ENGL 489 Research Paper Outline

I.                    Introduction – A one page summary of the research project as a whole. The intro will address the concept that textbooks have changed since the mid-19^th century. Additionally textbooks are used differently as well. Why? Changes in printing/publishing technology, new family and class structures that encourage diversity, changes in teaching philosophies, and the influence of the internet culture. Possible thesis: Textbooks have changed and evolved drastically since the mid 1800’s due to the influence of popular culture on teaching philosophies and styles.

II.                  Body – 14 + pages of research, data, and inferences

A.      Conventions in Textbooks- 3 + pages of comparison between historical textbooks and modern ones looking only at conventions. This includes font style and size, format, lesson progression, images, line spacing, headings, chapter format, number of pages in the book. While this is different for every textbook, I will analyze several and respond based on average findings. 

B.      Technology Advancements- 1+ page of the history of printing and publishing technology. What new inventions helped textbooks become available in mass quantities and cheaper to buy? Did these advancements affect the conventions listed above?

C.      Changes in family & class structures- 3+ pages looking at the changes in class structures and family dynamics. How did this promote diversity? How did textbooks respond? Changes in images, names in word problems, themes of word problems, etc.

D.      Development of teaching styles/philosophies- 6 + pages on national movements in teaching methods. A look into rote learning, progressivism, essentialism, and social constructivism and how each affected the look and content of textbooks. Also a short look into how government set standards has changed content and focus areas within different grades.

E.       Internet culture and digital teaching- 2+ pages on technology in the classroom and youth participation within the internet culture. How has this changed teacher’s use of textbooks? Look into how technology in classrooms promotes social constructivism and therefore encourages teachers to not use textbooks. Research use of e-books as well.

III.                Conclusion – 1 page or less of summarized proof for the thesis. Possible conclusion: Popular culture highly affects the way schools are run and the teaching methods teachers use. This has a direct correlation to how textbooks are written and used.

research assignment- first attempt at using 750words.com

    So far in this assignment I have really been working on assembling my "soup" of research. This is mostly done through web searches and a few trips to the library. There is a lot of information on the subjects that I want to incorporate into my paper, but not much on the actual theme. The theme being the evolution of textbooks and the subjects being changes in teaching styles, methods, and theorists. Also, I want to touch on changes in popular culture as well. This includes advances in printing technologies, paper making, and cultural shifts. I imagine that the most obvious of these shifts will be in the movement away from rote learning during the early to mid 20th century and the interesting "fluffy" teaching methods that came out in the 1970's. Obviously, I will word that better for the final paper.
    Within my "soup" so far I am slowly gathering the different teaching methods that I wish to look into. For example, the teaching philosophy Progressivism. During the early 20th century up until WWII, there was a huge push toward a Progressivist style of teaching, as many believed that students were not gaining the experiences they needed to become active citizens in a democratic society.
    Another philosophy I would like to discuss would be Essentialism which began in the 1930's. Many believed that academic and moral standards were on a decline within the U.S. educational system, so Essentialism was a reaction to that. No Child Left Behind has some basis within Essentialism. This style of teaching and especially assessment has caused some serious changes in how textbooks are formatted and written. If one must teach to the test, then the textbook better give assessment guided examples and questions.
    Also, I definitely want to analyze Social Reconstructivism. Not only because it seems to be the teaching philosophy that CECH endorses, but also because it seems to have a lot of impact on curriculum and instructional methods. Both of which will highly change how textbooks are written.
    In addition to teaching philosophies I also want to look at how the basic structure/format of textbooks have change. Which conventions have lasted through time? Which have fallen off? Even simple things such as the amount of space given underneath each math problem should be studied. While this is of course different for every text book, I do believe I will find some strong changes that will show a relationship to teaching and popular culture effects.
    This is what I have so far. With some more research I believe it will be fairly easy to transition from the 1800's textbook to modern-day ones. While 20 pages is still a little daunting, I believe I have a good structure as to how to fill it.

  Clearly I did not write a full 750 words. I think I stopped at 461. I didn't want to go on and just ramble though. Writing these 461 words helped me define my process a bit more and jump-started my desire to go and do some more research. -So that is what I am going to go do.