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Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
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Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
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Page 16
Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
×
Page 17
Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
×
Page 18
Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
×
Page 19
Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
×
Page 20
Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
×
Page 21
Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
×
Page 22
Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
×
Page 23
Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
×
Page 24
Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
×
Page 25
Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
×
Page 26
Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
×
Page 27
Suggested Citation:"The Curriculum in Secondary Schools." National Research Council. 1979. State of School Science: A Review of the Teaching of Mathematics, Science and Social Studies in American Schools, and Recommendations for Improvements.. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/18672.
×
Page 28

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

THE CURRICULUM IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS Science, Mathematics, and Social Studies Requirements Most school systems questioned in the NSF statistical sur- vey have established standards as to the minimum amounts of grade 9-12 instruction in science, mathematics, and social studies required for high school graduation. These require- ments are summarized in Table 4. TABLE 4 Percent of School Districts Requiring Minimum Amounts of Grade 9-12 Instruction in Each Subject Less Than More Than 1 Year 1 Year 1 Year Unknown Science 2 54 33 11 Mathematics 4 47 33 16 Social Studies 2 5 74 20 Source: Weiss, 1978, p. 25. In general, graduation requirements are significantly greater in social studies than in science or mathematics; approximately three-fourths of the districts reported that they require more than one year of social studies, compared to one-third of the districts in both science and mathematics. (Note that 20 percent of the districts surveyed did not answer this question for social studies, while 16 percent omitted the answer for mathematics and 11 percent for science, possibly because they have no requirements in the subject.) After reviewing state social studies requirements, Wiley and Race (1977, p. 34) determined that two or three years of social studies are usually required at the senior high school level. Most districts (86 percent) require one or more specific courses in social studies; the courses most commonly required are United States history, American government, and world his- tory. Less than half of the districts require specific courses in math or science. When specified, such science course requirements typically include general science, biology, or physical science; specific math course requirements are typically general mathematics or elementary algebra (Weiss, 1978, p. 26). 15

Course Offerings CGrades 7-12) In the NSF statistical survey, the most commonly taught science, mathematics, and social studies courses in grades 7-9 and 10-12 were ascertained from teacher questionnaire data. The results are shown in Table 5. At the junior high school level (grades 7-9), it will be noted that four courses (general science, earth science, life science, and physical science) account for 86 percent of the science classes. General mathematics and algebra together account for 87 percent of the mathematics classes, and Amer- ican history and "social studies" account for 52 percent of the social studies classes. For grades 10-12, biology, chemistry, and physics to- gether account for 74 percent of the science classes; algebra and geometry together represent more than two-thirds of all 10-12 mathematics classes. In the case of social studies, numerous elective courses together account for as many classes as American history and world history, which together account for 37 percent of the 10-12 social studies classes. Data collected by the NSF statistical survey do not lend themselves to calculations of the percentage of high school students who take a specific course prior to graduation. How- ever, a smaller scale survey, conducted as a part of the NSF case studies, did collect some pertinent data. In this sur- vey, 361 high school seniors were asked to indicate the science, mathematics, and social studies courses they had taken previous to their senior year in grades 9, 10, and 11. The results are tabulated in Table 6. It is curious that earth science was not included in the questionnaire given students; the topic of earth science courses seemed to have been generally neglected in the NSF case studies, even though earth science courses represent 25 percent of the science classes taught in grades 7-9 (Weiss, 1978, p. 63). Physics is not included in Table 6 because it is usually taken in grade 12, making the survey results for this subject not very useful. For the same reason, it is likely that the percentages listed in Table 6 for most upper-level courses (including chemistry and calculus) would be higher if a sur- vey had been taken at the end of the senior year so that good estimates could have been made for all courses taken through grade 12. It is unfortunate that neither this NSF case studies survey nor the larger NSF statistical survey provided such estimates. 16

