Below you’ll find brief reviews of ten essays in the field of ethnology of education written by Cornelius N. Grove. If the review of any essay interests you, you need only to clink on the link provided to retrieve it in PDF format.
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Why Study the Cultures of Learning in Different Nations?
Since around 1970, research has been comparing the cultures of learning in the West (especially the U.S.) with those of East Asia. Described in this article are the nature of such research and four impactful differences that have emerged from the findings: (a) contrasting assumptions about children’s ability to learn; (b) dissimilar beliefs about, and attitudes toward, the act of learning; (c) divergent norms for proper behavior within a classroom; and (d) incompatible notions about children’s motivation to learn. Six pages in length, suggested readings, endnotes.
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The Difference in How Children Learn in Traditional and Modern Societies
This essay overviews the vastly different child-rearing practices of traditional and modern societies, yet contends that the mental means by which children acquire new capabilities in both types of society actually are identical. One factor, however, differs sharply: the nature, variety, and quantity of their opportunities to learn. Five pages in length, bibliography, endnotes.
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Do Our Beliefs about Children’s Learning Discourage Our Children from Striving to Learn?
Addressed to American parents and teachers, this essay compares American and East Asian beliefs about (a) a child’s potentials and (b) how children learn best. Grove uses East Asian beliefs for this comparison because East Asian children are legendary for excelling in classroom learning, as demonstrated by international comparative test scores since around 1970. Two pages in length, endnotes.
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An Ethnologist’s Guide to Stronger Math Instruction and Achievement
This essay summarizes some of the findings from the extensive research carried out in East Asia since the 1970s to figure out why East Asian students consistently outperform American students on every international comparative mathematics test (primarily TIMSS and PISA). Among others, the topics discussed include the stance of the teacher vis-à-vis the pupils, the handling of pupils’ errors of reasoning, the nature of classroom verbal interactions, the emphasizing of abstract/symbolic reasoning, and the use of formal proofs and deductive reasoning. Fifteen pages in length, 1½-page bibliography, 2½ pages of endnotes.
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Are Learning and Understanding Impaired by Memorization?
As the title suggests, this essay asks a question that most American educators believe was settled long ago in favor of the answer “Yes, memorization is bad for learning and understanding!” Maybe. But it turns out that quite a lot of research has been lavished on both exploring the nature – actually, the natures – of memorization and their relationships to learning and understanding. This essay reviews that research in laypersons’ terms and, in so doing, opens the possibility that memorization’s odious reputation among educators is undeserved. This essay is one of Grove’s most frequently read papers on the website Academia.edu. Seven pages in length, ¾-page bibliography, full-page of endnotes.
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How “Weird” Societies Think about Children’s Learning
This essay begins by briefly introducing the concept WEIRD, which designates societies that are Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. The U.S. is a WEIRD society that (in comparison with all human societies) holds weird beliefs about children’s learning, including about (a) a child’s potentials and (b) how children learn best. Grove contrasts these beliefs with those of East Asians. Two pages in length.
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Where Children Learn How to Learn
This essay first introduces the Japanese term kata, which refers to an established orderly process for getting something done. Japanese kindergartners and first-graders are trained in the kata of efficient classroom learning. The result is that Japanese classrooms from first grade up operate with effortless efficiency, as often remarked by visiting Western observers. Six pages in length, bibliography, endnotes.
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Is “Whole-Class Interactive Learning” a Contradiction in Terms?
Grove responds to the common belief that if all pupils in a classroom are learning simultaneously, then those pupils must be passively listening to their teacher’s lecturing. But in East Asia, a common feature of whole class teaching is highly engaged pupils participating in interactive learning. How is this possible? Grove examines the roles of the teacher, the pupils, and the knowledge to be learned in East Asian classrooms. Five pages in length, bibliography, endnotes.
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Learning, Education, and Technology in Deep Historical Perspective
This essay is a meditation on how some human groups gradually changed from living in societies where children learned everything they would need to know as adults simply by watching others, to our present-day modern societies where children’s learning is inextricably bound up with years of technology-infused formal instruction. Five and a half pages in length, endnotes.
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Transmitting Knowledge in Classrooms: The Two Basic Approaches Worldwide
This essay is a condensation of seven of Grove’s published works on the topic of learner-focused and knowledge-focused classroom cultures, including his 2006 conference presentation. Included in this essay is a full-page table contrasting numerous characteristics of knowledge- and learner-focused classrooms. Seven pages in length, full-page bibliography.
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Grove’s most in-depth exploration of this topic is his 2006 conference presentation in Singapore, “Understanding the Two Instructional Style Prototypes: Pathways to Success in Internationally Diverse Classrooms.” It is 23 pages long and includes numerous explanatory diagrams. You may read this presentation by clicking here.
Grove’s shortest exploration of this topic is “How People from Different Cultures Expect to Learn.” It is a three-page introduction to knowledge-focused and learner-focused classroom cultures. You may read this essay by clicking here.
Additional articles, papers, and essays by Cornelius N. Grove are freely available on two publicly accessible scholarly websites, ResearchGate.net and Academia.edu.