Wagner, Daniel A
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Publication Indigenous Cognition? Review of J.W. Berry, S.H. Irvine, E.B. Hunt (Eds.), Indigenous Cognition: Functioning in Cultural Context(1990) Wagner, Daniel A; Gal, Iddo"What is known about the cognitive functions of other peoples that could enable extant psychology to become more comprehensive, to attain a 'universal' cognitive psychology?" This question was the focus of a 1986 NATO workshop held at Queen's University (Kingston, Ontario, Canada) whose working theme was "indigenous cognition and models of information processing." The primary goal of the present volume, which contains 13 papers, is to bring together evidence from "studies of cognition in those populations that have remained well outside industrialised society: the hunting people, the nomads, and the peasants of the contemporary world" (p. 2). The volume begins wtih a general section that includes papers dealing primarily with theoretical concerns in cross-cultural cognitive psychology and continues with four studies among African populations and with three among Native American populations.Publication Social Factors in Literacy Acquisition(1993) Wagner, Daniel AThe acquisition of any human skill, physical or mental, depends on the interplay among a wide variety of factors. Earlier research and our own observations in Moroccan society suggested the possibility that certain social features of children's lives would be related to literacy acquisition in school. Therefore, our research was designed so that these factors might be directly and empirically studied. It was assumed that some of the factors found to affect reading achievement in the West might be related similarly to literacy in Morocco, but we also wanted to study facors specific to Morocco, such as Quranic preschooling. In this chapter, then, we present findings concerning the impact of family socioeconomic status, level of parental education, urban or rural context, gender, and preschooling on 5 years of literacy development in the primary school sample.Publication Literacy and Cultural Differences: An Afterword(1995) Wagner, Daniel AWithin the educational research community, social, cultural, and linguistic interpretations of group differences have become increasingly prevalent. Whether one considers infant care, women at work, or IQ scores, there is no shortage of research that describes the various social attributes that "must have" led to such differences. As a number of chapters in this volume have indicated, a cultural explanation seems far more palatable—and allows for more societal intervention—that predecessor biological (read racial) claims. Yet, what do we really know about how societal interventions can take place effectively in a given educational domain or for individuals with different cultural and ethnic experiences? One obvious conclusion from the chapters in this volume is that literacy work across ethnic diversity needs a grounding in both cultural diversity and in-depth cultural understanding. The differences in literacy development within the African-American community, and as contrasted with other ethnic groups in the United States, are becoming increasingly clear.Publication Smaller, Quicker, Cheaper: Improving Learning Assessments for Developing Countries(2011-01-01) Wagner, Daniel AMore and more children are going to school in developing countries. In the years since the 2000 UN Education for All Summit in Dakar, the poorest nations have made the most gains in achieving improved educational access. This is a major achievement. Such success also comes with a realization that rapid growth in school enrollments is not enough. Schooling must be of good quality for all children, and that has not been the case for too many children to date. The next push for educational development will surely focus on improving learning and educational quality. Learning assessments can play an important role to drive school reform in many countries, but many are not adaptable for developing country needs, or are not financially sustainable. Thus, it is imperative tht we develop the appropriate tools that can provide better ways of measuring learning outcomes that nations wish to achieve.Publication Learning First: A Research Agenda for Improving Learning in Low-Income Countries(2012-12-01) Wagner, Daniel A; Murphy, Katie M; De Korne, HaleyIn 2011, the Center for Universal Education (CUE) at the Brookings Institution spearheaded the development of a common policy agenda on global education entitled A Global Compact on Learning: Taking Action on Education in Developing Countries. The report recommended a call to action for a diverse group of international stakeholders to come together to work toward achieving quality education for all. As a part of this larger policy agenda, CUE works with various scholars and organizations to address the many issues within the scope of the Global Compact on Learning.Publication Literacy(2018-01-01) Wagner, Daniel ALiteracy is a complex and dynamic phenomenon that varies across time, language, and geography. The origins of