This interview study gathered information about the prior knowledge and thinking of kindergarten to third- graders regarding the supply of water, heat, and light to modern homes. Findings indicated that students possessed only limited and spotty knowledge about utilities in modern homes. Within general trends, there was evidence of growth in…

Questions whether educational research concerned with children's abilities to learn science concepts has taken into account the effects of race, class, and gender on children's understanding. Contends that these factors are important variables to consider in cognitive research, and that their omission from this body of research has negative…

Discusses the struggles of middle- and lower-class black women to use social programs and affirmative action mandates to advance their status. Examines ways their struggles have affected their self-perceptions and relationships with each other. (Author/JS)

Asserts that England's civic universities maintained a much less restrictive environment than Oxford or Cambridge. Civic university women participated in all aspects of student life often exceeding the involvement of male students. Argues that social and economic differences contributed to this dichotomy. (MJP)

Using hypothetical puppet interviews, 48 preschool children were interviewed about their preferences for teacher methods of conflict intervention. Puppet vignettes contrasted conflict issue, peer status, and resolution strategy (negotiation, power assertion, and disengagement). Results showed that preschoolers preferred negotiation strategies over…

Reports on a study of school subcultures and their impact on 16 ex-public school British students, age 18-21. Finds that subcultures are genuine interactive units grounded in shared ideological positions. States that the subcultures fit within a hierarchical pattern and the higher the subculture the greater the level of exclusion. (CFR)

A review of research on children's symbolic play discusses ways for teachers to (1) defend the inclusion of play in the curriculum; (2) understand and respect differences in the ways children play; and (3) facilitate play in the classroom. Discusses the complexity of play and the controversy about play as part of the curriculum. (GLR)

Explores differences between males and females and their manifestation in biology and culture. Cultures differ, not in whether they cope with the socialization of males to invest in child rearing, but in how they deal with this problem. Issues of gender and power and gender and child rearing are discussed. (SLD)

Describes a class simulation designed to enhance student awareness of social classes in Latin America. Notes that students learn how these groups function within their social and economic milieu. Includes detailed instruction for simulation procedure and roles that students play. Students become aware of inequities, the role of supply and demand,…

A national survey of 1,019 rural Rwanda households found that social class differences and stages of the family development cycle had roughly equal effects on family income. Effects of land scarcity and absence of alternative nonfarm employment on income inequality were also examined. Contains 36 references. (Author/SV)

Medicine and epidemiology currently dominate the study of the strong association between socioeconomic status and mortality. Socioeconomic status typically is viewed as a causally irrelevant "confounding variable" or as a less critical variable marking only the beginning of a causal chain in which intervening risk factors are given prominence. Yet…

Sociologists define norms as configurations of belief about behavior expected in various situations or circumstances. Members of social groups share these expectations for behavior. Accordingly, norms embraced by student peer groups influence the behavior of their members, which, in turn, affects the learning experiences of college students. In…

Researchers have disagreed about the extent to which differences in achievement based on socioeconomic status (SES) accumulate during the school year as compared to the summer, and the literature has not fully assessed the contributions of social contexts--in the form of both school and neighborhood poverty concentration and racial and ethnic…

Through a discourse of diversity, specialism, equality and choice, selective schooling is again on the UK education agenda. A previous selection policy operated between 1944 and 1964. The argument that some children are more suited to a vocational education and others to an academic one is evident now and then. This paper focuses on the…

Discussions about religious aspects of diversity are often absent from research. Similarly, topics such as religious forms of prejudice and religious dimensions of identities have not been fully explored in the context of teacher education. Too often, in the schooling context, what religion is and what constitutes an authentic religious identity…