The history of textbooks dates back to ancient civilizations. For example, Ancient Greeks wrote educational texts. The modern textbook has its roots in the mass production made possible by the printing press. Johannes Gutenberg himself may have printed editions of Ars Minor, a schoolbook on Latin grammar by Aelius Donatus. Early textbooks were used by tutors and teachers (e.g. alphabet books), as well as by individuals who taught themselves.
Another publishing industry practice that has been highly criticized is "bundling", or shrink-wrapping supplemental items into a textbook.[citation needed] Supplemental items range from CD-ROMs and workbooks to online passcodes and bonus material. Students often cannot buy these things separately, and often the one-time-use supplements destroy the resale value of the textbook.[15]
Oxford History For Pakistan Book 2 Workbook Download
On the other hand, independent open textbook authoring and publishing models are developing. Most notably, the startup publisher Flat World Knowledge already has dozens of college-level open textbooks that are used by more than 900 institutions in 44 countries.[42][43][44] Their business model[45] was to offer the open textbook free online,[46][47] and then sell ancillary products that students are likely to buy if prices are reasonable - print copies, study guides, ePub, .Mobi (Kindle), PDF download, etc. Flat World Knowledge compensates its authors with royalties on these sales.[48] With the generated revenue Flat World Knowledge funded high-quality publishing activities with a goal of making the Flat World financial model sustainable. However, in January, 2013 Flat World Knowledge announced their financial model could no longer sustain their free-to-read options for students.[49] Flat World Knowledge intends to have open textbooks available for the 125 highest-enrolled courses on college campuses within the next few years.[50]
In recent years, high school textbooks of United States history have come under increasing criticism. Authors such as Howard Zinn (A People's History of the United States), Gilbert T. Sewall (Textbooks: Where the Curriculum Meets the Child) and James W. Loewen (Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong), make the claim that U.S. history textbooks contain mythical untruths and omissions, which paint a whitewashed picture that bears little resemblance to what most students learn in universities. Inaccurately retelling history, through textbooks or other literature, has been practiced in many societies, from ancient Rome to the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China. The content of history textbooks is often determined by the political forces of state adoption boards and ideological pressure groups.[59]
In cases of history, science, current events, and political textbooks, "the writer might be biased towards one way or another. Topics such as actions of a country, presidential actions, and scientific theories are common potential biases".[citation needed]
4 PREFACE Every history teacher knows that the subject is limitless and the time for preparing lessons is comparatively minute. Classes vary in ability and much of the material in the syllabus is outside the pupils knowledge and culture. These Teacher s Guides are not intended to usurp the teacher s skills but to make suggestions and offer some help. The following areas are covered by each Guide, which has been especially designed with the needs of the Pakistani teacher in mind: (a) As space is limited on a two-page spread, facts in the Pupil s Book have been reduced to the basic minimum. The Teacher s Guide contains supplementary material in the form of stories, additional facts, legends, and activities which will make the lesson more interesting. This additional information may be used at the teacher s discretion and according to the relevant strengths and/or weaknesses of each class. (b) Ideas for simple and rapid sketches on the board are sometimes given to explain otherwise difficult concepts. These are well within the ability of the least-skilled artist. (c) Contemporary extracts (which may be difficult to obtain outside the United Kingdom), such as legends and amusing anecdotes, are included in the Guides and can be used to bring the subject to life. It is very important that pupils realize that the people of the past were human beings just as we are, with the same feelings, attitudes, and tastes. These excerpts can be used as models for brighter pupils to write their own short accounts. (d) Looking at contemporary pictures to extract information is invaluable as it encourages students to exercise their analytical and creative abilities. Suggestions of questions to ask on important photographs in the Pupil s Book are given along with material on less obvious points. (e) Answers to the questions in the Workbook are included at the end of each unit. (f) The corresponding page numbers in the Pupil s Book are given on the top right-hand corner of each new unit for ease of reference. iv
