Textbook Evaluation 1
Running head: Evaluation of The World and Its People
Textbook Evaluation of The World and Its People
Nathan Hayes
University of Montevallo
Textbook Evaluation 2
I.
Abstract
The textbook being reviewed is named The World and Its People. Richard Boehm, David
Armstrong, Francis Hunkins, Merry Lobrecht, and Dennis Reinhartz each wrote the textbook.
McGraw Hill Companies, Incorporated published the textbook in 2005. The textbook is designed
for middle school students in the seventh grade. The textbook, The World and Its People,
pertains to World Geography. The textbook describes the physical features of different
countries around the world, as well as the people who live in them. The purpose of this paper is
to evaluate The World and Its People objectively and subjectively. In addition, this evaluation
will address the textbook’s vocabulary and symbol usage, syntactic maturity, graphic aids, and
instructional and learning support.
Textbook Evaluation 3
Textbook Evaluation of The World and Its People
II.
Subjective Readability
A. Vocabulary/Symbol Usage
The textbook’s vocabulary contains several strengths, as well as weaknesses. One
strength of the The World and Its People is its glossary. The textbook’s glossary provides
students with all the topic related words. The vocabulary words in the back of the book are
listed in alphabetical order. Each word is followed by an easily understandable definition. Each
definition is followed by the page number of where the term is used in the text. This provides
students with access to easily find a vocabulary word and its related information inside the text.
For example, a student can search for the term “delta” by looking in the glossary. The definition
reads, “area formed from a soil deposit located at the mouth of a river (pp. 42, 303, 480)”
(p.670). This provides the student with three different areas where the word “delta” is found in
the text. One other strength of the glossary is that it provides a Spanish glossary. The Spanish
glossary contains the English form of a vocabulary word, followed by its Spanish translation.
This provides Spanish-speaking students with the same information as their English-speaking
classmates.
One other strength of The World and Its People is its emphasis given to new words. The
book provides students with a list of key terms at the beginning of each chapter. On the first
page of each new section, the textbook gives readers a “Guide to Reading.” The “Guide to
Reading” is made up of three sections. Readers easily see each section because their headings
are listed in bigger font and are in blue, compared to the text’s smaller black font. The first
Textbook Evaluation 4
section provides readers with the “Main Idea.” The next section, located below the “Main
Idea,” is the “Terms to Know” section. This section provides readers with all of the important
“key words” that will be in the text. For example, the “Terms to Know” in section two of
Chapter three provides readers with the words, “death rate, birthrate, famine, population
density, urbanization, emigrate, and refugee” (p.87). The last section in the “Guide to Reading”
gives readers a “Reading Strategy.” This provides readers with a chart that they can fill in with
important facts as they read. This section is a strength of the book because it provides readers
with a synopsis of what they can expect in the upcoming pages.
A weakness of the vocabulary and symbol usage section of The World and Its People is
with the abstract level of meaning with some of its key words. I like the fact that the authors
tried to shorten their definitions of “key words” in order to allow readers to not be bogged
down with long definitions. I feel as if in some cases that the authors shortened their definitions
too much. One other problem with the textbook is that some of its “key words” have multiple
meanings. One example is the word “relief.” The glossary lists “relief” as, “differences in height
in a landscape; how flat or rugged the surface is (p. 9)” (p.674). This would not be a problem if a
student checked the glossary first, but when a student finds the word “relief” in the text, they
will believe that it means removal of pain or distress.
B. Syntactic Maturity
The textbook contains many concise and to the point sentences. As you read the text, it
seems as if the authors purposely constructed concise sentences. This allows readers to follow
along easily with the text. For example, in Chapter One of the text, a sentence states,
Textbook Evaluation 5
“Geographers study places” (p.23). One would think that the sentence length would progress in
size as the textbook continues, but The World and Its People uses the same sentence
throughout the book. This allows students to gain a firm grasp of the information, but does not
motivate complex thought for readers. The textbook not only continues the same length in
sentence structure, but also continues the same order of sentence parts. For example, in
Chapter Six of the text, a sentence states, “Austria’s economy is strong and varied” (p. 187).
This example points out that the textbook continues to use short sentences with the same
subject verb pattern. Using the same sentence structure is a weakness of the text because it
could lead to mundane reading causing the readers to become disinterested in the information
provided.
