This work examines the tenets of literacy through an historical lens to demonstrate how new communication technologies are resisted and accepted over time. New uses of information for teaching and learning create a disconnect in the complex relationship between literacy and schooling, and raise questions about the purposes of literacy in a global, networked, educational environment. The way that new communication technologies change the nature of literacy in contemporary society is discussed as a rationale for corresponding changes in schooling.

There is a general and extensive literature in the development of representational thought and symbolic processes because of its centrality in human evolution. The umbrella of science and its method does not necessarily lead to a coherent conceptual model, or agreement among scholars. The basic differences among various disciplines have led to the creation of diverse realms of research. This book considers how representational or symbolic thought develops for children's use in a wide array of these circumstances.