Edited by a diverse group of expert collaborators, the Handbook of the Cultural Foundations of Learning is a landmark volume that brings together cutting-edge research examining learning as entailing inherently cultural processes. Conceptualizing culture as both a set of social practices and connected to learner identities, the chapters synthesize contemporary research in elaborating a new vision of the cultural nature of learning, moving beyond summary to reshape the field toward studies that situate culture in the learning sciences alongside equity of educational processes and outcomes. With the recent increased focus on culture and equity within the educational research community, this volume presents a comprehensive, innovative treatment of what has become one of the field’s most timely and relevant topics.

Describes fundamental differences in learning beliefs between the Western mind model and the East Asian virtue model of learning.

Written for teachers and prospective teachers in cultural or social foundations courses, Cultural Foundations of Education, 4e, explores the cultural context of education and the impact of culture on schooling, curricula, and pedagogy.--Publisher's description.

This thought-provoking book examines education as a cultural phenomenon and explores the implications of this perspective on schooling, multicultural education, educational development, and the process of teaching and learning. The authors combine the concepts of anthropology, education, schooling, teaching, and learning into an insightful introduction to the study of the cultural basis of education. Key topics include conflict between core and youth values, minority languages in the classroom, contemporary analysis of the IQ issues, recent school reform efforts, a new look at approaches to multicultural education, the postmodern conception of childhood and its educational implications, a discussion of performance assessment, communication and learning styles, and intercultural communication and competence. For teachers or any individuals interested in the relationship between social context and educational issues.

Western and East Asian people hold fundamentally different beliefs about learning that influence how they approach child rearing and education. Reviewing decades of research, Dr Jin Li presents an important conceptual distinction between the Western mind model and the East Asian virtue model of learning. The former aims to cultivate the mind to understand the world, whereas the latter prioritizes the self to be perfected morally and socially. Tracing the cultural origins of the two large intellectual traditions, Li details how each model manifests itself in the psychology of the learning process, learning affect, regard of one's learning peers, expression of what one knows and parents' guiding efforts. Despite today's accelerated cultural exchange, these learning models do not diminish but endure.

Parts one and two of this volume present the theoretical lenses used to study the social contexts of education. These include long-established foundations disciplines such as sociology of education and philosophy of education as well as newer theoretical perspectives such as critical race theory, feminist educational theory, and cultural studies in education. Parts three, four, and five demonstrate how these theoretical lenses are used to examine such phenomena as globalization, media, popular culture, technology, youth culture, and schooling. This groundbreaking volume helps readers understand the history, evolution, and significance of this wide-ranging, often misunderstood, and increasingly important field of study. This book is appropriate as a reference volume not only for scholars in the social foundations of education but also for scholars interested in the cultural contexts of teaching and learning (formal and informal). It is also appropriate as a textbook for graduate-level courses in Social Foundations of Education, School and Society, Educational Policy Studies, Cultural Studies in Education, and Curriculum and Instruction.