Since the collapse of the Soviet Union the Ministry of Education of the Kyrgyz Republic has included a few social science disciplines in the list of the Educational State Standards, though the content of these subjects and teaching methodologies are still weak. One of the problems, which I constantly face in Kyrgyzstan when developing a new…

The studies in this volume explore a number of issues in education today. One paper reveals what actually motivates teachers to develop their career, another, how to teach primary teachers to talk about visual art. Children's artworks were explored in one article to see how they relate to their adjustment to school. In another, a case study was…

This article outlines the findings of typological differences between the Level 4 (L4) and Level 5 (L5) of the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR) in the Russian passages, as explored through the comparative linguistic and content analysis of highly abstract and idiosyncratic philosophical, literary and colloquial perspectives on culture,…

In today's world we appear to place a premium on happiness. Happiness is often portrayed, directly or indirectly, as one of the key aims of education. To suggest that education is concerned with promoting unhappiness or even despair would, in many contexts, seem outlandish. This paper challenges these widely held views. Focusing on the work…

It is sometimes suggested that activity theory represents the most important legacy of Soviet philosophy and psychology. But what exactly "is" activity theory? The canonical account in the West is given by Engestrom, who identifies three stages in the theory's development: from Vygotsky's insights, through Leontiev's articulation of the…

Dialogue is a seminal concept within the work of the Brazilian adult education theorist, Paulo Freire, and the Russian literary critic and philosopher, Mikhail Bakhtin. While there are commonalities in their understanding of dialogue, they differ in their treatment of dialectic. This paper addresses commonalities and dissonances within a…

Education in the fate of today's Russia was the topic of a scientific seminar titled "Philosophy, Education, and Society," held in the summer of 2007 in the city of Gagra by the editors of the journals "Voprosy filosofii" and "Pedagogika," the Moscow N.E. Bauman State Technical University, and the Russian Academy of…

In this article teachers will find a rationale and examples for connections between literature and other disciplines, such as history, science, art, political science, philosophy, and psychology. The article addresses the goal of the Connections standard, as defined by the "World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages" (W-RSFLL)…

Presents translations of six Russian language articles which highlight the relationship between Marxist philosophy and contemporary educational practice in the USSR. (JDH)

Some questions about education in the United States are easier to answer than others. If one wants to compare curriculum requirements across states, the data can be acquired and conclusions announced. However, any discussion of philosophy of learning or results of some pedagogy or another requires a look at what others have thought about,…

Describes Tolstoy's experimental school program as a forerunner of modern, open-education programs. In a radical departure from conventional, nineteenth century Russian educational practice, Tolstoy stressed individualized, independent learning with meaningful instructional materials. In his non-coercive classroom, self-discipline was founded on…

This article states that the concept of time we generally hold is a spatial version of time. However, a spatial time concept creates a series of problems, with unfortunate consequences for education.The problems become particularly obvious when the spatial time concept is used as a basis for the education function that is connected to the…

This program guide expresses the philosophy, goals, and objectives, and outlines the scope and sequence of Russian instruction at various levels for the public schools of Hawaii. The emphasis is on development of the communication skills--listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The goals, objectives, and performance expectations are presented…

This paper considers the work of the Russian social philosopher and cultural theorist, Mikhail Mikhailovich Bakhtin as a source of understanding for those involved in action learning. Drawing upon data gathered over two years during the evaluation of 20 action learning sets in the north of England, we will seek to work with the ideas of Bakhtin to…

An audio-visual course in Russian culture is given at Northern Illinois University. A collection of 4-5,000 color slides is the basis for the course, with lectures focussed on literature, philosophy, religion, politics, art and crafts. Acquisition, classification, storage and presentation of slides, and organization of lectures are discussed. (CHK)