Rutgers Invitational Symposium on Education Series – serie

This volume explores contemporary issues of ethnic, cultural, and national identities and their influence on the social construction of identity. These issues are analyzed from the perspective of seven nations: China, Israel, Japan, South Africa, Ukraine, Wales, and the United States. While different, these perspectives are not mutually exclusive lenses through which to review the discourse between ethnic and educational dynamics. The chapters in this book illustrate how these seven perspectives differ, as well as overlap.*Part I explores ethnicity and race as important variables in explaining minority students' academic performance and schooling in the United States and China.*Part II focuses on ethnic and racial identity issues in Israel, Japan, and South Africa.*Part III addresses ethnic and racial identity as it affects racial integration at different levels of education in post-apartheid South Africa, and the effects on schooling of a rapidly changing ethnic map in the United States.*Part IV focuses on issues of language and national identity in three countries: Ukraine and Wales, where a national language is central to nation-building, and China, where 61 languages are in use and bilingual education is essential in enhancing national literacy and communication.The questions this book addresses are highly significant in today's global economy and culture. Scholars and professionals in the fields of comparative, international, and multicultural education and educational policy will find the volume particularly pertinent.

This book explores four interrelated themes: rethinking civic education in light of the diversity of U.S. society; re-examining these notions in an increasingly interconnected global context; re-considering the ways that civic education is researched and practiced; and taking stock of where we are currently through use of an historical understanding of civic education.There is a gap between theory and practice in social studies education: while social studies researchers call for teachers to nurture skills of analysis, decision-making, and participatory citizenship, students in social studies classrooms are often found participating in passive tasks (e.g., quiz and test-taking, worksheet completion, listening to lectures) rather than engaging critically with the curriculum. Civic Education for Diverse Citizens in Global Times, directed at students, researchers and practitioners of social studies education, seeks to engage this divide by offering a collection of work that puts practice at the center of research and theory.

This volume presents research findings on the use of technology to support learning and reasoning in collaborative contexts. Featuring a variety of theoretical perspectives, ranging from sociocultural to social psychological to information processing views, Collaborative Learning, Reasoning, and Technology includes an international group of authors well known for their contributions to research on technology learning environments.Two themes are central: the use of technology as a scaffold for learning, and the use of technology to promote argumentation and reasoning. Collaboration among peers is a key element in both of these strands. These foci highlight, respectively, a key element in the design of technology-based learning environments and a key outcome that can result from online instruction/learning. As a whole, the volume addresses some of the core issues in using technology to support collaborative learning, reasoning, and argumentation.

This volume revisits, problematizes, and expands the meaning of quality in the context of adult basic education. Covering a wide range of relevant topics, it includes contributors from the realms of both policy and practice and encompasses both the major instructional areas – reading, writing, and mathematics – as well as larger issues of literacy, learning, and adulthood. Each chapter focuses on what improving quality in the field might look like through the particular lens of the author’s work. As a whole, the broad scope of topics and ideas addressed will raise the level of discussion, knowledge, and practice regarding quality in adult basic education.In this book, the term adult basic education refers to the broad range of services for adults who wish to improve their literacy and language skills, including beginning and intermediate writing, writing and numeracy, preGED, GED/Adult Secondary Education, and ESL instruction that takes place in a range of contexts including schools, community-based programs, and workplace development programs. The volume is organized around three themes: Accountability, Standards, and the Use of Documentation and Research Program Structures and Instruction Rethinking Our Assumptions and ConceptsComing at a time of increasing pressure to standardize, to be accountable, and to improve outcomes, and when calls for evidence-based practice are fueling stakeholders’ interest in the relationship between research and practice at all levels of the system, Toward Defining and Improving Quality in Adult Basic Education is particularly timely for scholars, graduate students, and professionals in the field of adult basic education.

