Dear friends and colleagues,

This is a very special journal issue – for the first time we have given all of it over to young researchers and to those who are just starting their academic activities. This is an opportunity for them to introduce themselves and their work to the wider world.

The idea of this journal came to us long time ago. We always wanted to launch a productive dialogue among young researchers in education and psychology from Russia and the United States but every time something prevented it. Finally, we are publishing the first nine articles, and we certainly won’t close the doors on this – there will be more journal issues in the future devoted to the papers of young researchers.

I am happy to introduce to you our current authors – Russian graduate and doctorate students from Izhevsk, Moscow, Ulyanovsk, and Yaroslavl, as well as their American counterparts from Alabama, California, and New Jersey. Most of the articles are prepared by individual authors but there is one which is written by a team in close cooperation between the project supervisor, Professor Michael Lovorn, and his graduate students Bethany Green and Erica Callahan from the University of Alabama. Their paper is devoted to a very interesting and challenging project aimed at enhancing history students’ understanding of civil rights around the world in the 20th century.

A big plus for all the articles is that their research topics are not only very interesting but also critical for our knowledge, and what is more, they certainly transcend national borders. This can definitely be applied to the articles presented by young researchers who have already completed their PhD dissertations: Egor Neborsky about the development of innovations in Russia, Inna Semikasheva on adolescent female involvement in gang activities and the identity formation in young criminals, Cherie Ichinose about gender equality in online learning, Vladimir Druzin on personality and social features of teenagers inclined to computer games addiction, and Lubov Shustova about the formation of gender tolerance among high school students.

 A few authors have only recently started their research work, and we are happy to welcome the papers that represent drafts and contours of their future research projects, most of which are devoted to important and unsolved issues: online education from the perspective of community college students (Theresa Capra), social-pedagogical support of teenagers in a difficult life situation (Eugenia Kirzhoy), and the use of songs and poetry as an intercultural communication tool (Nailya Akchurina).

As usual, our regular Russian education history contributor, Dr. Mikhail Boguslavsky, continues his series by writing an article and presenting his vision of the impact of Alexander Herzen on the formation and development of Russian existential pedagogy and his legacy to modern Russian education endeavors. I am sure you will enjoy reading it as much as we have.

Finally, I can only recommend that you start reading immediately. Afterwards, please write to us through the “comments” box that you will find after every article. We, the editors and the authors, are very interested in receiving your feedback and learning what new paths to take and how to develop our journal in the future.

Always yours,
Tatyana Tsyrlina-Spady
Editor-in-Chief