TABLE 5 Most Commonly Offered Science, Mathematics, and Social Studies Courses Grades 7-9 Grades 10-12 Course % of Classes Course % of Classes Science General Science 30 Biology 40 Earth Science 25 Chemistry 19 Life Science 16 Physics 15 Physical Science Biology Other Courses 15 6 8 Advanced Biology (2d year) 5 Mathematics Other Courses 21 General Mathematics 64 Algebra 38 Algebra 23 Geometry 30 Remedial Mathematics Other Courses 4 9 Advanced Mathematics and Calculus 7 Consumer/Business Mathematics 6 General Mathematics 5 Social Studies Other Courses 14 American History 34 American History 27 Social Studies 18 World History 10 State History 7 Psychology 7 Civics World Geography Other Courses 6 6 American Culture/ Contemporary Issues 7 29 United States Government 6 Economics 5 Other Courses 38 Source: Weiss, 1978, pp. 63-64. 17

Taken at face value, the data in Table 6 indicate that approximately 90 percent of high school students take biology, algebra, and American history in grades 9-11; three-fourths of the students take geometry, about two-thirds take general science, and approximately one-half take chemistry. These percentages are all somewhat unreliable. They are not in good agreement with what one would intimate from Table 7, and the students polled were not a nationally representative sample. Nevertheless, unless course enrollment patterns change radically, it would appear that these six courses represent the most appropriate targets for future high school curriculum development efforts aimed at improving general public literacy in science, mathematics and social studies. TABLE 6 Percentage* of 12th Grade Students Who Had Completed Specific Courses in Grades 9-11 Course % of Seniors Course % of Seniors General Science 62 Advanced Algebra 38 Biology 87 Calculus 2 Chemistry 46 American History 94 Ecology 10 American Government 33 Basic Math 46 Psychology 14 Algebra 88 Sociology 12 Geometry 74 Economics 23 *Unweighted percentages Source: Stake and Easley, 1978, p. 18:26. Course Enrollment Trends Science. The NSF case studies and the associated survey of science curriculum supervisors both suggested that a decline in science enrollments might be occurring in second- ary schools. In particular, the NSF case studies observers noted declining enrollments in chemistry and physics. Reasons given by school system personnel for this apparent decline included reduced graduation requirements, more competition from other elective courses, the fact that these subjects could be picked up in junior college, if needed, 18

and the perception of high school students that the content of physics and chemistry is not "relevant" (Stake and Easley, 1978, p. 13:4). The Condition of Education, 1978 reports that in 1976 the size of the 14 to 17 year-old population in the nation began to decrease (National Center for Educational Statistics, 1978, p. 5), following a large increase in the size of this age group during the previous two decades. The peak in the growth of the student population in grades 7, 8,9 occurred in 1972-73. The authors of the NSF science education liter- ature review assert that the subsequent decline in total en- rollment has affected the number of junior high school students taking science, but that the percentage has remained about constant since 1973 (Helgeson et al., 1977, p. 24). Summarizing both national statistics and state data, the same authors note that general science was the science course most commonly taken by students in grades 7, 8, and 9 in the 1950's. Since then, there has been a decline in general sci- ence enrollments as that course has been increasingly re*- placed by life science, physical science, and earth science in grades 7, 8, and 9. There has been an especially sharp rise in earth science enrollments, and a resulting shortage of qualified earth science teachers in many states (Helgeson et al., 1977, p. 24). In the 1960's, courses in physical science began to be offered at the eighth, ninth, and tenth grade levels for students who did not take chemistry or physics, or as prep- aration for these courses. About half of the schools were offering these general physical science courses in the 1960's, but since 1970 the percentage of students enrolling in them has declined (Helgeson et al., 1977, p. 29). Course enrollment statistics collected by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) 1972-73 survey in- dicate that the percentage of high school students (grades 9-12) registered in any science course increased from 48 percent in 1949 to 66 percent in 1960-61, and increased slightly further to 67.2 percent in 1972-73 (.Ostendorf and Horn, 1976, p. 14). State data reviewed by Helgeson et al. (1977, p. 26) indicate a small reduction in the percentage of high school students taking science courses during the period 1974-1976. The numbers of students enrolled in selected science courses according to the NCES surveys are listed in Table 7. Biology, usually taken in grade 10, is the last science course taken by about half of the students. The NSF science educa- tion literature review indicates that in most states over 80 percent of the students enroll in a biology course sometime during their high school program (Helgeson et al., 1977, p. 26). 19

