Children's school problems are often blamed on either the individual or one of the groups to which the child belongs. An interpretive approach views individuals and groups, the worlds of actions and ideas, as mutually defining and constitutive. (Author/LHW)

Provides background to the Asian South Pacific Bureau of Adult Education seminar held in February 1985. The problem, according to the author, is how to get status for adult nonformal education when status traditionally is awarded by the universities that promote formal education. (CH)

Describes how an educational anthropologist's study objectives developed during fieldwork conducted in a fundamentalist Christian school and community. Asserts that this narrative reflects the strong relation of problem finding to problem solving in the practice of naturalistic inquiry. (KH)

Analyzes questionnaire responses from a survey of 139 teachers of educational anthropology courses in colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The survey focused on the goals, content, instructor background, student profile, and bibliography associated with such courses. (GC)

Explores several issues related to the study of students' academic careers and the cumulative impact of their learning experiences across grade levels. Building on recent work in cognitive psychology, develops academic "tasks" for the study of inter-grade connections. Identifies areas for future research. (Author/LHW)

Examines the historical development of educational anthropology in the context of the growth of professionalism and specialization of anthropology as a whole. Discusses several factors: 1954 Stanford Conference; organization of the Council on Anthropology and Education; changing economic support for anthropology; and modifications in…

Attempts to define the cultural discontinuity (between schools and students) hypothesis by distinguishing between universal, primary, and secondary discontinuities. Suggests that each of these is associated with a distinct type of school problem, and that secondary cultural discontinuities commonly affect minority students in the United States.…

Schools have been accused of being insensitive to students' cultural backgrounds, and thus of failing to serve some populations because instruction and curricula are designed for middle class children. But teachers should be cautious about applying the findings of ethnographic studies which address this problem. Although ethnographic studies…

Anthropologically informed examination of instructional supervisors and supervision could reveal functions beyond counseling, teaching, and training. A literature review highlights a cultural dimension of supervision. An ethnography of supervision would elucidate the roles of supervisors just as training supervisors in ethnography could help them…

Discusses creativity in higher education and argues that it is analyzed as an intentional act related to ideas from cognitive psychology. States that the culture of engineering education holds a narrow view of creativity and is based on outdated learning theories. Deeper philosophical implications of creativity, i.e., the quest for meaning, must…

This book uses an ethnographic approach to collect and analyze patterns of language and culture that affect interracial communication and culture. The study selects patterns of behavior, or elements within patterns, and maps black and white cognitive territory in order to reveal the cultural reasons for communications difficulties. The book…

Introduces a collection of papers presented at a symposium on the situationally-specific character of problem-solving practices. Reports that findings provoke speculation about relations among social contexts, knowledge and activity, and relations between school-learned problem-solving techniques and those used in other settings. (KH)