As a "new science," nanotechnology has brought many nanoscale-based applications to the forefront of society. This article describes one such application--a nanosensor that can precisely detect a variety of chemical stimuli in the environment--and presents the science behind it as an interdisciplinary science topic. This article also provides…

The aim of this article is to inquire into today's social pathologies, i.e. the negative consequences of the developmental processes of society. In a dialogue with Axel Honneth, the article asserts that a shift has occurred in individualization, a shift that implies a fundamental change in social pathologies: Social pathologies no longer derive…

In this article, the authors consider how the scholarship of a social studies icon, Harold O. Rugg, can influence the work of social studies scholars and teachers today. For the past year, the authors have studied Rugg's work, reading his writings and examining his textbook series. Their inquiries have unsettled their thinking, prompting them to…

In this article, Enrique Chaux considers the effect that an environment replete with violent political conflict has on children. He cites literature that points to higher levels of aggressive and violent behaviors among children in these settings. Then he examines the case of Colombia and an educational initiative that attempted to foster stronger…

The authors present an activity to help high school students conceptualize the sociopolitical complexity of global warming through an exploration of varied perspectives on the issue. They argue that socioscientific issues such as global warming present important contexts for learning science and that the social and political dimensions of these…

Relatively few scholars have made use of the Slave Narrative Collection, a collection of more than 2,300 autobiographical narratives detailing the lives of people who had been born into slavery. Housed at the Library of Congress, the Collection was gathered during the 1930s under the direction of the Federal Writers Project. Research derived from…

Maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy is a significant social problem associated with developmental difficulties in young children. Child developmental and behavioral characteristics were examined from the 9-month data point of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies-Birth Cohort, a prospective nationally representative study. Several…

Research on Service-learning's (SL) impact on students' moral development has been "mixed." In this study, 46 students in SL and non-SL sections of comparable courses offered at a northeastern Catholic university completed the Defining Issues Test, the Moral Justification Scale, and the SL Outcome Scale at the beginning and end of a semester.…

Today's children represent tomorrow's backbone of the Russian population, the foundation of Russia's success or failure in the twenty-first century. Nevertheless, owing to a number of factors, the state, society, and even, all too often, parents themselves, do not pay enough attention to children. A number of problems have arisen that are leading…

Provides an inside perspective on the development of social work education in Hungary during the final years of communism and after the country regained its independence, when there was a strong focus on re-introducing social work and social sciences which had been repressed by the socialist regime in its denial of social problems and thus, its…

Previous research set out to identify and examine practice and provision for young people exhibiting behaviour problems who may have been placed in colleges of further education for a variety of reasons. In this paper, Natasha Macnab, John Visser and Harry Daniels explore some of the implications faced by college staff and examine some of the key…

This article describes the five major phases of research associated with Strategic Frame Analysis, an approach to communications research and practice that advances new ways of pursuing social change of entrenched and complex social problems. This multimethod approach is characterized by multidisciplinary and iterative research techniques that…

How do people reason about issues related to child and youth development? Are the patterns of reasoning in the lay public significantly different from the way experts reason about the issue? What can the anthropological theory of cultural models bring to efforts to improve the public's understanding of child and youth development? In this article,…

This article details the experimental research on frame effects that provides quantitative evidence that some types of frames have a greater ability to move and affect policy support than others. This method is particularly useful in showing the magnitude by which exposure to alternative ways of thinking about social issues alters the public's…

This article begins by examining current crises facing historically marginalized youth, which necessitate more critical approaches to youth development and empirical investigations into the challenges that young people face. This requires not only listening to their voices, but actively engaging them in investigations of and interventions into…