To become cooperative members of their cultural groups, developing children must follow their group's social norms. But young children are not just blind norm followers, they are also active norm enforcers, for example, protesting and correcting when someone plays a conventional game the "wrong" way. In two studies, we asked whether young children…

Understanding allyhood as a developmental process will allow educators and program directors to reach a broader number of students with more powerful outcomes in line with student learning and development goals. Designing programs that promote ally development as a component of social justice education will allow programs to tailor ally…

This article describes a detailed analysis of knowledge building in a problem-based learning group. Knowledge building involves increasing the collective knowledge of a group through social discourse. For knowledge building to occur in the classroom, the teacher needs to create opportunities for constructive discourse in order to support student…

Results indicated that different types of play environment strongly influence preschool children's types of social play and play group size. Differences in cognitive level and social egocentrism influenced the choice of play environment. (Author/DB)

Maintains that, although Leontiev's sociocultural orientation and its activity emphasis were inherited from Vygotsky's theory, the two men's theoretical motives and goals differed. Vygotsky's focus on symbolic mediation transforming psychological processes and Leontiev's on activities leading to internalization of action in mental processes were…

Contrasts work of Leontiev and Vygotsky. Suggests that Leontiev concentrated on social activity as a whole, whereas Vygotsky made semiotic mediation through culturally developed symbols a central aspect of his analysis. Maintains that they shared a philosophical base and that Leontiev used Vygotsky's ideas as a starting point to explore human…

This study surveyed ninth- and eleventh-graders' evaluations of social exclusion based on social group membership. Responses indicated that participants found exclusion less wrong than denying resources, and used fewer moral and more conventional reasons to justify judgments. Participants relied on their group knowledge or stereotypes in…

Reports on an action research study on improving equality of opportunity for students in a socially and racially mixed classroom. Finds that students were empowered by their involvement setting up and drawing conclusions from the study. Questions the extent to which research should focus on race, social class, or gender. (CFR)