The textbook we have chosen is Applied Mathematics 11.
How heavy is it? This book seems to be a reasonable weight for a grade 11 student.
How does it feel? The hard cover seems durable enough to last several school years.
How would it be to carry it from home to class? Less than paper size so should fit well into back pack.
How durable is it (covers, pages, binding, etc.)? Well constructed with thick enough to be tougher than normal sheet paper.
How many years of use will it have? It should last five or more years.
Is it good value for the money? Provided it will last five years then the content and durability will make it a good value.
What does it smell like? I thought that this was a strange question until I handled other texts and found that Addison Wesley Math 11 and 12 smelled obnoxious. I do not know if this was from the ink or if it could be an allergen to students.
What do the pages feel like? Very nice in the Applied math book.
Is it pleasing or unpleasing as an object? I think it is an acceptable book.
How have people altered this object? All books are subject to their user abusing them.
Has the school rebound it? NO.
Have kids written or drawn in it? Yes many students degrade their textbooks and they should pay a fee for that.
What year was it published, where and by which company? Pearson Education Centre, 2000.
Is this a special edition of the book? Yes it is for Applied Math as taught in Western Canada.
Who wrote it? Do you know any of the writers? Math teachers, educators and consultants. No writers known to this reviewer. Publisher –– Claire Burnette
Author – Lot’s of different people
Where are they from and what are their credentials? Any bias? Canadian writers. Unknown.
Is there a preface or introduction? What does it say? Not a must read!
What does the table of contents tell you? Clearly written and useful.
The index? Well spaced, easy to read
Does it have a glossary, answer key, data tables, supplementary problems, enrichment material? Well spaced, easy to read. Colorful with many diagrams. Good data tables. Anything else of note?
Look at the overall design of the book. Does it use colour to help guide users to certain features? Is there much white space, or are the pages full of type? Are there photos, diagrams, pictures, graphs, border decorations? How do these affect your impression/kids’ impression of the book?
Supplementary – How to use calculator and other tools (micrometer) in back. Exercises are replaced by tutorials to make more friendly for students.
Answer key – Yes, only answers
What fonts and type size are used? Do these help or hinder readers?
Are there sidebars along the edges of the page? If so, what purpose do they serve?
Do graphic features contribute to a clear, readable, interesting design?
As a graphic design – Well done, colorful, white space, nice spacing between the lines making it easy to read. Lots of pictures and photos. (Could it be too colorful?). Good font size. Nothing in borders except a solid line down the left when showing examples.
Are all topics in the IRPs covered? Yes, this can meet the needs of the IRPs.
Any extra topics included? Yes some enrichment topics.
Do you like the approach taken? Very practical which goes with the Applied approach.
Is there a logical sequence to the chapters and sections? Yes, tries to cover everyday life topics. Structure of the chapters are reasonable. However it does not have a whole lot on how to approach it. Good number of examples, tutorials, and a section called investigation. Explanations in Reference section in the back.
How is each chapter/unit structured? How are new topics introduced? Are adequate examples, activities, problems and summaries provided?
Are important points highlighted graphically (boxed, indented, highlighted in color, etc.) for easy reference?
Important points highlighted in red. The text book is organized such as you the teacher with the students work together through the text and if you don’t understand something it tells you to refer to the references in the back.
Does the textbook embody the goals of the mathematics curriculum? More specifically:
Does it promote the NCTM principles and standards? Yes
Does it support the BC IRPs three principles of learning? Yes
Does it include the PLOs mandated in the provincial curriculum?
Does it support principles of citizenship and human rights implicit in the BC curricula? (Note that this may be tacit rather than overt.) It covers the PLO topics.
Text as Curriculum – Multicultural. Pictures of smiling kids all over the place of all types of ethnicity.
Is this textbook designed as a resource for teachers and/or students? Good for both beginning and experienced teachers.
Is it designed for student self-directed study?
Does it support classroom interactions? Individual/group work?
Open-ended problem solving? Multi-modal inquiry? IT links?
How do you think it would work for a new teacher? for an experienced teacher? What would be most and least helpful for each of these? Is there a useful teachers’ guide?
Does every student need a copy of the textbook, or would it be enough for the teacher to have one copy? Every student in the classroom would need one.
Text Book in a Classroom context – Student self directed study in the form of investigation. Encourages classroom interaction and both individual and group work. Open ended giving outside of the classroom work for fun.
Thorough teaching guide to supplement the text.
If you were asked to make a choice between several recommended textbooks, how would you decide? Content and level of questions to fit the course objectives.
What is the price of this textbook? Unknown. How would price factor into your decision? Has to fit into a budget that is continually squeezed.
Do you think it is a good idea to choose one textbook series for a school? for a district? for the province? Yes, that way universal exams or standards could be assessed.
What advantages and disadvantages are there to this kind of uniformity? Teachers can always add extras as long as the core material is taught.
Could you teach math without class sets of textbooks? If so, how would you do it?
Yes, but it would take more preparation time to bring it up to current, internet and web standards with interactive components.
Our groups recommendation is that it could be used as a text for the Applied Math 11 course.
The only question that we would like to know is the cost to see if it fits within budgets?
