Banks (2002) stated that to implement multicultural education successfully, we must think of the school as a social system. Therefore, if educational equity and excellence are to be provided to all students, a systemic Total School Environment [Banks (2001) "Cultural diversity and education: Foundations curriculum and teaching, 4th ed." Allyn and…

As faculty director of an undergraduate leadership program that is part of the public policy studies department at Duke University, the author has been developing a pedagogy that introduces students to difficult social issues through community-based internships, and asks them to imagine what kind of leadership it would take to address those issues…

The education literature has not adequately considered the notion of change at its most fundamental level. This paper considers notions of institutional or social change from the ontological perspective of H. R. Maturana. The pattern of organization in living systems is defined by Maturana and Varela (1980) as "autopoiesis," a coined…

Comparative educators can enhance research by developing and including in their research findings a cognitive map to show perceptions of how knowledge claims interrelate. Three research relationships utilize different methodologies: (1) the researcher objectifies the phenomena; (2) the researcher position is preferential to the research object but…

Every day, teachers resolve countless conflicts and contradictions. This book deals with the development of informed, problem-solving, decision making skills that will increase the effectiveness of educators. The volume is organized into three sections. The first section explains how schools function as social systems, presents a series of case…

This paper describes the Raran model, an analytical tool for examining "microstates" in small developing countries and relating a country's characteristics to curriculum needs in teacher education. It applies to countries which have limited land area and resources, a large population, and which are politically independent or internally…

Research in organizational development and ecological psychology has demonstrated the importance of viewing organizations from a systems perspective. Organizational innovations are planned, designed, and implemented in increasingly complex and dynamic ecosystems. This paper presents a model of organizational change which was developed using a…

To identify possible changes in the social functions of the Chinese educational system, content analyses were performed on selected national, Chinese language, primary school reading textbooks (First Edition, February 1978, Beijing People's Educational Press, Vols. I and II). Frequency of reference to each of the 10 regulations for children in…

Drawing upon a Hegelian-Marxist critique of political economy that underscores the fundamental importance of developing a philosophy of praxis, the author theorizes a revolutionary Freireian critical pedagogy which seeks forms of organization that best enable the pursuit of doing critical philosophy as a way of life. The authors argues that the…

This collection of short articles focuses on various dimensions of childhood ecology. Section I introduces a conceptual framework for the study of childhood ecology and poses 4 methodological principles for human development specialists. Four ecological subsystems are identified and discussed briefly. Section II discusses the family microsystem in…

This document contains chapter 6 of the final report of the Project on Social Architecture in Education. Five case studies were produced from the data collected at each site, using a common outline developed from the conceptual framework. Chapter 6 is about two schools that emphasized open education in new open-space settings, in a small, suburban…

The focus of this chapter is on the school system, the way that system affects the people in it, and the process utilized by linking agencies. Four assumptions underlie the paper and can be used to guide the discussion. (1) Knowledge about the school as a social system can reveal some understandings essential to those who would seek to build and…

The purpose of the paper is to present a model and suggest hypotheses relating the family as a social system to the concepts of human and natural energy. Human energy is interpreted as the capacity of humans, in this case, family members, for doing work and natural energy as resources such as natural gas, carbon dioxide, and heat. A behavioral…

The purpose of this report is to document and describe the origin, procedures, and progress to date of the longitudinal study of students from James Coleman's "The Adolescent Society" study. The organization of this report follows chronologically the sequence of events that were initiated by Coleman. A historical account of Coleman's…

The purpose of this proposed study is to define and describe what school is, to examine the events that occur within schools and the meaning these events have for those in the school and its community. It will be composed of the following substudies: (1) curriculum, (2) global education, (3) art, (4) affective, (5) social system of the school…