Argues that art education does not meet its objective of creativity and instead is replicative rather than original. Contends educational journals such as "Instructor" and "Good Apple" reduce fine art to its antithesis, popular art. Concludes that art educators must work diligently to protect fine art from becoming "dumb…

Presents two practices used by rural Brazilians to estimate area of land and volumes of tree trunks. Using an ethnomathematical approach, develops educational ideas involving the interrelations between academic and popular mathematical knowledge in the context of the struggle for land. Discusses contributions of this work to the process of social…

Provides an overview of indigenous-education programs in the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. Discussion focuses on the historical context that has seen consistent attempts to eradicate the languages and life ways of Native Americans. Case studies are presented that illustrate the role of indigenous-language-education programs in…

Discusses the declining role of Spanish at every level of the teaching profession. Although Spanish is the most-studied foreign language in the United States, the increasing trend is to use English instead of Spanish, even in upper-level and literature classes and in scholarly writing about Spanish. (CNP)

Presents a developmental framework for the study of culture and cognition in which cultural practice is a key organizing construct. Argues that systematic analysis of either cultural change or cognitive development requires that they be understood relative to one another in a single integrative treatment. (Author/SD)

A survey of 106 small, rural school superintendents and board members in central Missouri found they believed that providing character education through proper school culture was not enough, and that a character-education focus should be added within the guidance and counseling areas of the curriculum in elementary and secondary schools. (TD)

Proposes a number of culture-sensitive practices based on Guba and Lincoln's (1989) criteria for trustworthiness and authenticity when working in Melanesian cultural contexts. Addresses issues of initial contact, ownership of knowledge, prolonged engagement, persistent observation, member checks, language and interview process. Contains 15…

A monolingual English-speaking teacher and bilingual researchers analyzed the discursive practices in a third-grade classroom that affected the literacy learning opportunities available to a monolingual Spanish-speaking migrant student. Literacy learning opportunities were shaped and influenced by the specific contexts in which the student acted…

Identifies content analysis as the process of making inferences about a document by systematically identifying and quantifying certain characteristics of the communication. Characteristics could include style, intended audience, format, message, and surrounding circumstances. Includes several classroom examples, as well as related activities, and…

Considers human capital and economic organization perspectives in the analysis of patterns of employment and poverty among American Indians and Whites in Rosebud County, Montana. Uses an "embeddedness" approach involving ethnographic data and recent analyses of schooling to illuminate the role of local cultural knowledge and social…

Contains practical strategies to help teachers and students confront cultural differences. The strategies can serve as the basis for lessons on cultural diversity adaptable to almost any instructional setting. Includes some specific learning activities and background material on how personal space is utilized and defined. (MJP)

Investigated interactions between Travellers (historically known as Gypsies or Tinkers) and school policy toward such children in Europe. Reviews the mismatch between Traveller cultures and their schooling experience. Notes that schools ignore and devalue the children's home learning of interdependence and independence and offer only learned…

Discusses pedagogical issues for second-language teaching within the framework of a changing Canadian culture. These issues include consciousness raising to heighten teachers' and students' perceptions of the role of culture, teacher preparation for teaching in a multicultural classroom, and balancing the dominant cultural paradigm with the new…

Focuses on the links between social contexts and normative family patterns to identify factors at the societal, community, family, and individual levels that enhance African Americans' ability to overcome stressful life events and foster positive family relationships. Maternal psychological distress was linked with parent-child relationship…

Interviews with 76 Navajo grandmothers, midlife mothers, and young mothers examined their life course patterns in cultural and historical contexts. In their educational, work, marriage, and childbearing patterns, these women confronted challenges posed by historical events with culturally constructed courses of action arising from persistent…