Childrens Engagement in the World - Sociocultural Perspectives

This volume describes childrens development in its cultural context. It stresses the point that childrens development in diverse cultures follows different paths, depending on the developmental opportunities provided by their cultures. It illustrates that the everyday work at school, and play activities provided for children vary from one culture to another depending on the social and economical structure of childrens cultures and adult beliefs about what is valuable for childrens participation to secure optimal development. Thus, Childrens Engagement in the World: Sociocultural Perspectives proposes to study childrens development and education within its social as well as cultural context. It brings together the most recent theoretical advances in cultural psychology in order to establish a framework for the studies reported in it. Contents
Part I. Introduction: 1. Childrens and researchers engagement in the world Artin Goncu
Part II. Childrens Engagement in the World: 2. Childrens daily lives in a Mayan village: a case study of culturally constructed roles and activities Suzanne Gaskins
3. Cultural heterogeneity: parental values and beliefs and their preschoolers activities in the United States, South Korea, Russia and Estonia Jonathan Tudge, Diane Hogan, Soeun Lee, Peeter Tammeveski, Marika Meltsas, Natalya Kulakova, Irina Snezhkova, and Sarah Putnam
Part III. Childrens Engagement in Play: 4. Activity setting analysis: a model for examining role of culture in development Jo Ann M. Farver
5. The pragmatics of caregiver-child pretending at home: understanding culturally specific socialization practices Wendy L. Haight
6. Childrens play as cultural activity Artin Goncu, Ute Tuermer, Jyoti Jain and Danielle Johnson
Part IV. Childrens Engagement in Planning, Math and Literacy: 7. Everyday opportunities for the development of planning skills: sociocultural and family influences Mary Gauvain
8. Supportive environments for cognitive development: illustrations from childrens mathematical activities outside of school Steven R. Guberman
9. Becoming literate in the borderlands Christine C. Pappas.

Author/Editor Details
Edited by: Artin Gnc, University of Illinois, Chicago