Helgeson et al., without citing a source of data, state that chemistry enrollments showed a small percentage of enrollment gain in the 1960's and early 1970's, but that since 1971 the percentage of students enrolled in chemistry appears to have declined slightly. In addition, their report states that the percentage of enrollments in physics increased slightly in the 1960's and early 1970's, and has decreased since 1971-1972 (1977, p. 28). TABLE 7 Total Enrollment in Grades 7-12 1961 1973 Percent Increase 11,700,000 18,500,000 59% Number of Public School Students in Grades 9-12 Enrolled in Specific Science Courses in Selected Years Course 1961 1973 Percent Change General Science 1,826,087 1,096,020 -40% Biology 1,776,306 2,868,352 +61% Physiology 65,953 109,588 +66% Earth Science 76,564 558,654 +630% Chemistry 744,820 1,028,591 +38% Physics 402,317 583,105 +45% Source: National Center for Educational Statistics, 1976, p. 8 and Helgeson et al., 1977, p. 27. However, the percent change calculations shown in Table 7 indicate that although enrollments in high school chemistry and physics courses did increase, they did not keep pace with the larger increase in the total secondary school student population during the period 1961-1972. 20

Percentage enrollments in advanced science courses (second-year biology, chemistry, and physics) and science electives such as physiology, anatomy, zoology, botany, oceanography, and ecology have increased during the last five years. Such science electives seem to be absorbing significant numbers of students who opt not to take chemistry and/or physics. Advanced or second-year biology courses have shown the largest percentage gains; it appears that as many as 3% of the students in grades 10,11, and 12 are enrolling in such courses (Helgeson et al., 1977, p. 29). Mathematics. In 1949, 65% of the secondary school stu- dents in grades 7-12 were enrolled in a mathematics course. This figure increased to 73% in 1960, and then decreased slightly to 71% in 1972-73 (Ostendorf and Horn, 1976; Wright 1965). Commenting on the effects of the secondary-level mathe- matics curriculum efforts during the period 1955-1975, the National Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (NACOME) Report (1975, p. 6) notes that there were increased offerings in 1960 in advanced general mathematics, plane geometry, ad- vanced algebra, trigonometry, and advanced mathematics courses such as calculus, probability and statistics, and analytic geometry. The 1972-73 NCES survey data revealed that almost as many students were taking a second course in algebra or algebra/trigonometry as were taking elementary algebra and that over 260,000 high school students were studying calculus or other advanced-level mathematics courses, four times the 1960 figure. The 1972-73 NCES survey thus indicated that changes had occurred in the mathematics curriculum for a targeted but narrow sample of secondary mathematics students; changes for students who were not as interested in mathematics were less pronounced (NACOME, 1975, p. 5). Summarizing the results of several more recent surveys, the NSF mathematics education literature review concluded that the mathematics enrollment pattern has been relatively stable in recent years, but that some declines have been noted. In New York State, for example, enrollment has declined slightly year by year during the period 1971-76 in the introductory mathematics and algebra courses generally taken by most high school students, although the enrollment has increased in ninth grade "basic mathematics" (Suydam and Osborne, 1977, p. 44). Social Studies. Citing a study by Gross the authors of the NSF social studies education literature review examined social studies course enrollment trends from 1961 to 1973; these data can be found in Table 8, which shows the percentage change in enrollment for the most commonly offered social studies courses. 21