C. Graphic Aids
This textbook relies heavily upon graphic aids. Since the content of this textbook is
World Geography, it is vital for the text to contain maps that can contribute to the reader’s
learning ability. The textbook fulfills its obligation to provide various types of maps. A section
entitled “Reference Atlas” at the beginning of the textbook provides students with nineteen
pages of maps on various countries and continents. The textbook provides an appropriate
length and nature of content. A great example of an appropriate map is located on page RA14
of the textbook. The appeal of the graphic aids throughout the book is a very important
weakness of the textbook. The textbook uses bland colors on their maps that make it more
difficult to distinguish between different features. Also, the textbook seems to be a giant ad for
National Geographic. Each map, picture, or table has a huge National Geographic heading
Textbook Evaluation 6
plastered within the information. Example of this problem can be seen on pages 496 and 497 of
the textbook.
A great strength of the book is that contains lots of current information. I feel as though
it is important in World Geography for students to be able to relate current events with their
location on a map. The section on Afghanistan states, “In October 2001, after the attacks on the
World Trade Center and Pentagon, the United States accused the Taliban of supporting
terrorists and began bombing Taliban forces” (p.354). The book also has a section of the war in
Iraq. Both sections about the United States’ current wars help provide students with
information on what type of conditions soldiers face. This can make students more interested
in current events, thus creating more opportunities for students obtain new knowledge.
D. Instructional/Learning Support
The textbook provides readers with various opportunities for practice. Readers are
provided with opportunities for practice at the end of each section of each chapter. An
“Assessment” section is contained on the last page of each section. The “Assessment” section
provides students with questions asking for defining terms, recalling facts, critical thinking, and
organizing information through a graphic organizer. In addition, readers are provided with
“Assessment and Activities” at the end of each chapter. The “Assessment and Activities” section
asks the same questions as the “Assessment” sections located in the chapters.
Before the “Assessment and Activities” section at the end of the chapter, the textbook
provides readers with a “Reading Review.” The “Reading Review” serves as a summary of what
information is contained in each section. The “Reading Review” provides readers with the
Textbook Evaluation 7
“terms to know” and the “main ideas” from each section contained in the chapter. For example
the “main idea” for section one of Chapter Thirteen states, “Nigeria is a large, oil-rich country
that has more people than any other African nation” (397).
The textbook also provides readers with suggested supplementary activities. These
supplementary activities are located throughout the textbook. Some activities are listed in a
box beside the text. These boxes contain a link to the publisher’s website and an activity
students can go to learn more about a subject. The textbook also provides readers with a box in
their “Assessment and Activities” section that contains a link to the publisher’s website. This
link is provides readers with “Self-Check Quizzes.” For example, the “Assessment and Activities”
section in Chapter Thirteen provides a section entitled “Social Studies Online.”
A weakness of the book is with its attention to various ability levels. One would think
that as the textbook progressed that the ability level of the questions would increase as well.
This textbook fails to ask more complex questions through its progression. Questions
throughout the book only ask questions that can easily be found within the text. There are no
questions that challenge students to develop their own ideas. For example, the “Critical
Thinking” section located in the “Assessment and Activities” section for Chapter Ten asks the
question, “How would laws help a king rule” (p315). This question is not complex; it does not
require critical thinking.
E. Other Factors
The textbook provides good chapter introductions. Each chapter introduction provides
readers with a picture of something relating to the chapter and a brief description of the
Textbook Evaluation 8
picture. This provides readers with an introduction of what topics will be discussed throughout
the chapter. The textbook also has clear and simple organizational patterns. The textbook
begins by looking at the world as a whole. Then it begins to look at countries starting with those
in Western Europe. The textbook proceeds westward through Eastern Europe and Russia and
then analyzes Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Lastly, the textbook looks at Australia, Oceania,
and Antarctica.
A weakness of the textbook is its format, print size, and maps. The World and Its People
contains maps that are difficult to read. A geography book should contain strikingly different
colors to distinguish between different features. Also in the maps, cities and oceans are
highlighted with small black font that makes them difficult to read. Readers have a difficult time
finding features on the maps. In addition, readers are inundated with too many pictures, boxes,
and graphics on each page. This can make some students, especially those with Attention
Deficit Disorder (ADD), become distracted from the actual text.
III. Objective Readability
It is vital when selecting a textbook to use in your classroom to determine the objective
readability of the text. In my evaluation I used the SMOG calculator (Words Count 2009). The
first section used to determine objective readability came from Chapter One. The section from
Chapter One was made up of three sentences containing 63 words, and a SMOG grade level of
13.95. The SMOG calculator indicated that this passage is suitable for someone who has had
some college experience. The second section used to determine objective readability came
from Chapter Ten. The section from Chapter Ten was made up of nine sentences containing 104
Textbook Evaluation 9
words, and a SMOG grade level of 9.83. The SMOG calculator indicated that this passage is
suitable for someone who has some high school experience. The last section used to determine
objective readability came from Chapter Twenty. The section from Chapter Twenty was made
up of seven sentences containing 88 words, and a SMOG grade level of 10.17. The SMOG
calculator indicated that this passage is suitable for someone who has had some high school
experience. The SMOG calculator indicates that this textbook is written at a level suitable for
students with high school experience. The textbook begins at a slight higher level of readability
but comes down to where it should be for the middle and end. I believe that this textbook
should be written at a slightly lower readability level that would be more beneficial for seventh
grade students. The textbook’s readability could cause problems for students who struggle with
reading at a seventh grade level.
