Melbo, I. R. & Waterman, I. R. (1936). Pictures in geography textbooks. Elementary School Journal, 36, 362-365.

(Summary and conclusion.) The data of this study appear to warrant the following summary of findings. (1) Pictures account for from 20 to 25 per cent of all materials included in textbooks in geography for the various grades. (2) Uniformity with respect to the number, the size, and the frequency of occurrence of pictures in the various grades is generally lacking in geography textbooks. (3) Approximately two-thirds of all pictures in geography textbooks are limited to six major types of scenes or activities, many of which are of questionable educational value in terms of the basic geographic concepts to be taught in the grades to which the pictures are assigned. (4) The types of pictures chosen to illustrate geography textbooks apparently have little or no relation to the fundamental organization of materials within each textbook series. On the whole, the pictures appear to have been selected largely on the basis of tradition, expediency, and ease of procurement. (5) In view of the geographical concepts to be taught, it appears that series of textbooks in geography, considered as a whole, contain too large a proportion of cultural pictures and too small a proportion of cultural-natural pictures. (6) While no quantitative data are available, it was noted that many of the pictures in each book are concerned with geographic relationships that are relatively insignificant phases of the total adjustment made by people to their physical environment in the region with which the pictures deal. (7) Some pictures in each of the textbooks examined are illegible and unattractive, but certain series appear to be distinctly superior in the general legibility and attractiveness of their pictures. (8) Some pictures in each geography textbook tend to be out of date and no longer accurate representations of the phenomena pictured, but certain series contain a decidedly higher proportion of definitely up-to-date pictures.

Interpretation of the data of this study must proceed with extreme caution since definite criteria or standards for pictures in geography are lacking. No one knows with certainty the optimum size of a pictue; the most desirable frequency of occurrence; the proportion of the book which should be used for pictues; the most desirable balance, for each grade and for the textbook series as a whole, between the different major types of scenes or activities; or the optimum proportion of cultural, natural, and cultural-natural pictures for each grade and textbook series. Nor can one judge with finality the relative legibility or attractiveness. This report, however, indicates something of the possibilities inherent in a detailed study of one factor highly important in a consideration of textbooks in geography. Techniques and procedures similar to those employed in this study may readily be used in the evaluaton of textbooks on the basis of other factors.