The contribution of this volume to the literature on peer learning is its focus on approaches that reflect a common concern with cognitive processes based in developmental, information processing, or more generally, constructivist perspectives on peer learning. Although the clear importance of the social context of peer learning is not ignored, the volume's emphasis is on the cognitive growth that occurs within the learning environment. Any discussion of peer learning involves consideration of who is learning, how the role of peers with whom one works can be conceptualized, what it is that peers learn together, what changes as a result of the interaction, and how we can know what occurs in groups or what has been learned. The chapters in this book speak to these questions. The key question underlying many of these others is why we should worry about the intricacies of peer interaction. Both the practical and theoretical reasons for doing so are delineated. The developmental theory presented in the Introduction lays the foundation for the later descriptions of specific techniques, though many of the techniques reflect a range of other influences as well. Part I presents the implications of the work of two major theorists in cognitive development, Piaget (Ch. 1) and Vygotsky (Ch. 2). In Part II, six chapters describe a variety of peer learning techniques or models of collaboration, many of which are influenced by the work of Piaget and Vygotsky. The chapters in Part III consider the role of the teacher and the skills needed when using peer learning as an instructional strategy. The Conclusion points to areas in which further research is needed. This volume is based on original papers presented by the contributing authors in November 1996 at the Rutgers Invitational Symposium on Education on Cognitive Skills and Learning With Peers.

The contribution of this volume to the literature on peer learning is its focus on approaches that reflect a common concern with cognitive processes based in developmental, information processing, or more generally, constructivist perspectives on peer learning. Although the clear importance of the social context of peer learning is not ignored, the volume's emphasis is on the cognitive growth that occurs within the learning environment. Any discussion of peer learning involves consideration of who is learning, how the role of peers with whom one works can be conceptualized, what it is that peers learn together, what changes as a result of the interaction, and how we can know what occurs in groups or what has been learned. The chapters in this book speak to these questions. The key question underlying many of these others is why we should worry about the intricacies of peer interaction. Both the practical and theoretical reasons for doing so are delineated. The developmental theory presented in the Introduction lays the foundation for the later descriptions of specific techniques, though many of the techniques reflect a range of other influences as well. Part I presents the implications of the work of two major theorists in cognitive development, Piaget (Ch. 1) and Vygotsky (Ch. 2). In Part II, six chapters describe a variety of peer learning techniques or models of collaboration, many of which are influenced by the work of Piaget and Vygotsky. The chapters in Part III consider the role of the teacher and the skills needed when using peer learning as an instructional strategy. The Conclusion points to areas in which further research is needed. This volume is based on original papers presented by the contributing authors in November 1996 at the Rutgers Invitational Symposium on Education on Cognitive Skills and Learning With Peers.

This book provides new information on how various inclusion policies have been implemented in different schools and school districts in North America and in a range of European countries. The purpose of inclusion policy is to prevent the marginalization of people who experience unfavorable circumstances in life. It is an approach to the education of students with disabilities that is based on a commitment to what all members of a free society deserve in order to become fully participating members--a fair chance to find a meaningful place in their own communities. This book is a kind of status report on what inclusive education has achieved and what it may achieve in the future for children and youth with disabilities. It describes the philosophical, legal, and practical terrain covered by inclusion policy in general and inclusive schooling in particular. Contributors assess inclusion policy and suggest ways to reconceptualize it, bringing to their data analysis a depth of experience and knowledge about public schooling in their respective countries. Although inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classes has been embraced by politicians and educators calling for equal opportunity in our society and is being incorporated into national and international education laws, it continues to be controversial and the debate is sometimes heated. A goal of this book is to shed some light on this debate. Is inclusion mostly about student placement? Are students with disabilities attaining social and learning membership in general classrooms? Have they benefitted from inclusion? How about students without disabilities? What have been the benefits? Must learning take second priority to socialization and friendship? Are teachers getting the training they need? How do parents feel about inclusion programs? How do students feel? What kind of curricular accommodations should be made? These and other questions are addressed. This volume is based on original papers presented by the contributing authors in October 1997 at the Rutgers Invitational Symposium on Education on Inclusive Schooling: National and International Perspectives.

This volume explores contemporary issues of ethnic, cultural, and national identities and their influence on the social construction of identity. These issues are analyzed from the perspective of seven nations: China, Israel, Japan, South Africa, Ukraine, Wales, and the United States. While different, these perspectives are not mutually exclusive lenses through which to review the discourse between ethnic and educational dynamics. The chapters in this book illustrate how these seven perspectives differ, as well as overlap.*Part I explores ethnicity and race as important variables in explaining minority students' academic performance and schooling in the United States and China.*Part II focuses on ethnic and racial identity issues in Israel, Japan, and South Africa.*Part III addresses ethnic and racial identity as it affects racial integration at different levels of education in post-apartheid South Africa, and the effects on schooling of a rapidly changing ethnic map in the United States.*Part IV focuses on issues of language and national identity in three countries: Ukraine and Wales, where a national language is central to nation-building, and China, where 61 languages are in use and bilingual education is essential in enhancing national literacy and communication.The questions this book addresses are highly significant in today's global economy and culture. Scholars and professionals in the fields of comparative, international, and multicultural education and educational policy will find the volume particularly pertinent.

