Chapter 11

Question 1

textbook publishing and adoption process

Answer 1

• Textbooks greatly influence the curriculum. Most teachers base classroom lessons and homework on textbooks. In addition, textbook publishers influence school curricula by providing teaching objectives, learning activities, tests, audiovisual aids, and other supplements to assist their customers. Because the goal of business is profit, publishers are most responsive to market trends and customer preferences. This means they are reluctant to include subjects that are controversial. Publishers will modify their textbooks to appeal to decision makers in populous states, the most popular being Texas and California. Educators have criticized textbooks for inoffensiveness to the point of blandness, for artificially lowered reading levels (or dumbing down), and for pedagogically questionable gimmicks to hold students’ attention.
• Basically, publishing companies are evil, and we need to be aware of this when we are evaluating and selecting textbooks and other curriculum materials.

Question 2

four types of curriculum

Answer 2

1. Explicit (official or formal): what schools say they teach students. in formal curriculum documents
2. Hidden: did not intend to teach but did. Through teacher action, school experiences. sometimes undesirable student learning
3. Null: left out of a curriculum. options or perspectives not offered.
4. Extracurricular: activities that vary,athletics
   Co Curricular: closely aligned with official curriculum (FFA or DECA)