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Showing posts from April, 2014

History/Social Studies Textbooks Now and Then

Diva likes the comic section best! Last Sunday, I was talking to a couple of girls in Primary 5 and 6 about their Social Studies textbooks. I was happy to hear that they liked it. "It was like a magazine!" one said, and she meant it in a good way. The latest textbooks are bright, cheery and full of illustrations. They even have comics, er... graphic novels in them! This is a far cry from the textbook I used when I was in school. There was no social studies in primary school so my first encounter with history was in Secondary 1. The textbook I used was "Social and Economic History of Modern Singapore" and  the thickest book in the school bag. It was perhaps more serious than the textbooks of today with a lot more words. Surprisingly, I liked the textbook. (Probably because I liked to read).  I was especially taken by the stories in the "Supplementary reading material" section. I always thought these bits were more interesting than the main text! My