ABSTRACT

Readings for Bridging Cultures: Teacher Education Module is highly recommended for use by teacher-educators and professional development specialists who use Bridging Cultures: Teacher Education Module. It is also useful for teachers and students interested in understanding the role of culture in education. It includes five previously published articles and one book chapter, each selected for a specific purpose:
*"Bridging Cultures in Our Schools: New Approaches That Work" explains the framework of individualism and collectivism, the Bridging Cultures Project, and the seven points of home-school conflict that are identified in the Module.
*"Bridging Cultures With Classroom Strategies" and "Bridging Cultures With a Parent-Teacher Conference" describe teacher home-school communication.
*"Cross-Cultural Conflict and Harmony in the Social Construction of the Child" and "Conceptualizing Interpersonal Relationships in the Cultural Contexts of Individualism and Collectivism" are the original research cited throughout the Module that provides the empirical basis for the Bridging Cultures framework.
*The introductory chapter from Cross-Cultural Roots of Minority Child Development portrays the constructs of independence (individualism) and interdependence (collectivism) as developmental scripts with implications for theory, research, and practice.

chapter |6 pages

Introduction