Russian society finds itself in a state of dynamic transformation. It is developing intensively and becoming more complex in its structure against the background of an increasing diversity of cultures and forms of interaction among people, along with economic differentiation, national and religious differences, and so on. These factors give rise…

This paper is part of an extensive study of secondary school students' preconceived ideas about climate change. Here, we undertake a survey in the province of Valencia (Spain) to ascertain secondary school students' notions of the causes and consequences of climate change. Results show, among other things, that students clearly relate the misuse…

In a national evaluation of environmental literacy in Israel, (Negev, Sagy, Garb, Salzberg, & Tal, 2008), the authors included both multiple choice questions and open questions. In this article the authors describe the qualitative analysis of the answers to an open question regarding a local environmental problem. Most participants specified…

A controversial hypothesis [Charlton (2009). "Clever sillies: Why high-IQ people tend to be deficient in common sense." "Medical Hypotheses," 73, 867-870] has recently been proposed to account for why individuals of high-IQ and high social status tend to hold counter-intuitive views on social phenomena. It is claimed that these "clever sillies"…

This study examines coping behaviors and felt experiences of homeless adults in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Data from in-depth interviews with 55 homeless adults reveal 5 general coping pattern groups: shelter users, campers, couch hoppers, mixed users, and circumstantial homeless. Homeless adults within each group experienced similar levels of…

In the spring of 2007, Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana made the first call. Gov. Kathleen Blanco made the next call. And Louisiana's state superintendent of schools, Paul Pastorek, made the final pitch. The trio wanted to know if Paul Vallas, the renowned CEO of the School District of Philadelphia, would make a move to New Orleans to oversee the…

This paper explores the dynamics of repression and resistance within the Colombian education system through exploring human rights violations against educators. Drawing on the findings of several fieldwork visits carried out since 2005 across Colombia, the paper focuses on the darker side of the education/conflict relationship, demonstrating…

The movement of the Germanic peoples from the barbaric state that the Romans found them in during the days of Julius Caesar to the highly civilized and educated condition of today is a long and complex history. At the heart of that development over the centuries was first the shift to Roman culture; then the slow adoption of Roman Catholicism and…

How aware of societal issues are our young people who will soon be entering the workforce and communities as life-long residents? To what extent do young adults view local and state issues, in particular, as potential barriers to social progress and reform? In what way/s can young adults become and stay abreast of critical issues and initiate…

In this article, the authors describe a unique approach to conducting and analyzing focus groups, described as peer discourse analysis. The primary objective of this analysis is to examine the shape and form of the discourses and negotiations that develop organically among peers in discussions of social issues. Peer discourse analysis has both…

Most students think about social justice issues, whether schools encourage this focus or not, and they look to the adults in their lives to help them decide what to do about them. Educators should encourage authentic conversations about difficult issues, embrace the question, What can we do about it? and teach students to act. Teachers can…

This article examines a forgotten episode in social work history: the involvement of the profession in the temperance movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Though some notable social workers such as Jane Addams, Robert A. Woods, and Representative Jeannette Rankin (the first woman elected to the U.S. Congress), championed the…

The mobility of scientists and the concerns surrounding "brain drain" are not new. Even in the Ptolemic dynasty, the first king set out to attract and influence the movements of scholars to shift the centre of learning from Athens to Alexandria. Yet after all this time, there is still much policy discourse and debate focused on attempting to…

Pre-service elementary education teachers conducted family nights with children and families considered "high need". The family nights were designed to help build preservice teachers' sense of self-efficacy regarding parent involvement and working with low-income children and families with limited English proficiency. The project…

This article advances the rationale for the re-thinking of science education, which is characterized by a shift away from the view of science as being disconnected from social issues, to a view of science as a human activity, which is embedded in social, cultural and political issues. It goes on to detail how a Life Sciences teacher engaged…