Abstract
The purpose of this study is to propose a critical textbook usage method so that social studies teachers can conduct unit development study. Critical textbook usage is the method by which we teach students the relative and political nature of social studies textbooks, enabling them to understand that textbooks do not represent the neutral and absolute truth. The author, on the basis of this method, develops a lesson plan for teaching junior high school students that the textbook's explanations contain only some of the truth about why the Sino-Japanese War was prolonged. The results demonstrate a strategy for disseminating unit development study among social studies teachers under the situation where they are legally required to use authorized textbooks. Unit development study is the most effective methodology to develop students into democratic citizens who do not blindly obey authorities and superstitions. However, it is difficult to widely disseminate this methodology among teachers because it requires them to develop lessons without a textbook. Social studies teachers therefore must realize that developing lessons by using only a textbook instills in students the belief that it contains the neutral and absolute truth, thus failing to develop them into democratic citizens. The method proposed in this study makes social studies teachers aware of the importance of conducting unit development study by changing their method of using a textbook in lessons.
