Medicine has evolved from the undertaking of the individual practitioner to a state in which many disciplines become involved in administering both diagnostic and treatment services. It has become a standard of care in hospital and clinic-based practice to utilize a multidisciplinary approach to medical care. Multidisciplinary modes of practice, however, do not ensure that participants interact cooperatively, or with the exclusive purpose of patient benefit. The usual mode of interaction within medical academic and clinical environments promotes individualism, protectionism, and some degree of isolation, not infrequently to the detriment of patient care. The stated purpose of this book is to provide a synthesis of theories and methodologies that promote a growing permeability of boundaries and that allow for intellectual accommodation. Health care professionals have been turning to interdisciplinary intervention approaches for several reasons, but the most compelling in medicine is the need to solve problems that are beyond the

Interdisciplinarity: History, Theory, and Practice

In this article, I used a discourse analytic framework to examine the "voice" of a middle school mathematics unit. I attended to the text's voice, which helped to illuminate the construction of the roles of the authors and readers and the expected relationships between them. The discursive framework I used focused my attention on particular language forms. The aim of the analysis was to see whether the authors of the unit achieved the ideological goal (i.e., the intended curriculum) put forth by the NCTM's Standards (1991) to shift the locus of authority away from the teacher and the textbook and toward student mathematical reasoning and justification. The findings indicate that achieving this goal is more difficult than the authors of the Standards documents may have realized and that there may be a mismatch between this goal and conventional textbook forms.

From Intended Curriculum to Written Curriculum: Examining the "Voice" of a Mathematics Textbook

This article draws from two research programs on the use of textbooks for a variety of school subjects by elementary-school teachers in Quebec. Highlighting the main analytical orientations pertaining to textbooks both in Quebec and elsewhere, it first distinguishes between textbooks and schoolbooks, and then presents the importance and the role that textbooks, in Quebec elementary teaching, have had over the past 40 years. Lastly, the article portrays the state of research on textbooks, unveiling the need for a comprehensive, situated approach in research on textbooks, as well as work focused on how teachers use them and on the impact of this use on both practice and learning.

Past and Current Trends in the Analysis of Textbooks in a Quebec Context

Given the significant role that textbooks play in many countries of the developing world, the paper highlights issues related to the use of the textbook in rural Pakistan, and identifies ways to improve upon current practices. The findings presented in this paper emerge from our analysis of teachers’ experiences and practices related to the use of Science textbooks in public schools. Since the existing knowledge base is limited on teachers’ actual use of the textbook, the paper attempts to fill in this gap by highlighting the various issues related to teachers’ perceptions and practices. These include teachers’ limited use of textbooks, access to textbooks, information gaps and limitations of textbooks – all working to restrict the use of the textbook as a learning resource. The paper concludes by offering recommendations on improving textbook usage in Pakistan.

Effective Use of Textbooks: A Neglected Aspect of Education in Pakistan

Textbooks play an important role in teaching learning process especially in developing countries such as Pakistan. Textbooks are very useful and accessible resources that students and teachers can utilize according to their needs. Thus, the selection of an appropriate textbook is a process that needs careful attention. The study reported in this paper discusses the characteristics of a quality textbook and investigates the presence or absence of these characteristics in the textbooks approved by the Ministry of Education, Pakistan in the light of enacted written (intended) curricula. The data were collected from 51 experts in the field of curriculum material, its development and evaluation with a representation from all geographical areas of Pakistan. The data gathering instrument was a structured Textbook Evaluation Form based on eight characteristics of quality textbook. The analysis of the data indicates that the approved textbooks are lacking in many of the desirable characteristics. The study also discloses that experts with practical experience in curriculum material development and evaluation have deeper understanding of textbook evaluation as compared to those who have theoretical knowledge of the subject and/or only teach it.

Conformity to Quality Characteristics of Textbooks: The Illusion of Textbook Evaluation in Pakistan

Le rôle du manuel scolaire dans les pratiques enseignantes au primaire

L’article analyse 202 planifications d’activites d’enseignement concues par des finissantes du baccalaureat en enseignement prescolaire et primaire. Sont presentes le contexte de production de ces planifications, les principaux traits caracterisant les sciences humaines au primaire et le concept d’intervention educative. L’analyse porte sur la demarche d’enseignement et d’apprentissage ; elle fait ressortir l’existence de caracteristiques distinctes selon les cycles d’enseignement et les differents modeles d’intervention educative privilegies par ces futures enseignantes. Peu de planifications recourent a une demarche de conceptualisation complete et articulee. La plupart font appel a des perspectives soit ludiques, soit fort prescriptives et impositives. Le modele d’intervention educative priorise est d’inspiration neobehaviorale et centre sur le developpement des habiletes instrumentales.

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Planifications en sciences humaines chez de futures enseignantes et les modèles d'intervention éducative sous-jacents

La manuel scolaire et l'intervention éducative: Regards critiques sur ses apports et ses limites

Quel que soit le niveau de classe ou la discipline concernee, les manuels scolaires ne sont pas uniquement destines a un public d'enfants ou d'adolescents, comme leur denomination de manuels d'eleves semblerait l'indiquer. Leur fonction est beaucoup plus globale. Ils occupent une position d'interface au sein du systeme educatif, notion qui implique a la fois un contact et des echanges croises avec leur environnement. Les travaux menes ces dernieres annees permettent d'identifier quatre points principaux de jonction entre les manuels scolaires et differents elements du systeme educatif et, plus largement, la societe dans ses rapports avec l'Ecole.

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Johanne Lebrun

Papers

Past and Current Trends in the Analysis of Textbooks in a Quebec Context

Le rôle du manuel scolaire dans les pratiques enseignantes au primaire

Planifications en sciences humaines chez de futures enseignantes et les modèles d'intervention éducative sous-jacents

La manuel scolaire et l'intervention éducative: Regards critiques sur ses apports et ses limites

Les manuels scolaires : réformes curriculaires, développement professionnel et apprentissages des élèves