Teaching the social contract tradition to students can be frustrating. Works by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau may seem arcane, abstract, or irrelevant to students. Yet, it is important for students to think about what processes or mechanisms would make consent and dissent legitimate. To address this problem, this paper explains how to use a short…

This exercise helps instructors teach students how to perform a simple event study. The study tests to see if stocks earn abnormal returns when added to the S&P 500. Students select a random sample of stocks that were added to the index between January 2000 and July 2015. The accompanying spreadsheet calculates cumulative abnormal returns and…

A textbook activity on symbols was intended as thought provoking but instead elicited a confrontational reaction by one student which left Dr. Jackson and the university searching for a response. When the topic spread through the channels within the university, matters got worse. This disguised case examines the lesson, conflict, and aftermath…

While many preservice teachers turn to teaching because they believe in the power of education in the pursuit of social justice, they also lack concrete ideas for how to bring social justice education into the middle-school classroom. With the goal of preparing social justice educators in mind, teacher educators must find ways to transform these…

The Under Construction Exercise was developed by the authors to highlight key factors of work design that when implemented among the work group or entire organization can lead to an environment conducive to fostering satisfaction and motivation. In the exercise, groups are assigned to one of four different conditions that are designed to emulate…

This paper examines the use of a simple classroom activity, in which students are asked to take action representing either collusion or competition for extra credit to teach strategic thinking required in an oligopolistic market. We suggest that the classroom activity is first initiated prior to the teaching of oligopoly and then the instructor…

Learning how to manage a classroom effectively is a difficult task for preservice teachers. This is compounded by the lack of attention that classroom management receives in many teacher preparation programs and in the field of education in general. This article offers a rationale for the lack of attention to classroom management in teacher…

This article introduces a leadership philosophy exercise where students reflect on their values and prepare a statement of what they intend to do as a leader in their careers. This exercise has the potential to add value to leadership classes or seminars where personal leadership is the focus. By using the leadership philosophy exercise, I argue…

Millennials are a unique generational cohort populating the classroom, leaving university professors with the challenge of appropriately preparing them for the chaotic workforce. One challenge is their lower levels of resiliency. When faced with setbacks, Millennials tend to give up instead of bouncing back. This lack of resiliency is negatively…

Followership is valuable for personal and organizational success, whether success is measured by satisfaction with work, improved team relationships, obtaining promotions, or quality and quantity of work output. Furthermore, senior executives and coaches recognize it as a critical skill. Despite this, creating effective followership training in…

This article addresses the pedagogical choices and the visceral reverberations involved in teaching porn in the university classroom. The author discusses different aims and goals for teaching pornography, as well as the some key pedagogical considerations and options involved in this, drawing on her own experiences teaching porn in Finnish gender…

This exercise is designed to illustrate how challenging it is to listen. Although listening is an activity that people use more than speaking, reading, or writing, it is typically not afforded the same level of instruction and focus (Adler & Rodman, 2011). In addition, humans are subject to such continual and diverse stimuli; most do not even…

This study has two main objectives: first, to find traces of teaching methods in a language class and second, to study the relationship between intended learning outcomes and uptake, which is defined as what students claim to have learned. In order to identify the teaching method, after five sessions of observation, class activities and procedures…

Research findings on optimum use of the first day of class are mixed. Past data gathered from students from various disciplines support a first day designed to distribute the course syllabus and explain class expectations, rules, and policies. Additional literature supports a different approach to the first day; one designed to immediately engage…

Maple Leaf School is a large English elementary school in Ontario, Canada. Wanda Miller, the principal, has been at the school for 2 years. Upon arrival, she engaged the teachers in a collaborative exercise to determine their school goal (as required by the province). Character education was selected. The district insisted that the school adopt an…