Rogoff (2003) argues that "Human development is a cultural process….People develop as participants in cultural communities" (p. 3). Children develop within families, and different cultures reflect differences in how they structure activity for this development. For example, middle class North American families generally would not permit…

Parental engagement in education has proven to be important to children's academic success. Research suggests that when parents are involved in their children's schooling, children tend to be motivated learners, have high educational aspirations, get good grades, and experience a sense of school belonging (Cheung & Pomerantz, 2012;…

The article describes a study that was conducted in Malaysia, and at the borders of Chihuahua, Mexico, and Ontario, Canada, to compare the reactions of social studies teachers from Canada, Malaysia, and Mexico to the bombing of Iraq by the U.S. on March 20, 2003. The key objective of the investigations in all three countries was to uncover…

In India, multicultural experience is represented by what is called a "unity in diversity" pattern. This includes the diversity of religious communities, languages, ethnicities, and the minority populations in each of the states and regions that comprise the nation. Thus, theories of multicultural accommodation are one of India's…

Schools across the United States serve children from families that have crossed the U.S. border without documents. Some of these children have crossed the border themselves. For teachers and other educators, the Supreme Court decision of "Plyler v. Doe" (1982) has set the precedent that all children in the United States are entitled to a…

This study draws from narrative research, wherein stories of individuals, groups, and communities are central to the interpretation. Through a process of interpretive interactionism, the author examined the groups and institutions involved in the ongoing conflict between the state and public education in Oaxaca, and then included comparisons and…

Quynh (pseudonym), a Vietnamese-American female, was an honor student in her K-12 education in Vietnam four decades ago. April 30, 1975, abruptly signaled the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. Many military personnel from the former regime found themselves and their loved ones in danger of being persecuted by the victorious new…

In Malawi, education is not always a top priority. Although there has been free primary education since 1994, attendance in school is not compulsory (Ngozo, 2010). Even when children do go to school, schools can be overcrowded with few books for students to use. Classrooms can hold over 100 children with whole groups of children sharing one…

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM, 2000) has created a set of standards to reform mathematics teaching procedures to ensure that all students understand mathematics and learn to think mathematically. The standards also require teachers to use strategies that allow all students to reason and communicate mathematically and…

Among the coursework offered to preservice teachers at the first author's institution in 2007 was the course "Second Language Acquisition" (SLA). This course was designed to develop multicultural awareness by introducing the theory and practice of second language acquisition and helping future teachers become familiar with the struggles of…

Researchers have explored the experiences of minority teachers (Irvine, 2003) and racial minority immigrant teachers in the context of schooling and curriculum development (Subedi, 2008). Many studies on immigrant teachers have focused on problems regarding their adjustment to the new culture and the construction of their identities; fewer…

Today's global community encompasses interconnectivity between societies, where a development in one country affects and informs something similar in other countries. Multicultural education is not exempt from this pattern. Multicultural education was first started by concerned activists and educators in the United States as a way to secure social…

The aim of this article is to make visible many ways in which a group of parents of marginalized status participate in their children's schooling and to reveal something of the societal machinery that can render invisible many admirable parental efforts. Adapting somewhat the analysis of Graue et al. (2001), the author outlines strands within the…

This study was inspired by the literary elements of "cuentos tipicos" (culturally-relevant stories). The book "Prietita y la llorona" ("Prietita and the Ghost Woman") written by Anzaldua (1995) is a good example of a "cuento" that provides information about medicinal herbs and also includes "consejos" (advice). The plot stems from a well-known…

Immigration is now the primary source of population growth in Canada. For the year 2006, the Canadian Census reported that almost 20 percent of the population was born outside of Canada (Statistics Canada, 2007). Between the years 1991 and 2001 specifically, the number of non-Christians, such as Muslims, Buddhists, Sikhs, and Hindus, had more than…