Effective teachers challenge students to apply or extend main ideas, concepts, and skills they have gained from textbook lessons. By doing so, students see how their reading relates to life outside the textbook. Students who read about early American pioneers might investigate modern-day pioneers in Alaska or the Australian outback. A reading on city government might be followed by an investigation of local government agencies to see if they match ideas in the text. If students are encouraged to use and extend the concepts, facts, and main ideas in textbooks, they will find social studies more interesting and meaningful.
Teachers are in control of how they use textbooks.
Content Area Textbooks. Armbruster, Bonnie B. and Beth H. Gudbrandsen. Crowe, Douglas and Janet Youga. Using Writing as a Tool for Learning Economics. The Textbook as a Teaching Tool.