This article addresses cultural differences in children's initiative in helping in their home. Many 6- to 8-year-old children from an Indigenous-heritage community in Guadalajara, Mexico, were reported to engage, on their own initiative, in complex work for the benefit of the whole family (such as tending younger siblings, cooking, or running errands). In contrast, few children from a cosmopolitan community in Guadalajara, in which families had extensive experience with Western schooling and associated practices, were reported to contribute to family household work, and seldom on their own initiative. They were more often reported to be involved in activities managed by adults, and to have limited time to play, compared with the children in the Indigenous-heritage community, who were often reported to have plenty of time for free play and often planned and initiated their own after-school activities. The differences in children's contributions on their own initiative support the idea that children in some Indigenous American communities have opportunities and are expected and allowed to learn with initiative by observing and pitching in to collaborative endeavors of their families and communities.

This article examines how 31 triads of 6- to 10-year-old children from 3 cultural backgrounds organized their interactions while folding Origami figures. Triads of children whose families had immigrated to the United States from indigenous heritage regions of México (and whose mothers averaged only 7 grades of schooling) coordinated more often as an ensemble, whereas triads of European heritage U.S. children whose mothers had extensive schooling more often engaged dyadically or individually. When the European heritage children did engage as an ensemble, this often involved chatting rather than nonverbal conversation regarding folding, which was more common among the Mexican heritage children. Mexican heritage U.S. triads whose mothers had extensive schooling showed an intermediate pattern or resembled the European heritage children.

This article examines and contrasts two distinct patterns of assisting children's learning that relate to adults' participation in different cultural practices: strategies to control children's attention and motivation versus supportive guidance including children's initiative. We report case studies of the instructional approaches taken by 4 research assistants who were asked to follow a script to casually demonstrate how to make an object, leaving room for children's initiative. The 2 research assistants who were bilingual European American elementary school teachers attempted to control the children's attention, motivation, and behavior in accord with accepted pedagogical practice - calling children's attention, controlling children's pace and keeping them on task using extensive step-by-step explanation, and evaluating the children's efforts with praise - even when they were trying not to, in order to follow the script. In contrast, the 2 bilingual Mexican-heritage research assistants guided the children with support for their initiative, in line with the cultural tradition of Learning by Observing and Pitching In to family and community endeavors, allowing the children to take initiative in managing their own attention, adjusting the pace of instruction collaboratively, using subtle nonverbal cues, and giving feedback without praise. We discuss the resilience of cultural approaches to supporting learning and encourage expanding repertoires of practice.

This article presents conceptual and empirical advances relating to Learning by Observing and Pitching In to family and community endeavours (LOPI). The opening article offers a new version of the LOPI model and a focused analysis of the key role of community. The other nine articles provide evidence of the social organization of LOPI, based on an axiology of relationality, respect, reciprocity and pitching in, in many Indigenous communities of the Americas. They discuss Indigenous theory and axiologies, as well as ethical attunements in LOPI; the importance of observation, respect, autonomy and laughter for learning; and the opportunities that LOPI brings to the revitalization of Indigenous languages, in learning at school and in online gaming communities. This issue shows how the LOPI paradigm is based in relationality and respect in communion among people, other beings and the land that we inhabit. RESUMENEste artículo presenta avances conceptuales y empíricos acerca de Aprender por medio de Observar y Acomedirse en las actividades de la familia y la comunidad (Learning by Observing and Pitching In in family and community endeavours, LOPI). El artículo inicial presenta una nueva versión del modelo del paradigma LOPI y precisiones sobre el papel clave que tiene la comunidad. Otros nueve artículos presentan evidencias de la organización social de LOPI fundamentada en una axiología de la relacionalidad, el respeto, la reciprocidad y el acomedirse en muchas comunidades indígenas de las Américas. Se tratan la teoría y las axiologías indígenas, así como afinaciones éticas en LOPI; la importancia de la observación, el respeto, la autonomía y la risa para el aprendizaje; y las oportunidades que LOPI aporta en la revitalización de lenguas indígenas, en el aprendizaje en la escuela y en las comunidades de los juegos en línea. El número muestra cómo el paradigma LOPI está basado en la relacionalidad y respeto en comunión entre personas, otros seres y la tierra que habitamos.

Formal schooling is a site of cultural socialization where children are taught how to see their world and themselves. As teachers are a primary medium through which this socialization occurs, the present study explores students' perceptions of teachers' care in two schools where a majority of students and teachers differ in cultural heritage. Like many public schools in the nation, students at these schools were predominantly Latin@, while the teachers were mostly white. Students at an elementary school and a high school were interviewed about how teachers communicate care for students. While a majority of elementary students reported that teachers showed care for them by speaking in Spanish, few high school students mentioned this as a way teachers showed care. Older students perceived teachers' care through committed academic support and creation of personal relationships. High school students reported that teachers respected their culture by omitting it from classroom discussion and not using it to discriminate against them. We argue that this conception of teacher's care including restrictive language norms and without mentioning culture suggests that these students have been socialized to Downloaded from perceive learning in schools as a-cultural. The implications of this perspective for students' learning, academic success, and developing identities are discussed.