American and World History courses between 1930 and 1965. Broadly speaking, 1930s and early 1940s texts lauded imperialism and associated European colonialism with American imperialist activities. Authors extolled the benefits for colonial peoples, including literacy, good government, and peace, and anti-colonial nationalists were caricatured as irrational and ungrateful. US global engagement during and after World War II gradually changed the narrative, particularly following Philippine independence in 1946, as texts subsequently portrayed the US as an enlightened decolonizer. Postwar textbooks tended to argue that nationalism was a product of Western ideas and that anti-colonial nationalism was a triumph for Western civilization. While constructing this narrative of the spread of Western values, textbook authors largely marginalized colonial actors, promoted unflattering and stereotyped views of Africans and Asians, and de-emphasized the extreme violence inherent in the decolonization process.

Pedagogy of empowerment: student perspectives on critical multicultural education at a high-performing African American school

Despite decades of education reform, the US school curricula remain virtually unchanged. Multi-billion dollar initiatives such as No Child Left Behind, Common Core State Standards, Race to the Top, and Every Student Succeeds Act have not resulted in significant academic gains or curricula change. The exclusion of diversity and multiculturalism in US classrooms and textbooks underserves all students and inaccurately perpetuates a hegemonic narrative. This omission particularly disserves minority students, whose only exposure to Black history is slavery and the Civil Rights Movement. Thus, this qualitative case study examines a high-performing school, Harriet Tubman Academy (pseudonym) – HTA, that utilizes critical multiculturalism and anti-racism education. The findings reveal greater academic achievement, and the students explain that they had a greater understanding and appreciation for multicultural education because of their experiences at HTA. The findings of the study have great implications for urban school reform.

An Analysis of Problem-Posing Tasks in Chinese and US Elementary Mathematics Textbooks

This paper reports on 2 studies that examine how mathematical problem posing is integrated in Chinese and US elementary mathematics textbooks. Study 1 involved a historical analysis of the problem-posing (PP) tasks in 3 editions of the most widely used elementary mathematics textbook series published by People’s Education Press in China over 3 decades. Study 2 compared the PP tasks in Chinese and US elementary mathematics textbooks. This allows for the examination of PP tasks from an international comparative perspective, which provides one point of view about the kinds of learning opportunities that are available to students in China and the USA. We found evidence that the inclusion of PP tasks in the Chinese textbook series reflected, to some degree, changes in the curricular frameworks in China. However, the distribution of PP tasks across grade levels and content areas, as well as the variety of types of PP tasks included, suggest a need for greater intentionality in the design and placement of PP tasks in both the Chinese and US textbook series. Findings from the 2 studies reported in this paper not only contribute to our understanding about the inclusion of PP tasks in curriculum both historically and internationally, but also suggest a great need to systematically integrate PP activities into curriculum and instruction. The fact that both Chinese and US curriculum standards have heavily emphasized PP in school mathematics, despite there being only a small proportion of PP activities in both Chinese and US elementary mathematics curricula, suggests the existence of challenges that are delaying the implementation of reform ideas such as problem posing in school mathematics.

Evaluation in US and Japanese history textbooks

Abstract This paper attempts to make a corpus and cross-linguistic study of how the Pacific War is evaluated in US and Japanese history textbooks by drawing upon Systemic Functional Linguistics and the Appraisal System. The global pattern of evaluation in the data is such that the US history textbook gives more value to acts and things, creates an authoritative voice excluding alternative positions, and has a delicate construal for the extent of evaluation. By contrast, the Japanese history textbook displays a subjective affective stance and a flagged authorial voice strengthened by alternative positions. A detailed discourse analysis of the lexicogrammar in the Pacific War narratives of the US and Japanese history textbooks further shows different evaluation orientations for the construal of images of the United States and Japan. The US history textbook characterizes the United States as a state of military power and high morality for its military operations in the Pacific War while censuring Japan’s cruelty of attack, whereas the Japanese history textbook highlights Japan’s tenacity and voluntary acts on the battlefield while condemning the United States for its immorality of bombing.

Decision Making and Citizen Participation in Korean and US textbooks: Passage features, cultural differences and comprehension

Abstract This study focused on 10-year-olds reading explanations from Korean and US textbooks to discover how well the children could comprehend the materials and what educators from the two countries could learn from one another. Passages from both countries reflected writing patterns in their larger cultures, but the Korean passages had more culture-free features that would enhance comprehension than the US passages. A total of 63 Korean and 57 US 10-year-olds read one of the passages from their own country or a translation from the other country and responded to items to assess knowledge, comprehension, and interest. Possessing background knowledge was positively associated with comprehension regardless of topic or country. Overall, both the US and Korean children comprehended the Korean explanations more effectively than the US passages. Both culture-independent and culture-dependent passage features seem to have contributed to this difference, suggesting approaches to improving instructional materials in civics for students across cultures.

The effects of reading well-written passages on students’ civic understanding and engagement

Abstract Students report learning about civics from reading textbooks more than from any other instructional activity. The US textbooks are often poorly organized, unfamiliar and uninteresting, creating a comprehension challenge for adolescents who struggle to learn the content these books contain. This study explored whether adolescents could understand civics content from reading a passage prepared to be comprehensible, present challenging content contrasting direct with representative democracy and enhance their interest. We prepared three passages to inform, argue or explain, which are genres used by political scientists. A total of 168 15-year-olds read one of the three passages and answered items to measure their comprehension, understanding about democracy, motivation to take action and interest in both the passage and social studies. These adolescents tended to comprehend all three passages, understand the complex content about democracy and express motivation to take action. We consider whether these results could be extended to countries other than the United States.