literacy can be traced back thousands of years, initially invented as a tool for communication to be shared amongst only a small portion of 'educated' human society. However, within the past few centuries, many societies have experienced transitions from mostly illiterate to predominantly literate populations through a variety of means involving both formal and informal learning. The present review considers literacy in a global perspective, with short sections that review: the history and definition of literacy; life-span perspectives; and finally some challenges and opportunities for the future.Publication Technology and Mother-Tongue Literacy in Southern India: Impact Studies among Young Children and Out-of-School Youth(2010-01-01) Wagner, Daniel A; Daswani, C. J; Karnati, RomillaThe present research began with one main question: How can new technologies be effective for poor and illiterate children and youth in developing countries? We addressed this question through a research-based implementation project in India that included the development of local language multimedia software for literacy; a built-in, user-friendly interface; and the use of existing computer infrastructure. Two studies were undertaken in Andhra Pradesh state. One included a sample of youth and young adults who had never gone to school (or dropped out early) in peri-urban Hyderabad, and the other was composed of young second- and third-grade school children in rural West Godavari district. Based on a short-term intervention program, research results demonstrated a modest positive impact on the learning rate in reading with both groups of learners (when compared with control groups without the multimedia intervention). The findings provide support for the view that information and communications technologies for development can assist in promoting literacy among the poorest of the poor. In addition, the present results support the view that the digital divide, as it evolves over time, will only be narrowed when content-based solutions are sensitive to, and built on cultural and linguistic diversity.Publication Traditional Islamic Education in Morocco: Sociohistorical and Psychological Perspectives(1980-06-01) Wagner, Daniel A; Lotfi, AbdelhamidAs in many parts of the Muslim world, traditional Islamic schooling1 in Morocco predates a crucial historical role in the training of the nation's youth and continues to reach a higher percentage of school-age children than has the modern school system. Although such traditional Quranic schooling may have touched the lives of most Moroccans, its impact — relative to the modern school system — is not yet fully understood. Probably the most difficult aspect of analyzing the impact of Quranic schools, and there are a number of levels of analysis upon which such education may be observed and discussed. Any discussion of the consequences of traditional Quranic schooling will, therefore, depend on the adequate understanding of the varieties of this type of traditional education.Publication MOOCs for Development: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities(2015-01-01) Castillo, Nathan M; Lee, Jinsol; Wagner, Daniel A; Zahra, Fatima TThe recent rise of massive open online courses (MOOCs) has generated significant media attention for their potential to disrupt the traditional modes of education trough ease of access and free or low-cost content delivery. MOOCs offer the potential to enable access to high-quality education to students, even in the most underserved regions of the world. However, much of the excitement surrounding opportunities for MOOCs in non-OECD contexts remains unproven. Challenges with regard to infrastructure, sustainability, and evaluation have disrupted early attempts to expand inclusion for those least educated. Drawing on proceedings from a recent international conference on MOOCs for Development held at the University of Pennsylvania, this report synthesizes trends, challenges, and opportunities within the growing subfield.Publication Review of the World Bank World Development Report, Mind, Society, and Behavior(2016-08-01) Wagner, Daniel A; Buek, Katharine W; Adler, Alejandro; Castillo, Nathan M; Zahra, Fatima T; Lee, Jinsol; Chittamuru, Deepti; Lee, Selene SThe World Development Report is an annual World Bank publication that highlights the latest research and trends in international development programming. This major review carries substantial weight in setting the policy and program agenda for donor and recipient agencies around the world. The 2015 Mind, Society, and Behavior report is remarkable in that, in a field typically driven by economic principles and interventions, it focuses on the human cognitive processes that underlie social and economic decision making. This important, but often neglected, perspective is a substantial contribution to the development discussion. The report represents a noteworthy effort in identifying and compiling rigorous and up-to-date psychological research on human needs, motivations, and biases to inform key recommendations for development policy and programming investments.