High School Science Textbooks

Once the compositors get the page proofs to an acceptable level, they pass them on to the project manager to review. We review the pages looking at art placement and style guidelines to be sure everything is positioned in the most appropriate places and the look matches the style we were looking for. We also check to be sure the running heads or feet and folios are correct (page numbers and text that runs with them). We check and compare the table of contents to the various headings within the chapters to be sure titles are consistently spelling and capitalized. For a high school science textbook, we usually check proofs in "batches" of chapters since they are so large.

Once we are satisfied and have marked our corrections, we send the proofs on to the authors to proofread them. They are to read all of the text to be sure it matches the manuscript and everything is in good shape. They may have some addition style suggestions and we review their comments to be sure we are in agreement and return them to the compositor. We usually go through a few rounds of proofs until we are all satisfied prior to manufacturing.

I’ve introduced various steps in the publishing process for a high school science textbook. These same steps would apply to elementary textbook or talented and gifted textbook or any school textbook for that matter. You are wecome to review some of our Kendall Hunt Publishing Company's textbooks at our website.

The next big step in developing a high school science textbook is composition. Composition also known as typesetting, is the process of taking the manuscripts and loading them into a paging program, usually Quark or InDesign. Then they “format” the document. They add all of the design features that were determined based on the different elements within the manuscript. This would include various levels of headings, bulleted and numbered listings, table styles, chapter and unit opening features and so on. It also includes pulling the art features into the program and placing those in appropriate places per predetermined style guidelines and adding the captions.

As a general rule of thumb, we want the figures placed as close to the callouts as possible, usually top or bottom of the page. This is so that they are easily accessible after they are mentioned within the text so that the student can review them and then quickly find his/her place where they were reading. Comprehension is the key and you want to keep things as clear as possible. A good design holds and draws the student in and retains interest without making things confusing. You need a good flow. The design would vary based on the intended audience; whether it is for elementary students, high school, and also whether it is intended for a broad range of students or specifically for high level learners.

With the new school year approaching more quickly that we think, our PreK-12 group is getting ready for an intensive week of product training next week. Wayne, Jeff, Don and Jodi have had their noses literally “in the books” preparing for the training, so if you’re wondering why you haven’t heard from them for a few days, that’s why.

What they’re learning is all about the new inquiry based science programs we’ll be bringing you this year. And it’s not just elementary school science textbooks or high school science textbooks. In fact it’s not even just inquiry based science products. There’s math, health, fitness and physical education, and a dose of new digital learning products for good measure. Watch this space as we detail some of these exciting new programs in the next few weeks! 

In the meantime, if you haven’t had a chance yet, Marla has written an excellent post about inquiry based science. Check it out!

I recently received a comment to my initial blog post asking what I suggest as a solution to the failing education system and what does Kendall Hunt as an educational publishing company offer science teachers to improve the situation.  Great questions and I will attempt to answer them in a concise way!

What I see as a solution on a massive scale is a commitment and a collaborative effort by our government, publishers, educators, and parents to mandate and fully embrace Education Reform. We need to identify promising education practices and curriculum, and rigorously test their effectiveness.

On a smaller more local scale, what could your district do to improve Science education? I would suggest as a solution is a district-wide Science Initiative focused on placing Science Coaches in every school, increasing the number of high-quality science teachers at every grade level, hiring science specialists to middle grades, and begin exploring ways to offer alternative certifications to draw potential science teachers from science and industry professions.  Additionally, I recommend implementing efficient and effective academic programs that are research-based. 

What does Kendall Hunt have to offer science teachers? As the leader in PreK-12 standards-based science textbook publishing, we're proud of the positive results our programs have achieved for students across the country. Our leading reform curricula are written and tested by actual classroom teachers and backed by research. Our products promote hands-on inquiry based science.  How is that for a teaser? Not to worry, I will fully address this question in my next blog post! Until then…if you are interested read about The Historical Roots of Hands-On Science Teaching http://tinyurl.com/scienceteaching

"If all we do is invest in the status quo, then we've missed this once-in-a-lifetime, historic opportunity to give our children the education they desperately need and deserve."

-Arnie Duncan,
U.S. Secretary of Education

Well, school registration is complete. One week from today, my son will be safely ensconced in his fourth grade classroom surrounded by elementary school textbooks of every subject: reading, math, science, social studies. He’s looking forward to what his gifted teacher has in store this year. The school was able to get a few new books for gifted students along with other accelerated learning resources. 