11 6. Fashion It is interesting how early in history fashion became a part of human existence. Jewellery of heads, shells, bones etc. are extremely common in graves of this period; a little later, the clay figurines indicate that hair-styles were quite complicated. 7. Cave painting (Pupil s Book p.9) Perhaps pupils can try to guess the story behind this cave painting. It is, in fact, a later Stone Age rock painting interpreted by recent scholars as recording a shamanistic trance dance known as simto. Hallucinations of animals were an important feature of the trance dances. Here a shaman is depicted with an elephant. In general, however, most cave paintings were used as sympathetic magic, i.e. representing a designed and hoped-for state of affairs instead of events which actually transpired. 8. Mother-goddess figurine (Pupil s Book p.8) The mother-goddess figurine is obviously a fertility symbol children were a vital asset in an age when through accident, disease or malnutrition probably more than half the babies died in infancy. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of this artifact is the elaborate hair-style, which shows that plaited and coiled hair were fashionable in the Old Stone Age, 20,000 years ago. The artist who carved this (remind the pupils that he had only another stone to do it) deliberately exaggerated those features which signified fecundity the broad hips, the large breasts. The hair-style, which would have been very difficult to carve with such primitive tools, must have had some importance or it would not have been attempted. Other Venuses have a similar emphasis on hair. Answers to Workbook pp (a) Making fire; (b) shaping stones more accurately and skilfully; (c) barbed bone fish spears; (d) skin/wood shelters. 2. Homo sapiens sapiens. 40,000. Man-wise-wise. 3. (a) Handles for weapons; (b) bows and arrows; (c) the domestication of dogs; (d) spear throwing; (e) caves/shelters; (f) jewellery of bone and clay; (g) painting caves; (h) leather/ fur clothing. 4. Wandering to gather seeds and hunting. More animals could be killed which meant that people did not have to hunt for most of the time; could remain sedentary for longer periods of time; better diet as food was more plentiful. 5. (Can duplicate parts of 3 above.) Reasonably steady food supply; time for things apart from the sheer struggle to stay alive, like fashion (i.e. ornaments, hair-styles and fur/ leather clothing). 6. Creative work. THE NEW STONE AGE 10/11 1. Agriculture The discovery of agriculture was perhaps the greatest breakthrough in the history of the past. The whole of civilization really flowed from the advantages derived from farming. The 7
18 EARLY TIMES IN CHINA 16/17 1. Early evolution Apart from the early Homo pekinensis of 1,000,000 years ago, very few remains of very early man have been found in China, although, no doubt, there was as continuous a process of evolution there as elsewhere. The sheer vastness of the country probably is the answer, and the fact that the most likely early settlements were in the valleys of the great rivers, which flooded constantly, and often changed their courses. By the time the Yang-shao people appeared, the Chinese were firm agriculturists. 2. Diet Note that the pig was the first domesticated animal apart from dogs. Pigs have always been a vital element of the Chinese economy, as they are indeed today. The rare appearance of cattle in Chinese history may be due to the fact that about 90 percent of the Mongoloid races to which the Chinese belong are lactose intolerant that is, after infancy they cannot tolerate milk. While it does them no harm, it merely passes straight through the digestive system, due to the absence of a certain enzyme. The Chinese, therefore, very rarely drink milk. 3. Importance of rice and silk Rice and silk were vital elements in the Chinese economy rice as the dominating staple food, and silk for the clothing of the wealthy. Silk was also the most important trading commodity when contact with the outside world was established. 4. The Shang peoples The Shang peoples were particularly vicious and cruel, though probably not by their own standards. The slaughter of slaves was common in much of the ancient world, but was especially extravagant during the Shang dynasty. 5. Bronze casting The Shang craftsmen developed the art of bronze casting to unbelievable lengths. They probably invented the lost wax process (p.13 of the Pupil s Book) so that they could make extremely complex vessels for ritual purposes. 6. War For the rich, the Shang period was a highly sophisticated and comfortable one. War was considered a sport, at par with hunting in most other societies. Pupils might like to discuss the warriors on p.17 of the Pupil s Book. 7. Oracle bones Tens of thousands of oracle bones exist, although, until recently, peasants unearthing them in hordes ground them up for sale to pharmacists as dragons bones for use in traditional Chinese medicine. Answers to Workbook pp Seeds/pollen grains and more bones than would have been accounted for by mere hunting are found in their middens (rubbish heaps) and sites. 14 2ff7e9595c
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