Murals have become a powerful art form for portraying antiwar, human rights, social justice, and human dignity issues. Educators and artists have conducted mural workshops with adolescents in international settings to educate them about peace, human rights, and cultural tolerance. Learning with murals has been shown to be pedagogically meaningful…

As a lens through which to read and understand a subject area and its curriculum content and issues, a sociocultural perspective is a recent and arguably significant change for the Health and Physical Education (HPE) Key Learning Area (KLA) in Australia. Its significance lies, first, in the fact that it seems to represent a notable departure from…

Using a constructionist framework in music, specifically through an emphasis on composition, is revolutionizing the field of music and education by bridging the gap between the novice and professional. Much of the research has been spearheaded by Jeanne Bamberger and others, who noted the computer's potential to highlight what it means to be a…

In Australia, information and communication technologies (ICT) are a significant element of a multicultural and multilingual society. However, some people (in particular, international students, immigrants, refugees) may experience many challenges because they use technology in English as their second language (ESL) and in a new sociocultural…

Grounded in sociocultural theory, this article outlines a small-scale study exploring metacognitive awareness of second language (L2) listening. In each of five lessons, six pairs of advanced-level, adult, Japanese, EFL learners participated in a sequence of tasks involving the explicit verbalisation of strategies as part of a pedagogical cycle…

Language learner strategies (LLS) have long been viewed as a variable of individual differences, or as cognitive skills. This study, focusing as it does on the data taken from a series of focus groups with 47 senior secondary students in mainland China, seeks a new interpretation of strategy development and use from a sociocultural perspective.…

African American (AA) women's preference for a larger body size and underestimation of their body weight may affect the relationship between their body weight and weight-related quality of life (QOL). We wanted to examine the relationship between weight-related QOL and body mass index (BMI) in a sample of overweight AA women. Thirty-three…

The aim of the paper is to assess the construct validation of a multidimensional measure of social cohesion which is well theoretically grounded and has an equivalent/comparable interpretation across all European countries. Up-to-now published research on social cohesion is deficient in either one or both of these important aspects. This paper…

The strategic goal of the long-range social and economic development of the Russian Federation is that of rising to an economic and social level in keeping with Russia's status as a leading world power in the 21st century, a country that occupies an advanced position in the global economic competition and reliably provides for the nation's…

This action research study investigates how genre theory can be integrated into the practice of a writing enrichment program and how the frameworks of Critical Discourse Analysis and Multimodal Analysis can help assess and improve both student learning and teacher practice. A multilayered exploration of teacher-student discourse in an urban public…

The purpose of this project was to initiate a program of research to explore how instructional designers around the world use design to make a social difference locally and globally. The central research question was, "Are there social and political purposes for design that are culturally based?" A growing body of research is concerned…

This cross-national empirical study examines superintendents' professional learning and leadership in Sweden and the United States. Based on a sociocultural perspective, the study highlights the superintendents' preferences for collaborative forms of learning for enhancing their professional knowledge and for building organizational capacity.…

A current characteristic of governance in the public services in England is the advocacy of a permeation of once-discrete organizational and professional structures. New configurations are being called for. Examples are extended schools, workforce re-modelling, and multi-agency working. At issue here is a further indication of this loosening of…

Guided by an ecological framework, we explore how siblings' and parents' roles, relationships, and activities are intertwined in everyday life, providing unique and combined contributions to development. In a departure from past research that emphasized the separate contributions of siblings and parents to individual development, we find that…

The underrepresentation of women at the top of math-intensive fields is controversial, with competing claims of biological and sociocultural causation. The authors develop a framework to delineate possible causal pathways and evaluate evidence for each. Biological evidence is contradictory and inconclusive. Although cross-cultural and cross-cohort…