Here at Kendall Hunt, our brand new Distribution Center (it’s huge, and I love it when I have to go down there…it’s the coolest place!) is shipping out books like crazy…by the palletful, actually, just like every other educational publishing company, I suppose. 

Soon students around the country will be cracking open a new high school physics textbook, or opening a well-used primary school textbook. Whatever the case, this time of year always feels new, it’s a time of fresh starts, friends to be made, lots to teach and much to learn. To all the teachers out there who are responsible for our children learning, thank you for all you do. To all the students out there, learn everything you can, and have fun while you’re at it!

Last time I started explaining the role of permissions in the publishing process. As a school textbook publisher, like any other publisher, we must get permission to use other people’s material in our products, be it elementary school science textbooks, or a high school physics textbook.  We’ll finish this discussion in this post about fair use, public domain and citations.

Fair Use

The "fair use" clause comes into play if the writer wants to use an excerpt or quote from a work of substantial length; they still need to cite the source. Generally, we consider up to 250 words from the text of a book, magazine or journal fair use.

Public Domain

There are some items that are considered "public domain." These are works that have either expired or were not protected by copyright.  They can be used freely with applicable citation. Once they become public domain due to expiration, the copyright protection cannot be restored.

Works that cannot be copyrighted are those consisting of information that is common property with no specific authorship such as calendars, height/weight charts and rulers. Also items with standard information such as tables, schedules of sporting events, blank forms designed to record rather than convey information are also public domain. Official U.S. government works cannot be copyrighted, but the original source must be cited, for example NASA photographs.

Citations

The materials that are borrowed require a credit line list to be published within the textbook. Some require the credit line be printed with the actual image/article; others are generally listed in the back of the book or on the copyright page.

Next time, a few words about our Permissions Department.

Have you ever reviewed a high school biology textbook and liked what you examined but wished a few things with the layout could be changed? Whether it's a high school physics textbook, a primary textbook, or anything in between, talk to your sales rep about a custom textbook. Kendall Hunt is willing and able to do custom publishing for schools or districts.

Why not adopt a high school science textbook that you're comfortable using and is published the way you want it to be? Talk to us and we'll develop solutions to your school's textbook needs.
 

In previous posts regarding developing a high school science textbook at Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, I've touched on acquisition, planning, manuscript development and copy-editing, cover design and interior design.

I was going to discuss composition at this stage; however, I want to touch on a very important step having to do with manuscript and art package development: permissions! Whether it’s a high school chemistry textbook or a primary school textbook, we use the same permissions process.

Copyright Law

While writing and developing art packages, our K-12 authors have to be aware of the rules of permissions regarding copyright laws. KH has a permissions department that helps our authors understand the copyright laws and helps them with these needs. Basically, if they are utilizing any material beyond what they are creating, they need to request permission for the borrowed materials.

Copyright protection extends to the authors of all original works including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and certain other intellectual material. The law of copyright gives the owner the sole and exclusive right to reproduce the copyrighted work in any form and to authorize others to do so.

The following chart provides a quick reference to copyright duration.

Next time I’ll talk about “fair use” and “public domain.” You’ll be a permissions guru before you know it!

In my last post, I talked about the cover design process that school textbook publishers, like Kendall Hunt Publishing, use on products. Additionally, whether it is books for gifted students, high school science textbooks, or textbooks for elementary school, the interior of the book must be designed. We submit to a designer a portion of the manuscript that contains the majority of the elements we want to incorporate: unit/chapter opener, different levels of headings, art/photos, tables, listings, and so on. We give the designer some instruction on the grade level and type of theme we want to achieve. The or subject is important as the cover of a high school physics textbook would obviously differ in many ways from a high school biology textbook. If the cover is in advanced stages, we may also submit that as a reference. Again, we begin with a few different choices and narrow it down. It's important to create a design that enhances the pedagogy and readability. Additionally, in the case of, high school science textbooks, we want to draw the student in, but don't want to overwhelm or confuse them. The designer usually submits about eight two-page spreads. In addition, they submit a general color palette for the project. We sometimes go through several proofs, making additional suggestions to get to the point that we are satisfied with the design.

Again, the design phase happens at the same time as the copy-editing and art package preparation phases. Hopefully, they all come together around the same time so that we can proceed with composition, which I write about the next time...