TABLE 8 Total Enrollments in Grades 7-12 1961 1973 Percent Increase 11,700,000 18,500,000 59% Number of Public School Students in Grades 9-12 Enrolled in Specific Social Studies Courses in Selected Years Course 1961 1973 Percent Increase Civics 733,000 449,000 -39% Problems of 380,000 298,000 -22% Democracy World History 1,471,000 1,541,000 + 5% World Geography 595,000 736,000 +24% U.S. Government 780,000 1,306,000 +67% U.S. History 1,994,000 3,464,000 + 74% Economics 293,000 592,000 + 102% Sociology 289,000 796,000 + 175% Psychology 140,000 590,000 + 323% Source: Wiley and Race, 1977, p. 35 (after Gross). It can be seen that enrollments in U.S. history and U.S. government grew a little more rapidly than total enrollment during the 1961-1973 period, but that enrollments in world history and world geography grew less rapidly. The enroll- ment decreases in some courses were apparently redirected to new social studies offerings, particularly elective courses in the social sciences such as psychology and sociology (Wiley and Race, 1977, pp. 35-36). Use of Federally-Funded Curricula The NSF case studies investigators did not find much evidence of the laboratory-oriented NSF science curriculum projects in the schools, nor did they identify any remnants of the "new math" programs developed with NSF support. In social 22

studies, no traces were found of the High School Geography Project, Project Social Studies, the Anthropology Project, etc. (Stake and Easley, pp. 13:7, 13:23, 13:29b). Whether or not these observations are accurate or are representative of the situation in the rest of the schools in the United States is open to question. It is possible that at least some of the observers utilized by the NSF case studies may not have been equally familiar with the previous NSF curriculum development efforts in all subject areas, and therefore may not have recognized any residue of impact. Nevertheless, their impressions are discouraging. The NSF statistical survey did obtain estimates of the percentages of school districts and teachers who indicated use of specific federally-funded materials during the 1976-77 school year, and also obtained information on the use of these materials by districts and teachers in prior years. The re- sults for the most commonly used materials are summarized in Table 9. Again, as was the case at the elementary level, the figures for mathematics may be misleading, since most feder- ally-funded mathematics materials were developed with the intention of incorporating the innovations into commercially- developed text books. It is unfortunate that neither the NSF statistical survey nor the NSF case studies made an attempt to assess the impact of any specific innovations of the secondary level mathematics curriculum development projects. Table 10 indicates the percent of secondary school teachers in each subject and grade range who were using at least one of the federally-funded project materials. (Note that only the most commonly-used federally-funded materials are listed in Table 9.) Comparing these data with Table 3, it will be noted that secondary school teachers were much more likely than elementary school teachers to be using one or more of the federally-funded materials. Table 10 also indicates that the percentage of science teachers using federally-funded materials was greater than the percentage of mathematics or social studies teachers. Slightly more than half of all grade 10-12 science teachers were using at least one of the federally-funded curriculum materials during the 1976-77 school year. It is difficult to reconcile this information with the previously cited obser- vations of the NSF case studies. It is important to note that Table 9 does not give data about the percentages of teachers teaching a given subject who were using the materials. However, analysts did 23

