In recent decades, socioscientific issues (SSI) have been emerging from the interrelationship between science, technology, and society. For example, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, related decisions, like whether we need to ask people to use facemasks, is an SSI question being discussed internationally with no right or wrong answer. Controversial…

The purpose of the research was to determine the opinions of middle school students about the inclusion of controversial issues in social studies course. In this mixed methods study, an explanatory design was used, and the participants involved middle school students studying in Kirsehir, Osmaniye, and Diyarbakir provinces of Turkey during the…

The present study aimed to determine the views of classroom teachers on the inclusion or exclusion of current issues in classroom instruction, to investigate these views based on the definition of current issues, the methods and techniques employed in the instruction of current issues, the analysis of the instruction, and the positive and negative…

The current study aims to investigate how Turkish English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers understand the cultural component in language classes and the extent to which they feel to have opportunities to raise cultural awareness. The views on and approaches to cultural issues of ten English language instructors teaching at the tertiary level…

The aim of this study is to determine the opinions of pre-service classroom teachers about academic controversy, from the cooperative learning methods, implemented in social studies teaching course. Using the action research pattern from the qualitative research approaches, the study group for the research comprised 42 preservice teachers in third…

As the school National Science Curriculum in Turkey includes topics such as human reproduction, hormonal growth and adolescent health, elementary school science teachers (ESTs) are required to teach sexuality-related topics to their students. However, studies have shown that teachers in Turkey, like their counterparts in many other countries, have…

Post-method era has been hailed in second language teaching, although a few practitioners have been able to use the tenets of critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogy aims to raise sociopolitical issues to emancipate both teachers and learners from power-centric ideas. The practical use of critical pedagogy has been the participatory approach that…

This study aims to motivate researchers, teachers and learners to utilize critical social research methodology in the field of second language learning and teaching in which neoliberalism and neocolonialism have been profoundly embedded and overwhelmingly dominant. Therefore, critical reflection (CR), participatory action (PAR) and emancipatory…

In today's educational landscape, social studies classes are characterized by controversial issues (CIs) that teachers handle differently using various ideologies. These CIs have become more and more popular, particularly in heterogeneous communities. The actual classroom practices for teaching social studies courses are unclear in the context of…

This article analyses the extent to which history education (HE) in Turkey adheres to the HE principles proposed by the Council of Europe. A compulsory history textbook is analyzed in detail. The analysis finds an understanding of HE that marginalizes minorities due to nationalist and militarist content. The Atatürk's Principles and History of…

In today's globalised world, many issues have become controversial. These controversial issues affect society and the individuals who form them. It is inevitable that these topics are brought into social studies classrooms, because this learning area is profoundly related to society. Social studies teachers' behaviours, attitudes, and professional…

The social roles and responsibilities expected from citizens are increasing due to changing global living conditions. Science education is expected to prepare conscious and sensitive students because today's students are the adults of the future. To do so, the main pre-requisite is quality teacher education. In the past decade, one of the most…

The current study aims to investigate social studies and science teachers' attitudes and classroom practices associated with controversial issues. The study is a qualitative research based on data collected through interviews and observation. Social studies and Science teachers participated in the current study which was conducted in Kirsehir, a…

This paper addresses the sensitive issue of the teaching of religions and beliefs in schools by analysing two recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. In these cases, the Court asserts that students should be exempted from compulsory courses on religion or from courses that are not conveyed in an objective, critical and pluralist…

The "International Society for the Social Studies (ISSS) Annual Conference Proceedings" is a peer-reviewed professional publication published once a year following the annual conference. The following papers are included in the 2016 proceedings: (1) The Emergence of Social Studies in Trinidad and Tobago (Leela Ramsook); (2) Opinions of…