Analyzes Alan Brent's critique of the forms of knowledge thesis which has been influential in curriculum thought. The analysis deals with the relationship of knowledge forms to the principles of logic, and the use of forms to assess the truth of sociocultural beliefs. (AM)

Explores three perspectives on bilingual mathematics learners and considers how a situated and sociocultural perspective can inform work in this area. Illustrates how a situated and sociocultural perspective can expand views of what counts as competence in mathematical communication. (Author/MM)

Commends Worthington's article "Religious Faith across the Life Span" (1989) for highlighting significant ways in which religious development and religious issues across the life cycle affect counseling process. Comments on several aspects of Worthington's article that author feels warrant further attention and investigation. (PVV)

Examines the main approaches to public understanding of science (PUS) in light of recent developments in social and cultural theory. While traditional and critical perspectives on PUS differ in terms of their models of the public, science, and understanding, they share a number of commonalities which include humanism, incorporeality, and discrete…

Studies the role of teacher-student interaction in the acquisition of text comprehension and memory skills from a socio-cultural approach. Analyzes the role of referential perspective in the internalization of complex text study actions, based on a study of students in adult education courses. (Author/LRW)

Learning and instruction have always been important topics in the sociocultural school of thought founded by Vygotsky and further developed by his followers. Taking sociocultural ideas as a starting point, Piotr Galperin developed an original conceptual system and a new method of investigation that made teaching and learning a central part of…

This article represents a first turn of talk in an ongoing dialogue. Our focus here is on the value of sustained dialogue across the boundaries of research discourses. We argue that such dialogue can illuminate the categories of thought and action (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) that "we" in a given discourse take for granted, situate them as choices…

This Information Capsule is the third in a series of papers addressing factors contributing to low academic achievement. The two previous papers addressed issues relevant to class size reduction and teacher quality/preparation. The premise of this Information Capsule is that there is no single smoking gun relative to improving school performance.…

This article examines the relationship between knowledge and policy in French-speaking Belgium. It starts by describing Belgium as a consociational democracy, i.e. a society that is largely organised around integrated pillars of society (Catholic, secular), each of which provides a wide range of services (educational, training, health, health…

In this article, Grint's model of leadership is used to shape discussions of how "problems" are responded to in the context of a preschool in an Australian regional town. Authority styles are described as command, management, or leadership. These authority styles result in approaching problems as "crises," "tame…

This is an analysis of California history of the shifting of language policies from Spanish to English, as an Official Language The focus is English as an imposed language that from the beginning of schooling policies stifle a process of language acquisition for the majority of Spanish speakers. In 1849 the California Constitution stipulated that…

Listening to the dying poses special challenges. This paper proposes a contingency framework for describing and assessing various circumstances when listening to the dying. It identifies current approaches to listening, applies the contingency framework toward effectively listening to the dying, and proposes a new type of listening called…

This paper presents a case study of science teaching in an eighth grade school classroom in India. It comes out of a larger ethnographic study done in 2005 that looked at how science was taught and learned in a rural government run middle school in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India. Subscribing to a sociocultural perspective, the paper presents…

This article reports on attempts to initiate multi-point e-conferencing between English teacher education students on school placements, their host teachers and their university tutors. A sociocultural perspective is adopted in analysing the project, using the metaphor of a "professional knowledge landscape" [Clandinin, D. J., &…