This paper reviews 20 cross-cultural studies conducted with the Defining Issues Test (DIT). All or part of the samples in the studies were non-Americans who had not been a part of the populations presented in the DIT manual. The studies were aimed at the comparison of moral reasoning structure and development across cultures. Several aspects of…

Cultures determine identity in that they prescribe the "food, festivals, and fashion" of their members; for example, rap music, baggy pants and gestured dancing identify the hip hop culture (recognizable to both "members" and "non-members"). Cultural identities are created and maintained by "literacy"--the…

This paper provides a state of the art review of intercultural awareness at the elementary and secondary school level. The key assumptions underlying this paper are two: (1) Intercultural awareness education, however many fields or special efforts are included, is increasingly becoming education for interaction in a global society or world…

The TADPOLE (Tech Assessment and Development for the Preparation of Optimal Learning Environments) Research Project assessed areas of parental competence in setting up home learning environments for children from birth to three years of age. Six half-hour videotapes were made of each of 30 families in their homes. Two instruments, Parent…

This book emphasizes the value of bilingual education as an enrichment for all groups, not merely for heterogeneous populations or poor or dislocated populations. The book is aimed at teachers, administrators and concerned laymen. Part I of this book surveys the sociology of bilingual education. Language and culture in the global community and in…

The effect of cultural background knowledge on comprehension and on the language of recall was investigated using an oral presentation. Fifteen Aboriginal women in northern Australia and 15 American women in an adult education class in Illinois were matched in age and educational level. Two stories were read aloud to the subjects, each based on…

This document seeks to help deans and faculties of colleges and schools of education in the United States develop a global perspective for teacher education. The report explains the urgent need for a global approach to both the general and professional components of teacher education--teaching and learning methods as well as clinical and practical…

Dramatic accounts of adolescent turmoil may confuse psychopathology with normal development if derived from the study of clinical populations. To compare the development of normal adolescents, 108 students aged 17-22 from the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Western Samoa were studied. Results of three different personality measures…

Based on 1975 interviews with British education officials, parents and teachers of disadvantaged children, it can be asserted that these groups have very different concepts and expectations of the educational system. Minority parents have a high opinion of the schools their children attend and of the teachers who work there. However, many minority…

A survey directed to all teachers who graduated with a Diploma of Teaching from Nedlands College of Advanced Education (Western Australia) in 1976-1977 and who had completed at least one year of teaching incorporated four basic aims: (1) to ascertain the number of teachers who had students with different cultural backgrounds; (2) to identify the…

The multicultural pattern in recent Australian immigration poses a pressing issue for reading instruction. Students coming from homes where only English is spoken, or English and a Northern European language are spoken, perform better on reading tests than do students from homes where other languages are spoken. There is also little reflection…

A study was conducted to determine whether and how children with diverse cultural backgrounds, including the cultural mainstream in North America, might differentially identify and acquire rules of discourse appropriate to becoming literate. This study examined the natural language used by teacher and students recorded within selected periods of…

This paper, based on a mental health consultation project in an inner city elementary school, examines the process of consultation in a biracial organization and advances four propositions about the interactions: (1) that there are black-white differences in orientation to the consultant-consultee relationship; (2) that these differences are along…

Designed for use with the teacher's guide to unit eight of the social science strand developed for grade three, these support materials for Spanish-speaking children include instructional aids for classroom use and worksheets for students which may be reproduced for individual seatwork. Worksheets are to be used under supervision rather than as…

Rural youth are a diverse group not only geographically, but socioeconomically, ethnically, and culturally as well. Historically, the rural student has not achieved as well as his urban counterpart in high school or in post secondary education. There is evidence that this is beginning to change and that rural students are doing as well or better…