An open classroom climate, one where diverse opinions and discussion of social and political issues are welcome, promotes civic development among youth and fosters critical consciousness. Critical consciousness, defined as the capacity to recognize societal inequity along with the motivation and action taken to challenge such inequity and promote…

Since the latter part of the twentieth century there has been increasing recognition of the need for more effective approaches to engaging adolescent boys. Much of the focus in youth work practice and research has previously been dominated by attempts to better understand young male bio-social and cognitive development through examining high risk…

This article focuses on the music education and enculturation of Motown musicians who grew up in greater Detroit. The early musical lives of Motown musicians are described--in the home environment, in schools and in black urban neighborhoods. Schools are shown to be spaces of musical nurturance, both in the context of the formal curriculum and in…

In this essay, Roderick L. Carey draws from social-psychological perspectives on mattering to argue that Black boys and young men have yet to achieve comprehensive mattering in social and educational contexts. Positing that Black boys and young men find their social and school lives framed by marginal mattering, which is realized through social…

In a time of rapid and unprecedented social change, the concepts we use to make sense of the ways in which young people understand and interact with the world are very much under the microscope. Some researchers argue that we need to reinvigorate our conceptual repertoire, while others argue that our theoretical tool box still has the capacity to…

This article advances the notion of a "scholarship of hope" in order to signpost one route into a generative approach to academic work. Such an approach has to proceed on the basis of a defamiliarising type of inquiry meant to challenge dominant understandings of our social world. I suggest that a defamiliarising scholarship of hope…

This article examines the role of rapid social change for human adaptation, focusing in particular on uncertainty in educational and career-related goals of young people born between 1970 and 1990. A review of the research evidence suggests that although most young people want to continue in higher education, more young people in the later-born…

Social and economic transformations in Russia have had an influence on all spheres of society. The value orientations of young people have been influenced by the market economy, and this has led to a new type of adaptive behavior, in which preference is given to material value orientations, growth of individualism, pragmatism, and hedonistic…

This study explored the practices of teachers, nonformal science educators, community organizers, youth program managers, and other educators facilitating youth participation in local environmental action, as well as the experiences of some of the youth involved. We conducted narrative interviews with 33 educators facilitating youth environmental…

Students classified as emotionally disturbed receiving special education services will drop out of school at a rate of 56% nationwide, and one out of three will be incarcerated within 3 years of leaving school. This study provides school personnel and clinicians with new information regarding underlying attachment difficulties and aggression in…

This volume contains the following papers: (1) Beyond Computer Literacy: Supporting Youth's Positive Development through Technology (Marina Umaschi Bers); (2) Educational Technology, Reimagined (Michael Eisenberg); (3) Children as Codesigners of New Technologies: Valuing the Imagination to Transform What Is Possible (Allison Druin); (4) Content…

This article had four goals. First, the authors identified a set of general challenges and questions that a life-span theory of development should address. Second, they presented a comprehensive account of their Motivational Theory of Life-Span Development. They integrated the model of optimization in primary and secondary control and the…

One of 52 theoretical papers on school crime and its relation to poverty, this chapter states that the problem of school crime is not a school problem, but a cultural problem manifesting itself in schools. The cultural shifts of the last generation are creating adolescent needs that schools were never organized to deal with, and, therefore,…

Discusses the World Wide Web as a transformative medium and considers future possibilities. Highlights include ideas that 15-year-olds had for future working and learning environments; how youth learn having grown up in a digital environments; lifelong learning; multitasking; new ideas of literacy relating to information and navigation; sharing…

Explores paradoxical elements in the relationship between youth and society, arguing that researchers must consider both the distinctive circumstances of the post-1970 generation and the new approaches they are developing to make a life. Argues that questions about how social structures and social divisions affect young people's life patterns must…