Chapter 2: Cross-National Explorations of Sociocultural Research on Learning

Culture in medical education: comparing a Thai and a Canadian residency programme

“…By illustrating the influence of culture on the interpretation and application of the curriculum, this study challenges the premise that global standards would ensure the standardisation of education outcomes and practices worldwide. Rather, consistent with the culturalist perspective, the findings support a socio‐cultural conceptualisation of education, which views learning as an interpretative process of the interaction of the learner with the surrounding social and cultural environment 28 . At the institutional level, acknowledgement of the ‘hidden curriculum’ is an example of the recognition that medical education is a cultural activity 29 .…”

Quiet or questioning? Students' discussion behaviors in student-centered education across cultures

“…Socio-cultural theorists emphasize that individuals are inherently influenced, or mediated, by their environment and cannot be understood outside of it (Rogoff and Chavajay 1995;Vásquez 2006). Individuals continuously internalize their social, cultural, and contextual surroundings, while at the same time influencing their surroundings by externalizing their inner values and beliefs (Engeström and Miettinen 1999).…”

Rethinking the globalisation of problem-based learning: how culture challenges self-directed learning

“…We also examine other contextual factors that may be of influence, such as the education setting and students’ past experiences 21 . We use a socio‐cultural approach 23,24 to obtain a comprehensive picture of how cultural, societal and other contextual factors affect students’ development as self‐directed learners, because a socio‐cultural perspective is assumed to encompass the cultural and contextual environment 1,25 . Socio‐cultural theorists state that humans are continuously influenced and shaped by their environment as they ‘internalise’ its norms and characteristics 26,27 .…”