IV. Final Recommendation
I would advocate for The World and Its People to be used in a seventh grade World
Geography class. Although the SMOG calculator suggests that the readability of the textbook is
slightly above where it should be, I would use the textbook in my classroom and make
accommodations for any students that struggled reading the text. Even though the textbook
has several weaknesses, I believe that the strengths overcome the shortfalls of the textbook.
Because of the difficulty in reading some of the words in the maps, I would allow my students
to use other means of looking at maps. The text provides readers with sufficient overall
information about different countries and cultures around the world. The textbook provides
readers with various opportunities for practice. Readers are provided with opportunities for
Textbook Evaluation 10
practice at the end of each section of each chapter. The textbook also contains accurate and
current information that can help motivate students to learn more about a particular subject. In
its entirety, I believe that The World and Its People would be beneficial for a World Geography
classroom.
V. Appendices
A. Annotated Bibliography
Elliot, David L. (August 2007). Reforming Social Studies: Implications for Curriculum and
Textbooks. Publishing Research Quaterly, 71-80.
Debates over textbook adoption for Social Studies become very complex. The focus of
textbook adoption is mainly the present role of textbooks and how they are reviewed.
This case study focuses on the reform process in California. The future of textbook
adoption will focus more on new roles for textbooks, potential for their improvement,
and the importance of extending reform beyond textbooks into teaching and school
governance. This article analyzes the process by which Social Studies textbooks are
adopted.
Indiana State Board of Education. (October 2008). Statement and Action Regarding Social
Studies Textbooks. Retrieved May 17, 2009, from http://www.doe.in.gov/olr/
textbook/pdf/state_board_statement.pdf
The Indiana State Board of Education issues a statement on how they will go about
textbook adoption in the content of Social Studies. Looks for ways to find textbooks that
are not biased in recognizing history, geography, and government. Vows to search for
textbooks that capture study of Social Studies in an interesting, engaging, and
supportive way to students. Asks for publishers assistance in improving quality of their
materials.
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B. SMOG Readability Analysis
SMOG Grades
Chapter 1, Pg. 23
SMOG Grade
13.95
Words: Polysyllable Words:
Numbers(off):
Total Tokens:
Syllables:
Sentences:
63
0
63
106
3
Basic Data
Sentences
Total Words
Polysyllable Words
Letters
Digits
Characters
Lines
12
Derived Data
Words/Sentence
Syllables/Word
Syllables/Sentence
Letters/Syllable
Letters/Word
Letters/Sentence
3
63
12
293
0
368
1
21.0
1.68
35.33
2.76
4.65
97.67
Chapter 10, Pg. 308
SMOG Grade
9.83
Words: Polysyllable Words:
Numbers(off):
Total Tokens:
Syllables:
Sentences:
104
0
104
157
9
Basic Data
Sentences
Total Words
Polysyllable Words
Letters
Digits
Characters
Lines
14
9
104
14
479
0
600
1
Derived Data
Words/Sentence
Syllables/Word
Syllables/Sentence
Letters/Syllable
Letters/Word
Letters/Sentence
11.56
1.51
17.44
3.05
4.61
53.22
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Chapter 20, Pg. 377
SMOG Grade
10.17
Words: Polysyllable Words:
Numbers(off):
Total Tokens:
Syllables:
Sentences:
88
0
88
140
7
Basic Data
Sentences
Total Words
Polysyllable Words
Letters
Digits
Characters
Lines
12
7
88
12
441
0
544
1
Derived Data
Words/Sentence
Syllables/Word
Syllables/Sentence
Letters/Syllable
Letters/Word
Letters/Sentence
B. Irwin-Davis Readability Checklist (see attached)
12.57
1.59
20.0
3.15
5.01
63.0
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VI. References
Armstrong, David G. Boehm, Richard G. Hunkins, Francis P. Lobrecht, Merry. Reinhartz, Dennis.
(2005). The World and Its People (Alabama Edition). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc.
Words Count (2009). Retrieved May 17, 2009, from http://www.wordscount.info/