9k rJ 9 01 rH ro 0) -P (0 a 3 O •H rl 3 U •O (U ^ TD CN C rH 3 I I >i W rH 0) rH •O (TJ (tJ rl M 01 O 01 •a at 4-1 O 0) 0) CO H o 01 D >H r- O r- •H 1 V-l VO OrHvom^o^vo^*^* roroi—l CNCNC^ o A. [•*•• rOrOrH rHrHCN rHrH rHrO HrH rH (N in rH •O rH 1 01 0 01 O rH D 4J c 01 •H 01 01 C W rH •O H t-- O (TJ (Tj r^ •H S_J 0^ | f~roinrvjt~^rr^ CN^O rHinvo r^^rro vo 01 •~t O C vo rH iH rH M 01 •H [^ 0) 4-1 01 a\ X! rtJ D rH o a M (0 01 Tf M I~~ H 0) O r> 4-1 •H 1 4-1 O rl VO O 01 CU r- ^T T >— i <N u"! fM rn cy, ^r -^r I^VOVO VO^*^ nl rH CA rH rH rH (N CN rH f>) 4J 0) CM T) rH c to 1 0) 01 r~ 01 o O D 4-1 M 01 Or) 01 04 T) C (0 H r- M r~ 4 O 01 1 rO LO VO O rH O O\ CN rH rH f"O fO t^ rO CN CN rH H C vo rH rH •H r^ 1 to a\ 0 D H Ij J^•» ro 01 -H 1 O r- n •H rH M VO O CTI (d C^ r^ OrHrHrOCTVCNrHrHOOCT* ^frOOO rHrHr** (^ ^ O C-H o> nrOrH iHrHCNrHrH rH rHrH r-- JC -H M T3 rH ro O 01 01 01 tO D 4J 01 O ffl (0 D 4J 4-1 01 S ^ 0 4J in U Tl C 4J -H 01 H 1» 1 C M 4J f» CQ 0) 4-1 O CJI 1 ^^ VO 00 C^ ^O ^5 lO ^^ rH CN C^ PO C^ C^ ^D ^* P^* O 01 01 C vo rHrH rHrHCNrHrHrH rHrH ^ M -H rH -H 1- ro 01 Q 01 01 Cft CN to W D H 1 n 4J rH o CN rl 01 1 >l 0 -n rl m r) -H O O 4J > rH 4-1 01 fO 4-1 OH a X! 3 *^ y y) a O O 01 0) >i 01 (<J 0) PQ -r-ix! O 01 * O O O Q* M 0) 00 M rH M rtj 3 -H p^ a oi ro di v-i o T) a -P o CP w 3 rH < 01 10 -HC0014-1 o c 4J o 01 a to fc •O -H -H -rl rH O 01 C 0101 T3 OlrHrHrHrH 01 ^ O O ^i M 01 O 01 • — 1 ^ ^ •H COCQ>i -H.C O -HpjaOO-H 01 OlrHOIT3 Ol&iOlO T3 O-HO s 6 01rH3rH3 >i O CJ SCO'X!CT'O 3 rH 01 rH fd 4-1 r< jj .^.j _p f^j >r_( Q Q f^rj rH rH OSHpQOtO (XO 4J C WUtjitOrH 3 r~ 0) -H OlflM -HOIOOI M O -H •H M UtOtOtOEaOn WU-r-i 6 0)O rHMCXI-HX! 01 c uuuoiwutoutoo oito•oto (0(uMCf>U4J u iH 01 0) COCOtOXKtO&itOtOJH Xiaoa -Hgfl-HO t I () ,,_j nQ rft oQ fj f) QJ |— | 1 i f\. f\. i) L— J y* rA rj .^ rj »-p« rrt rt 3 (0 O ' ITJ O o US w a to to 24

make some rough estimates of this kind and determined that approximately half of all biology teachers were using at least one of the BSCS materials; approximately 40 percent of all physics teachers were using either the Project Physics Course or PSSC Physics or both; and approximately 25 percent of the chemistry teachers were using either CHEM study materials or the Chemical Bond Approach, or both (Weiss, 1978, p. 82). TABLE 10 Percent of Secondary School Teachers Using One or More of the Federally-Funded Curriculum Materials in Each Subject by Grade Range (1976-77) Subject Science Mathematics Social Studies 7-9 10-12 33 52 10 12 11 22 Source: Weiss, 1978, p. 83. The data collected by the NSF statistical survey indicate that a number of the federally-funded materials were used more extensively by teachers in previous years than in 1976-77, particularly SMSG for K-12 mathematics; PSSC physics, CHEM Study chemistry, and several of the BSCS program materials in 7-12 science; and Our Working World in K-6 social studies. Tracing the use of the PSSC physics program, Helgeson et al. (1977, p. 28) note that the major physics text in use in the late 1950's was Modern Physics (Holt). Introduced in 1958, PSSC gained in acceptance until the early 1970's, at which time the peak usage was about 35 percent of the students enrolled in physics. Since the early 1970's, the use of PSSC has been declining, as reflected in the NSF statistical survey results. Project Physics, introduced in 1969, accounted for approximately 22 percent of the students studying physics in 1975. However, Modern Physics continued to be used by over 40 percent of the students throughout this time period (Helgeson et al., 1977, p. 29). 25