It’s almost that time of year, the time we all look longingly forward to in the summer.  No, not Christmas, the start of school!  Kids back on a schedule and in a routine, that’s always a good thing, right?  My son seems ready for fourth grade.  Yesterday I came home to find a note on my desk, it said, “Mom, can you please get me a high school biology textbook, a high school chemistry textbook, and any other high school science textbooks you have at your company?  Thank you.” 

When he came in from outside I asked him why he needed them.  “Well,” he said, “at football camp this week they told us about one of the seniors from last year who made the Academic All American team.  They said he’s really good in science so I thought if I got ahead in science then I’ll be able to make the Academic All American team too.”  You have to love the innocence of kids, it never occurred to him that he will have to make the football team first.  And who am I to discourage?  I love that he wants high school science textbooks in fourth grade.  But I think we’ll just go to the bookstore this weekend and find something closer to the level of elementary school science textbooks.  It’s a start!

You can preview most of our K12 textbooks at Kendall Hunt Publishing Company's website.

In the previous article, I spoke about the beginning stages of creating a high school science textbook: acquisition and planning, as well as the development of the manuscript and art package. In this article, I'll introduce the design process that we, as an educational publishing company, use.

Around the same time that the copy-editing is being done, we coordinate with a designer to develop the cover image/design. When selecting a cover image for a high school biology textbook, high school chemistry textbook, or any of our textbooks, we look for a good balance of gender and ethnicity in an photos of people that we use. We also consider age-appropriateness for grade-level, whether it’s a primary school textbook vs. secondary school textbooks and whether it’s a product targeted to a specific ability, such as a curriculum for high ability learners.

The cover image needs to be strong and eye-catching and express the concept that we are trying to project for our target market. We want to draw the student into the content. The text/logo-type needs to be nicely balanced and eye-catching as well. We usually request 3-4 choices and may go through several "proofs" to complete the front/spine/back panels of the cover. The text on the back cover is another tool used to interest and draw students into the content. The saying, "you can't judge a book by its cover" is certainly true, however, we need to show something dynamic in order to have potential customers review our products in the first place!

This weekend I was speaking with a friend of mine who is a high school science teacher and we were talking about high school science textbooks. She was bemoaning the lack of teacher resources in the high school biology textbook her school uses. Sure, she has the teacher edition textbooks that go with the program, but she’s looking for something more. At the private school where she teaches, they’ve been using the program for a number of years and are hoping to change soon. 

She had no idea the inquiry based science resources that are available online now. When I told her about the virtual autopsies that are available with our Forensic Science for High School program, she was so excited. That got me thinking, are you happy with the resources that school textbook publishers are providing for you as teachers? Does your high school physics textbook give you online resources for experiments & interactive learning exercises? Is your high school chemistry textbook robust enough to keep your students engaged? I’d love to have a conversation about this!
 

How can we keep up with all the new and ever-changing technologies that have kids mesmerized? Teachers often feel overwhelmed with the challenges and options this digital culture presents to students. We want students to take advantage of all technology has to offer; however, how familiar are teachers with technology?  Teachers often throw up their hands and say, “My students know how to work this stuff and I don’t” or “How can I utilize and implement something that I don’t understand?”

The digital world is growing and changing very fast. Technology companies release products so rapidly that there is little time for anyone to stop and think of the many issues that may arise with their use. Too often when schools and districts purchase new digital technology for their elementary school textbooks they look at all the bells and whistles and don’t think of how will this fit into an inquiry based science classroom or a teacher's daily lesson plan.

Technology offers exciting opportunities in the science textbook publishing arena, but for some teachers this strange new world can be intimidating.  Thankfully, there is help available…

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has developed the National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for students, teachers, and administrators. With these standards, ISTE provides structure for utilizing technology in an effective and responsible way.  This site offers a plethora of information, tips, direction, and support.  You can even visit a school that has embraced the digital world: http://www.istevision.org/watch.php?vid=fc10dbd9251623e4379652fd1cb0ac54e5ad04a5

As an educational publisher we are committed to assisting teachers to best educate students.  Inspiring teachers to transform their classrooms away from traditional teaching toward a new vision of student-centered learning is our mission. 

We aim to offer technology that is relevant and to provide implementation support in our teacher edition textbooks.  And if you are still struggling with turning on the laptop or downloading the Nano Legends game that came with your KH high school biology textbook, just ask your students for help...they love to show off their expertise.