A lack of clarity continues as to the precise terminology and classification concerning the concepts of learning disabilities in the fields of school psychology and special education. This paper reviews the complex logical and socio-political issues of learning disabilities as they relate to current educational and social realities. (Author/JDM)

Explores the association between parental involvement (PI) and children's positive academic performance and social competence. Study examines the relations between a set of family and demographic risk factors and PI. Results reveal different patterns of relations between the risk factors studied-parental education, maternal depression, and…

Documents, compares, and analyzes the nature of spatial reasoning by practitioners (plumbers) in the workplace and students in the school setting while constructing solids, with given specifications, from plane surfaces. Results confirm the power of activity theory and its methodology in explaining and identifying the structural differences…

Focuses on gender differences in growth in mathematics achievement in relation to various social-psychological factors such as attitude towards mathematics, self-esteem, parents' academic encouragement, mathematics teachers' expectations, and peer influence. Results indicate that gender differences in growth in mathematics varied by the student's…

To be effective with rehabilitation counseling, counselors need to be aware of cultural patterns of drug use. This study analyzed trends in heroin use between 1990 and 1997 among the arrestee population in some parts of the South. Findings suggest geographic, ethnic, and age-related variables for heroin use. (JDM)

Examines the role of information and theories of "life in the round" through a study of ways in which inmates at a maximum-security prison for women in Neuse City (North Carolina) redefine their social world to survive incarceration. Findings from ethnographic research and interviews with 80 women at the prison revealed that a life in the round…

Critically reviews the question of childhood in the context of simultaneous globalization and atomization of social life. Discusses childhood in relation to children as consumers, children as interpreters, and children as actors. Suggests that these ideas help explain some of the tensions and disruptions that characterize the lives of some…

Examines the far-reaching cultural implications of a kind of writing not usually deemed culturally significant--school assignments. Studies 44 papers written in 1898 by senior class members of the Platteville Normal School in southwestern Wisconsin assigned to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Wisconsin's statehood. Examines the cultural…

In light of globalization-driven educational demands and growing student alienation, there is a pressing need to reevaluate the cultural context of schooling and learning. Comparative education studies have potential to illuminate the complex interplay of personal, social, and structural factors that influence student engagement in particular…

Discusses how, after 30 years of liberal education's focus on examining and celebrating diversity, the realities of contemporary social and civil life and global politics are prompting new interest in recognizing and affirming our genuine commonality. (EV)

Reports data from a longitudinal study of 12-year-old students' interpretations of geometrical objects and relationships when using dynamic geometry software. Focuses on the progressive mathematization of the students' sense of the software, examining their interpretations, and using the explanations that students give to the geometrical…

Introduces emotional geographies, which describe patterns of closeness and distance in human interactions that shape the emotions people experience about relationships to themselves, others, and the world around them. Using an interview-based study of elementary and secondary teachers, the paper describes five emotional geographies of…

Heavily influenced by Putnam's particular variant of social capital theory, the New Labour government in the UK has introduced several initiatives designed to raise educational achievement by building the social capital of families identified as socially excluded. One such initiative was the Education Action Zones (EAZ) policy. Whilst this policy…

This article discusses identity as it relates to aphasia and the resulting impact on life participation. The relationships among social identity, language, and social interaction are considered from the sociocultural perspective. Core social identity concepts are identified and used to examine the broad classifications of aphasia intervention.…

Increased understanding of the link between learning and assessment combined with a shift to view learning as more a social than an individual process have contributed to an appreciation of the role that classroom assessment can play in enhancing student learning and achievement. Nonetheless, very little is known about student experience of…