This book summarizes research on the various ways that students' cultural backgrounds and innate ways of learning affect academic achievement. It also offers descriptions and recommendations for improving science and mathematics education for minorities and women, based on successful programs, that take these differences into account. The focus is on the development of constructive educational, environments in which women and minorities are offered enhanced opportunities to gain knowledge and to explore new technologies in math and science. The following eight chapters are included: (1) Introduction; (2) Spending Time on Learning; (3) Recontextualizing Tasks; (4) The Classroom Level; (5) Computers' Impact on the Context of Instruction; (6) Activity Systems at the Level of the School; (7) The School in the Community; and (8) Conclusions and Recommendations. A 10-page list of references is included. The appendix lists a subcommittee of 31 scholars whose deliberations as part of a committee to address how the context of instruction affects learning helped to produce this book. (VM)