The English Geography National Curriculum encourages primary teachers to focus on similarities and differences when teaching distant places. The issues this raises are particularly acute when teaching geography in the context of the Global South. In this article I argue that comparisons based on object-based thinking can lead to views of the…

Methods are given for reducing elementary school teacher anxiety concerning math instruction. (LH)

Discusses the difficulties in conducting a case study on the attitudes and beliefs that individuals held about mainstreaming a boy with disabilities, including changes in terminology, methodological dilemmas, and discrepancies between the definitions that participants explicitly shared and observations of their interactions with the boy. (CR)

Arguing that children are not taken seriously in the United States, this lecture states that basic education is not simply computing and decoding, but also dreaming and imagining. The lecture urges educators not only to stick to the reality of budget cutting and deficit spending but, for the children's sake, also to stick to a dream. In the…

Reports on a year-long study of how children's literacy practices enhanced their understanding of themselves and their social worlds. Finds that children's reading and writing benefited them personally and socially, enabling them to understand a complex urban landscape, to explore new social identities, and to wrestle with social problems and ways…

The problem of sex stereotyping in children's literature has been around for as long as the genre itself, but it was brought to the forefront because of the women's movement in the 1970s. From the 1700s, critics were aware of the problems that arose from children's literature and its portrayal of characters and ideas, including…

Reviews studies on prejudice and children focusing on how children learn prejudice and what can be done to prevent it. Offers three activity and discussion ideas which can be used to develop children's awareness of inappropriate prejudgments. Identifies a selection of related instructional resources and includes a 34-item bibliography. (JDH)

This paper examines recent Australian children's literature. It focuses on the prevailing social attitudes in Australia towards gender, environment, and multiculturalism and how these social issues are treated in the fiction books written for Australian children. The paper also examines the implications for children's literature of the…

Examines three fantasy classics written at the time of the Industrial Revolution to illustrate the effects of drastic social change on fantasy writing; suggests the possible impact of these fantasies on their readers. (GT)

Discusses challenges to developmental guidance materials in schools. Explores the issues involved in challenges, the essence of challenge debates, those organizations most involved in challenges, and the typical steps involved in a challenge. Suggests four strategies for protecting student access to effective programs, including policy formulation…

Argues that children's books are agents of socialization and examines childhood as a socially constructed concept throughout history. (SRT)

Provides a historical review of the concept of childhood beginning with childhood as a natural state and ending with childhood as a socially constructed reality. (SRT)

Presents personal observations of cultural differences regarding the family, time, sex role conventions, and the process of being and becoming among children and parents in Licodia Eubea, Sicily. Supports increased understanding of students' cultural heritages and differences on the part of American elementary school teachers in multicultural…

The incidence of environmentally related illnesses, such as tuberculosis, asthma, allergies, respiratory disease, depression, and violent anger is increasing, particularly in the inner cities. The effects of these illnesses is often overlooked in discussions of educational and social inequity. This article discusses the significance of this…