Identify six guidelines for selecting and evaluating instructional materials.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Ans: Are the perspectives and contributions of people from diverse cultural and linguistic groups—both men and women, as well as people with disabilities—included in the curriculum? Are there activities in the curriculum that will assist students in analyzing the various forms of the mass media for ethnocentrism, sexism, “handicapism,” and stereotyping? Are men and women, diverse cultural/racial groups, and people with varying abilities shown in both active and passive roles? Are men and women, diverse cultural/racial groups, and people with disabilities shown in positions of power? Do the materials identify strengths possessed by so-called underachieving diverse populations? Do they diminish the attention given to deficits, to reinforce positive behaviors that are desired and valued? Are members of diverse racial/cultural groups, men and women, and people with disabilities shown engaged in a broad range of social and professional activities? Are members of a particular culture or group depicted as having a range of physical features (e.g., hair color, hair texture, variations in facial characteristics and body build)? Do the materials represent historical events from the perspectives of the various groups involved or solely from the male, middle-class, and/or Western European perspective? Are the materials free of ethnocentric or sexist language patterns that may make implications about persons or groups based solely on their culture, race, gender, or disability? Will students from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds find the materials personally meaningful to their life experiences? Are a wide variety of culturally different examples, situations, scenarios, and anecdotes used throughout the curriculum design to illustrate major intellectual concepts and principles? Are culturally diverse content, examples, and experiences comparable in kind, significance, magnitude, and function to those selected from mainstream culture?