Distance and blended collaborative learning settings are usually characterized by different "social structures" defined in terms of groups' number, dimension, and composition; these structures are variable and can change within the same activity. This variability poses additional complexity to instructional designers, when they are…

This article describes the Frank Reade dime novels, published in 1882, that are now recognized as the beginnings of the modern science fiction novel in the United States. They illustrate the hope that Americans of the time held for the future that newly invented technology could offer. Although the Frank Reade stories highlighted the promise of…

This paper examines the role of poverty ideology in determining whether a teacher comes to teach at a poor school (presence) and whether s/he remains at this type of school over time (persistence). A sample of 400 teachers in San Diego California was administered a questionnaire that evaluated respondents' attitudes toward poverty. Teachers who…

The relation of games to life in general is discussed, with the suggestion that games constitute an excursion or "time out" from goal-directed activities in life, in which an alternative set of rules are established for a delimited period. A game thus constitutes a short-term parallel to life in general. As such, it acts, for children, as a device…

Organized sport is a social agent for the deliberate socialization of people into the acceptance of our most salient organization form: bureaucracy. (DS)

Explores the psychosocial and environmental configurations involved in the survival of 500 civilians in a Japanese internment camp in the Philippines during World War II. Although conditions were very harsh, the survival rate of this group was better than expected. Discusses available demographic, social organizational, and cultural information.…

A brief historical sketch, this essay describes the cultural and political background of the Choctaws, including their affiliation with the Five Civilized Tribes. (JC)

In De la Division du Travail Social, Durkheim's causal explanation for secular increases in the division of labor and the differentiation of social structure is flawed. His metatheoretical concerns expressed in the critique of utilitarian social theory flawed his contributions to a causal explanation of social differentiation. (Author/AM)

The example of Chicago's Humboldt Park, where there is reluctance to use political action in response to gentrification, shows the limitations of communitarian conceptions of community building, which emphasize self-help and consensus building but fail to acknowledge the need for political articulation of rights-based demands. (SK)

Learning to be literate involves understanding unequal power relations that privilege some literacy practices over others. A deficit model associates literacy with skills and motivation, emphasizes standardized literacy accomplishments, and prescribes outcomes. These practices discount the validity of individuals' definitions of and uses for…

Describes manifestations of privilege unearned benefit received by virtue of having particular characteristics. Examines a triarchy of privilege: interlocking psychosocial, reciprocal, and structural realms. Presents strategies for deconstructing privilege in adult education through self-exploration and group discovery. (SK)

This paper presents data covering the representation of African Americans among physics and geoscience degree recipients at each stage of the educational system. The data were collected by several statistical agencies and are here provided in far more detail than has ever been available before. By placing all the data in one place, this paper…

Young people are expected to establish a sense of personal identity and become progressively more independent of their parents, maturing into adults and citizens. Paid work is the key to this transition. Without this, youth would not be able to shift from childhood to adulthood and from dependence to independence. Among the other conditions that…

An adolescent's attitude toward school government clearly reflects certain negative aspects that have to do with his/her alienation from the social life of the school. This article has been based on materials of a 2005 sociological survey of students in the ninth and eleventh grades of schools in the city of Moscow (n = 2,105). The aim of the…