THE SOCIAL-STUDIES TEACHERS LAMENT - HOW POWERFUL IS THE TEXTBOOK IN DEALING WITH KNOWLEDGE OF ETHNIC DIVERSITY AND ATTITUDE-CHANGE

This year-long study examined three research questions: (a) Does the i ncrease in quantity and quality of the African American experience in a U.S. history textbook promote significant knowledge acquisition of t hat group? (b) Does this knowledge positively modify racial attitudes of White students toward that group? (c) What is the effect of a teach er's utilization of the textbook's technology on knowledge acquisition and attitude change? The subjects were 149 White high school sophomor es enrolled in U.S. history classes in two Midwestern high schools. Fo ur teachers were placed in pairs in a limited use control group and an extensive use experimental group. A Black History Knowledge Test and the Multifactor Racial Attitude Inventory served as the pretest/postte st measures. The data indicated that although both limited and extensi ve use of such a text produced statistically significant knowledge gai ns, neither had any significant impact an attitude change.