What do geography textbook authors in England consider when they design content and select case studies?

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the perspectives of seven English authors, on aspects of their geography textbook writing for schools in England, through a questionnaire-based enquiry. This investigation asked about the features that geography textbook authors consider to be the most important when designing student activities, and which criteria they used to select and develop case studies for their textbooks. The authors emphasized the geographical content and key concepts for developing pupils’ knowledge base, rather than the learning processes. The key criteria identified by the majority of the authors were the geographical relevance of the case studies, coverage of the national curriculum requirements, and geographical balance.

KEYWORDS:

• Geography textbook
• textbook content design
• case studies
• authors’ perspectives

Acknowledgment

This research was supported by an International Research Collaboration Grant funded by College of Education Ewha Womans University. This research was conducted in the School of Education at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, United Kingdom by both authors. Dr Jongwon Lee was on sabbatical leave for 2013–2014 at Oxford Brookes University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

College of Education Ewha Womans University.