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The major tenets of Piagetian theory, such as adaptation and constructionism, are compatible with a cross-cultural approach to the study of cognitive development, but there have been significant methodological and theoretical advances over the past 40 years. Piagetian theory directly influenced three phases of cross-cultural research, ranging from absolutist to relativist. As researchers incorporated the study of contexts of development, particularly cross-cultural contexts, new methods expanded the available toolbox of approaches. Recent directions in historical research, narrative and discourse research, and cognitive developmental neuroscience have helped to shed light on processes and mechanisms of developmental change and their relationship to culture.

There is a long history of studies of human development in different cultural groups, but studies of development that explicitly take globalization into account are more recent. Cultural practices change, but cultures have often been considered static. Studying developmental change in changing societies in dynamic global settings presents challenges for researchers. It also presents opportunities to clarify content and processes in research. For such a clarification, it is compulsory to understand how local and global phenomena have been framed in the discourse of human development, and the potential outcomes of this positioning on people's lives. In this article we lay out five key practices to guide researchers who wish to study culture and development in a globalizing world: engaging diverse groups of people within and across societies, acknowledging multiple pathways of development, attention to the cultural context, using mixed methods, and designing sustainable and relevant interventions.

Between the time this volume was conceptualized and its publication, the world has seen dramatic changes as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, changes that have directly impacted international relations and globalization. Because this issue of <i>Human Development</i> deals with insights and alternatives regarding globalization, culture, and development, the consequences of the pandemic are linked to the presentation of four specific articles based on invited addresses given at the 2019 Jean Piaget Society conference on the title topic. Beginning with this article, this volume aims to explore five themes: multiple pathways of development; the importance of understanding context for understanding development; using mixed methods; implications for interventions; and implications for how to engage people in diverse societies, even as those societies are changing.