The situation in chemistry was similar. In the late 1950's most high school chemistry students were using Modern Chemistry (also published by Holt). Of the two NSF-funded high school chemistry projects, the Chemical Bond Approach (CBA) never was used by a large number of schools, but the CHEM Study text received considerable acceptance during the 1960's. The use of CHEM Study materials peaked in the early 1970's at about 30 percent of the students taking chemistry; this was followed by a decline during the last four years. Helgeson et al. suggest that this decline was due primarily to the availability of other texts that incorporate many of the CHEM Study approaches. However, the Modern Chemistry text, like the Holt physics text, has continued to be widely used. Helgeson et al. (1977, p. 28) report that in 1974 about 50 percent of the high school students studying chemis- try were using this text. In biology, the major text used during the 1950's was also one published by Holt, Modern Biology. Prior to 1963, it was reputed to occupy 80 percent of the high school biol- ogy market (Quick, 1978, p. 118). The three BSCS biology programs (the green, yellow, and blue versions) were widely adopted by school systems during the 1960's. In the early 1970's, about 40 percent of the students studying biology were using one of the three BSCS versions; about 35-40 percent were using the Modern Biology text. More recent data, as well as the NSF statistical survey, indicate that there has been a decline of from 5 to 8 percent in the use of the BSCS materials in recent years (Helgeson et al., 1977, p. 26). Figure 1 provides a picture of these trends in biology text- book usage. A number of observers have stressed that recent declines in usage of federally-funded innovative materials need not cause much concern, since many of the ideas and approaches of these innovative materials have,been incorporated into "conventional" textbooks (Weiss, 1978, p. 78; Helgeson et al., 1977, p. 28). Quick, in her recent study of the secondary impacts of the curriculum reform movement, found consistent evidence that educational publishers had incorporated innova- tions of the federally-funded curriculum materials into their own commercially-developed programs. She suggests that the commercial success of the federally-funded programs created market pressures that encouraged publishers to incorporate some of the themes and approaches of the innovative materials (Quick, 1978) . Other observers are less sanguine than Quick about the impact of the federally-funded innovative programs on class- room instruction in schools that are now using commercially- developed texts. Many of these texts have adopted changes that are largely cosmetic, in order to reflect the "inquiry 26

(U I _ *o 0 rO O>-< 0) (0 (0 •p to c (tf 3 O B -H -H -P H 4J C rH cn 0) -H 4J to -O 0) c z 4J H 4-1 » O C o 4J +J M (0 •H C o - 1-3 -P M >i (0 XI 43 01 •O C 0)-H 4J « •H 4J 4JfH (0 O 0) K OJ <D O (OrH O CO -P 10 M C 0) (U fd 'O •O -P rH 3 (0 3 4J•O O co n CO 0) - (Tt (0 O rH CO C H H .§. f\i i_i ^|j *4H U •« w oo C OQ r- o CM -H "O rH -P C O C-.X 3 O O OU >H ! 27

approach" and other innovations of the curriculum reform movement. Most of these commercially-developed texts still lend themselves to being used to support a didactic approach to teaching in which the student's main role is to listen, read, and memorize. However, the above data indicate that a substantial num- ber of teachers do continue to use the inquiry-based curric- ulum materials developed with federal support, although they usually constitute a minority. Of greater concern is the rate at which this usage is decreasing, especially consider- ing the absence of an effective mechanism to familiarize new teachers with the content and approach of the NSF courses. 28

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