North Carolina State University
News Services
Campus Box 7504
Raleigh, NC 27695 (919) 515-3470
Media Contacts:
Dr. Burt Beers, 919/851-3556
Pam Smith, News Services, 919/515-3470, [email protected]
NC State's Humanities Extension/Publications Creates Book Series
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Living in Our World," the first and only social studies program for grades 4-7 designed exclusively to meet North Carolina's unique geography-based curriculum, is ready to roll off the presses.
Already, the book series, created and published by North Carolina State University Humanities Extension/Publications, has received at least one rave review from a student who described the fourth grade textbook on North Carolina as "awesome!"
Dr. Burt Beers, chief executive editor for the project, says students' approval is one important measure of success. So is the recent adoption of the entire series by the State Board of Education for use in North Carolina schools.
This week, university officials and key members of the creative team unveiled the educational package that includes student textbooks, teacher editions, teacher resource manuals, enrichment activity guides and video productions for each of the four grade levels. From the beginning, Beers said, the goal was to develop exciting and relevant social studies material that would have a major impact on the way teachers teach and students learn about their world.
The project represents unprecedented collaboration and resource pooling by NC State faculty and staff with other university scholars, public school teachers, museums, the North Carolina Geographic Alliance, and the school division of Macmillan/McGraw Hill.
Macmillan/McGraw Hill invested $1.75 million in a contract for rights to market and distribute the series. As publisher, NC State retains ownership and copyrights and receives the majority percentage of sales revenue.
Chancellor Larry K. Monteith said, "This landmark achievement takes outreach to a new dimension. The textbook series is an excellent example of the impact NC State's dynamic extension activities have on the lives of the citizens of North Carolina. 'Living in Our World' is a pioneering endeavor to develop relevant, up-to-date texts and classroom resource materials with input from educators across the state. It reflects our ongoing commitment to our mission as The People's University."
Dr. Margaret A. Zahn, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, said, "This one project will have a greater impact on our public schools than any other project by any other university. We can be proud of a series that was shaped by the best university scholars and top public school teachers in the state."
The project evolved from a 1990 initiative by the (then) Humanities Extension to develop social studies material that reflected political and economic change in the former Soviet Union, said Dr. James Clark, director of Humanities Extension/Publications.
Dr. Joseph Mastro, the late co-director of the program, led a group of North Carolina teachers on an information-gathering mission to Moscow, Tbilisi, Leningrad and Tallinn. In 1992, Mastro launched Humanities Extension/Publications with the publication of a sixth-grade textbook, Living in Europe and Eurasia.
Its success generated revenue that helped seed the "Living in Our World" series, Clark said. "Our newest effort again fills a need for new material that reflects global change and meets the criteria for the state's social studies curricula."
For the past three years, Clark and Beers have worked closely with NC State colleagues Chris Garcia, Gail Chesson, Jim Alchediak and others to organize, write and edit the books and produce videos.
A cohort of public school teachers helped to critique chapters, develop teacher editions, and design and write teacher resource manuals. They also piloted draft versions of the material and conducted workshops for fellow teachers over a three-year period.
"It has been a professionally rewarding experience for all of us," said Michele Woodson, a fifth-grade teacher from Burlington. "Not often does a classroom teacher find her opinion valued, listened to and acted upon."
Each textbook in the series is a jewel, said Cathleen Wilson, a fifth-grade teacher from Wilmington. "Until now, the social studies material available did not match the curriculum. We used what we could find and usually spent our own money on it." She said teachers will welcome having so many supplemental resources at their fingertips, including original videos, student activities and line drawings of maps that are easy to reproduce.
Linda Peterson, a fifth-grade teacher from Raleigh, said, "Here is one book that does it all -- maps and charts are right here. Teachers even have a pacing guide to help them cover the curriculum within the 180-day school year."
Charles Miles, Macmillan/McGraw Hill regional representative, said the finished product reflects the quality of the people involved in the project. "'Living in Our World' is the first comprehensive social studies program that meets state and national educational objectives. This university-public school-industry partnership also is a first in the country and is likely to become a model for other states."
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