Developing students' ability to use multicultural perspectives and knowledge to think about literature, history, and society is emerging as an important part of a pluralistic approach to education. In New York State, an ethnographic study was conducted over 2 school years by a pair of English and social studies teachers with pluralistic goals for…

This book presents a comprehensive and detailed theory of early human development based on the principles of dynamic systems theory. It raises fundamental questions about prevailing assumptions in the field and proposes a new theory of the development of cognition and action, unifying recent advances in dynamic systems theory with current research…

Schools, with the assistance of parents and teachers, frequently gang up on children in the service of what they believe is a neutral, objective idea of how a child ought to behave, look, dress, learn, and be. Children, in turn, learn how to live within these supposedly neutral norms, and may grow up to enforce these same rules upon their…

Career exploration typically involves the investigation of personal factors: interests, aptitudes, values, and personal style. This digest outlines one counseling method, pattern identification exercise (PIE). PIE starts with past experiences and identifies personal patterns which are relevant to career decisions. A premise of PIE is that…

The public speaking course has been around for a long time but, while there have been changes, the heart of the course remains intact. The many skills and sensitivities instructors try to cultivate in their students come together in three fundamental metaphors that may reflect deep tendencies in what is taught. In the first metaphor, student as…

This study investigated how men involved in higher education settings change and develop positive attitudes toward women and feminism using naturalistic inquiry, phenomenological, and ethnographic research methods. An unstructured, open-ended, interview protocol was used to talk with men about their attitudes toward women and feminism. The five…

This paper offers a perspective on people learning to build community, across the imposed social barriers that separate people with substantial disabilities from other people. The paper presents the story of a woman who was able to move from an institutional setting to her own home because of the community-building carried out by her support…

This paper examines practical and theoretical problems and issues that arose during evaluation of an adventure program for young offenders. During 1989-93, the Sail Training Association and the Humberside (England) Probation Service collaborated on a project in which probation clients aged 17-25 made sailing voyages across the North Sea or around…

The belief that gifted children are more likely to have personality problems than "normal" individuals is not supported by research, but the image of the disturbed gifted child persists. This paper reviews research from a life-span developmental perspective to examine why this image persists. The paper critically examines the research of L.…

This annotated bibliography contains 65 entries on outdoor experiential training, including journal articles, conference papers, newspaper and magazine articles, television broadcasts, books, and unpublished manuscripts. Most items are descriptions or evaluations of programs and models of outdoor-based experiential training for personal…

This paper examines how the epidemiological findings of anorexia nervosa lead theorists to speculate a correlation between sociocultural factors and the development of anorexia nervosa. A section on the essential features of anorexia nervosa identifies five primary characteristics of anorexia: (1) severe weight loss; (2) a disturbance of body…

This pamphlet presents quotes of Native American elders concerning Native philosophy and way of life. This advice is intended to transmit Native American thoughts on how to live a good life and to address the essence of a natural education. Originally prepared for Native American young people, this pamphlet is now being offered to all people,…

This collection of essays focuses on positive aspects of the college professor's career. The first chapter, "(Mis)Understanding Academic Work," is aimed at critics who feel that professors do not work very long or hard and should therefore teach more undergraduates to relieve state budgets. Chapter 2, "Scholarship Reconsidered," analyzes changes…

Administrators can acquire a broader range of material drawn from Shakespeare and, by implication, from other great authors as sources for a fuller cognizance of life. The vast field of Shakespearean scholarship and criticism overshadows the works themselves. Nevertheless, adults can rediscover Shakespeare through performances and recreational…

This book introduces students to the helping relationship and appropriate methods of responding to others through a variety of experiential training activities. The first chapter discusses the need for peer facilitators. The peer facilitator movement is traced to the 1970s, and the power of peer relationships is described. Four basic helping roles…