The IEA's International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) investigates the ways in which young people are prepared to undertake their roles as citizens in a range of countries in the second decade of the 21st century. ICCS 2016 is the second cycle of a study initiated in 2009. The ICCS 2016 user guide describes the content and format of…

Secretary of Education William Bennett's epilogue to the 1987 United States Department of Education report on the study of education in Japan is presented in its entirety. The secretary outlines 12 principles that can be adapted from the Japanese for use in the U.S. educational system. (MD)

Banned from the classroom by followers of the "direct method," translation has been overlooked as a desirable skill in its own right, and also as a valuable medium of the teaching process. With this skill, the students learn to understand and utilize a dictionary, practice pronunciation, build up vocabulary, perfect writing ability, and…

Identifies reasons why social studies educators should improve their teaching about South Korea. Included in the list is the increasing numbers of Koreans being educated in the United States, the summer Olympics in 1988, and the use of Korean culture as a case study demonstrating the effects of cultural transmission and society in transition. (JDH)

This article addresses the multicultural aspect of Central Asia in response to the discussion on diversity in U.S. classrooms. Many areas of the world are more diverse than the U.S., and these areas experience successes and failures with many of the same issues the U.S. is currently struggling with. Comparing the U.S. diversity debate with similar…

The Greek elementary school system is described in this booklet, which was developed for those teaching Greek children who come directly from Greek elementary schools to Chicago public schools. The Greek school system is described as different from the Chicago one in both content and methods of instruction; thus, the purpose of this document is to…

Describes a rural Washington State program called Project REACH that developed an effective curriculum for teaching racial and ethnic tolerance. (MD)

A National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant funded a study to establish an International Humanities Curriculum that would serve as a model of curricular internationalization upon which interested observers might draw for revision of their own curricula. This curriculum revision project introduced the study of texts, ideas, themes, and…

This paper suggests that the study of holidays presents an opportunity for elementary school teachers to employ a range of social science disciplines and to teach their students the fundamentals of inquiry and critical thinking. The study of holidays from a cross-cultural perspective helps students to understand that peoples of all cultures find…

This field guide was used as a basis for documenting classroom events at five community school sites in Papua New Guinea, as part of the Indigenous Mathematics Project in its ongoing research into primary mathematics learning. Methodology for evaluating the appropriateness of curriculum form and content is described and specific sections focus on…

At the Grand Royal Palace Compound in Bangkok, mosaics speak to art teachers in new forms. Thai culture can be linked to the study of mosaics, inspire subject matter, and lead to new approaches in mosaic work. (AM)

The author defines the aims of cross-cultural research in art education and examines the problems inherent in such research, using as an illustration a summary chart of Child's cross-cultural studies of esthetic sensitivity. Emphasis is placed on the need for rigor in research design and execution. (SJL)

Current research suggests that culture strongly influences students' learning patterns, communication styles, perceptions, and behavior. This research summary details ways that teachers can improve student learning by becoming aware of cultural differences and employing culturally sensitive instructional methods. Concentrating on how students…

The integration of pluralism into the general education curriculum has long been a goal of the community college. The audiovisual resources of the college library can be particularly useful in examining and exploring other cultures, and in breaking down the barriers between members of one culture and "the other," that is, those on the other side…

Explores three ways to design cross-cultural studies to be more valid and ethical: (1) intercultural researchers need to distinguish broad rhetorical and cultural patterns from regional, organizational, and personal patterns; (2) United States researchers need to distinguish differences in rhetorical patterns in a form of communication and ways…