The eight chapters of this theme issue consider some key questions about school transitions or transfers, including effects on students' academic achievement and attitudes, ways to facilitate transfer while maintaining curriculum links, and how evidence about transfers is best gathered. Discusses how much credibility to give students' accounts of…

The six chapters of this theme issue describe and discuss many complex factors affecting teacher education throughout the world. Following an overview, two chapters focus on external factors, two relate to design decisions in teacher education institutions, and one contains case studies to examine program designs in different countries. (SLD)

A continuation of colonialism, globalization's narrow focus on economics and free-market thinking reinforces modernist rationality and individualism and discounts how deeply all life is interconnected. Its effects on education are reflected in high stakes testing, emphasis on information technologies, and a discounting of non-Western cultures.…

Contemporary globalization is a continuation of European colonialism, shaped by the Protestant capitalist ethic and technology. The changing mandates of teaching and education under the influence of globalization are identified. Possibilities for teaching in the age of globalization are explored under three themes: recovery of personal truth,…

Without a careful critique of commodification, globalization turns out to be nothing more than the new colonialism. A series of ordinary classroom events explores how treating the classroom as a gift economy alters the globalizing effect of the Internet from delivery of commodities to something that addresses children and opens up worlds for them.…

Globalization pushes aside social, cultural, and ethical goals of education in favor of marketplace goals. Two stories of the indigenous Ju/'hoansi tribe in Botswana illustrate how even well-intentioned multicultural education programs can marginalize indigenous people, and how "globalization from below," fueled by communities of sentiment, can…

Mass testing as a phenomena of global educational restructuring exacerbates social class differences. This phenomenon is examined via inner-city Winnipeg's experience, cross-cultural educational literature, and the Manitoba government's tendency to reinforce the underdevelopment of core area regions. Emerging resistance to educational…

The "new ruthless economy of globalization" has spawned a culture of performance in education characterized by increased demand for accountability through high stakes testing, and decreased funding. Effects include loss of teacher autonomy, focus on teaching to the test, proliferation of commercial cramming schools, increased external control over…

In a course preparing student teachers for culturally diverse classrooms, passionate debate about racism and affirmative action revealed some students' entrenched resistance to "difficult knowledge" about oppression and white privilege. A pedagogy of compassion builds trust by recognizing the need to learn about other peoples' realities through…

The Zhu model for analyzing computer mediated communications was further developed by an Athabasca University (Alberta) distance education research team based on ease of use, reliability, validity, theoretical support, and cross-discipline utility. Five classification categories of the new model are vertical questioning, horizontal questioning,…

Interviews with 10 linguistically diverse elementary students revealed that they felt lonely because they could not communicate with their peers. Loss of self-esteem and development of learned helplessness syndrome were directly related to length of time they experienced loneliness. Teacher's nonverbal communication and social interactions that do…

A drug prevention program involving 167 at-risk students in grades 8-10 at 9 Ontario schools resulted in reduced use of and less supportive attitudes toward alcohol, cannabis, tobacco, and tranquilizers. Program success is attributed to high attendance and retention, community health professionals' participation, comprehensive approach, strong…

A study examined the ability of 32 grade-5 students in Alberta (Canada) to interpret Radarsat satellite radar images. The students were able to interpret most elements of the images, but working directly with the CD-ROM proved too difficult for them. The Radarsat images have limited value as a geographic resource at the grade-5 level. (TD)

A case study examined a whole-school model for supervising preservice teachers. The model employs constructivist notions that in a social-cultural context a persons' knowledge is created, examined, and transformed rather than simply transmitted and absorbed. The role of university facilitators changed from monitoring to mentoring, enhancing…

A visually impaired student teacher, her cooperating teachers, and college supervisor cooperated to make her internship successful. Adaptations included making early contact to enable adaptation of resources, focusing on capabilities rather than limitations of challenged interns, empowering interns to determine their own solutions to problems,…