The rapid transformations of social, economic, and cultural worlds of learners in school and nonschool settings that we are facing today are reminiscent of the transformations that accompanied the industrial revolution at the turn of the 20th century. Like those at the turn of the 20th century, education researchers and their constituencies (e.g., students, teachers, community members, and policy makers) are faced with a series of questions: How are we to respond to the educational challenges of this new millennium? How do we engage with new forms of learning, the influence of new media on children's lives, changing community dynamics, and many long-standing and tenacious educational and social problems? And how can research and theory constructively and critically engage with the demands and imperatives of government educational and social policies?

In this book, the editors bring together an intergenerational group of researchers who represent both new and long-standing perspectives and debates on the shapes, definitions, and processes of learning in the context of global cultural and economic change.