This book examines the interplay between education and society in the 20th and early 21st centuries and addresses philosophical views and educational aims with their associated values for community-based learning in the U.S.A., India, Russia, and China. The philosophical background of community-based learning in these countries relies both on national philosophical traditions and on reformist ideas in international schools of thought—over time opposition to certain international pedagogical ideas surfaced in these countries.

The authors offer a comprehensive picture of community-based learning in education and demonstrate how teachers can make learning more functional and holistic so that students can work in new situations within their complex worlds. School-specific descriptions reveal how teachers and students implemented community-based projects at different times.