In a polarized society, it is a university's responsibility to offer courses that explore highly controversial issues. Traditional forms of debate may create barriers to knowledge and entrenchment of perspectives, with students self-limiting their ability to develop informed opinions. We describe an active learning, double-blinded approach to…

Many teachers and education scholars are quick to endorse discussing controversial issues in classrooms, especially in the context of "divisive concept" legislation that proposes bans or limitations on how contentious matters are taught in schools. This approach, however, may not be the best choice in a post-truth and populist setting…

In this article, we utilize resources mainly provided by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate along with other primary and secondary sources to discuss a unit plan for students to research voting rights issues in modern American society. First, a brief historical overview of voting rights issues in the United States is…

In 2017 Purdue evGrand Prix hired a K-12 Indiana public educator (the author) to write instructional material that could be implemented into participating teams' high school science and engineering classrooms. The goal was to create science-based integrated STEM learning experiences that complement the construction and racing of a 48-volt electric…

The authors of this article address the challenges faced in implementing a literacy-targeted (LT) approach in economic education. Despite research demonstrating the benefits of the LT approach, there is resistance to its adoption in classrooms and the publication of supporting textbooks and materials. They identify four key input areas that serve…

Purpose: Many K-12 teachers teach difficult topics as part of their curricula, and discussions of difficult topics are common across grade levels and content areas. As teachers increasingly engage with difficult topics in their classrooms, the need for high-quality professional learning experiences has also grown. In response, the purpose of this…

Organizational communication extends beyond communication that takes place in an organizational context to the ways communication is used to organize and facilitate activity. This article is designed to enhance organizational communication pedagogy practices by highlighting foundational concepts and content areas that should be included in…

Faculty professional development is an important lever for change in supporting instructors to adopt research-based instructional strategies that engage students intellectually, foster learning-supportive attitudes and habits of mind, and strengthen their persistence in mathematics. Yet the literature contains few well-rationalized models for…

This article outlines a method used to successfully breakthrough student bias surrounding controversial issues in the classroom. The method uses a debate with randomized position assignments to encourage students to consider all sides of the topic. Student feedback is overwhelmingly positive and students appear to develop a newfound respect and…

Implementing inquiry-oriented instructional proposals at the university level collides with many constraints related to the current pedagogical paradigm based on the transmission of previously established works of knowledge. One such constraint comes from defining subjects' curricula by a set of topics to study, not questions to inquire. Our…

Drawing is a teaching tool that provides numerous benefits to student learning, including enhanced knowledge retention, improved observation skills, and increased engagement with course content. However, these exercises also place high cognitive demands on students and require a considerable time commitment. To acknowledge and celebrate the effort…

This paper introduces lessons designed to incorporate applications to teaching high school mathematics in an undergraduate Discrete Mathematics course. Because many prospective high school teachers do not take courses that are specifically designed for teachers, providing materials aimed at teacher preparation that can be easily integrated into…

Many high schools, two-year colleges, and universities offer a conceptual physics course for non-science students who have to take a basic science course. The students often enter the course unmotivated and may eventually withdraw. So, how do we make the course interesting enough for these students to gain the knowledge we desire and, more…

Giving students their first exposure to course content online allows instructors to use classroom time for active learning which promotes deeper disciplinary understanding.

In completing an action learning facilitation qualification in 2012, I documented an account of practice during the first year of my experience as a facilitator. The main areas of my learning related to four themes: fear of rejection, using and abusing power, content versus process and critical action learning. These learnings are linked to…