This volume presents research findings on the use of technology to support learning and reasoning in collaborative contexts. Featuring a variety of theoretical perspectives, ranging from sociocultural to social psychological to information processing views, Collaborative Learning, Reasoning, and Technology includes an international group of authors well known for their contributions to research on technology learning environments.Two themes are central: the use of technology as a scaffold for learning, and the use of technology to promote argumentation and reasoning. Collaboration among peers is a key element in both of these strands. These foci highlight, respectively, a key element in the design of technology-based learning environments and a key outcome that can result from online instruction/learning. As a whole, the volume addresses some of the core issues in using technology to support collaborative learning, reasoning, and argumentation.

This volume revisits, problematizes, and expands the meaning of quality in the context of adult basic education. Covering a wide range of relevant topics, it includes contributors from the realms of both policy and practice and encompasses both the major instructional areas-reading, writing, and mathematics-as well as larger issues of literacy, learning, and adulthood. Each chapter focuses on what improving quality in the field might look like through the particular lens of the author's work. As a whole, the broad scope of topics and ideas addressed will raise the level of discussion, knowledge, and practice regarding quality in adult basic education. In this book, the term adult basic education refers to the broad range of services for adults who wish to improve their literacy and language skills, including beginning and intermediate writing, writing and numeracy, preGED, GED/Adult Secondary Education, and ESL instruction that takes place in a range of contexts including schools, community-based programs, and workplace development programs. The volume is organized around three themes:*Accountability, Standards, and the Use of Documentation and Research;*Program Structures and Instruction; and*Rethinking Our Assumptions and Concepts.Coming at a time of increasing pressure to standardize, to be accountable, and to improve outcomes, and when calls for evidence-based practice are fueling stakeholders' interest in the relationship between research and practice at all levels of the system, Toward Defining and Improving Quality in Adult Basic Education is particularly timely for scholars, graduate students, and professionals in the field of adult basic education.

The field of early childhood education and the science of psychology have a long and closely intertwined history. The study of young children's learning within school contexts provides a test of developmental theory while at the same time identifies the limits of psychology for informing practice. The purpose of this book, part of the Rutgers Invitational Symposium on Education Series, is to bring together the work of the leading researchers in the field of child development and early education to inform three issues facing the United States today: * clarifying developmentally appropriate instruction from the perspective of cognitive developmental psychology; * ensuring that young children's schooling adequately addresses content; and * meeting cognitive goals while simultaneously supporting social and emotional development. Throughout, the role of empirical inquiry in developmental psychology for the practice of early education is examined.

This book provides new information on how various inclusion policies have been implemented in different schools and school districts in North America and in a range of European countries. The purpose of inclusion policy is to prevent the marginalization of people who experience unfavorable circumstances in life. It is an approach to the education of students with disabilities that is based on a commitment to what all members of a free society deserve in order to become fully participating members--a fair chance to find a meaningful place in their own communities. This book is a kind of status report on what inclusive education has achieved and what it may achieve in the future for children and youth with disabilities. It describes the philosophical, legal, and practical terrain covered by inclusion policy in general and inclusive schooling in particular. Contributors assess inclusion policy and suggest ways to reconceptualize it, bringing to their data analysis a depth of experience and knowledge about public schooling in their respective countries. Although inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classes has been embraced by politicians and educators calling for equal opportunity in our society and is being incorporated into national and international education laws, it continues to be controversial and the debate is sometimes heated. A goal of this book is to shed some light on this debate. Is inclusion mostly about student placement? Are students with disabilities attaining social and learning membership in general classrooms? Have they benefitted from inclusion? How about students without disabilities? What have been the benefits? Must learning take second priority to socialization and friendship? Are teachers getting the training they need? How do parents feel about inclusion programs? How do students feel? What kind of curricular accommodations should be made? These and other questions are addressed. This volume is based on original papers presented by the contributing authors in October 1997 at the Rutgers Invitational Symposium on Education on Inclusive Schooling: National and International Perspectives.