In his December editorial on Michael Reiss, Kenneth Tobin ("Cult Stud Sci Educ" 3:793-798, 2008), raises some very important questions for science and science teachers regarding science education and the teaching of creationism in the classroom. I agree with him that students' creationist ideologies should be treated not as misconceptions but as…

This article investigates the attitudes of South African student teachers towards the theory of evolution and their willingness to teach it. The teaching of evolution has been excluded from the South African school curriculum for most of the 20th century. In 2008, Grade 12 learners were for the first time exposed to the concept of evolution in the…

In April 2009, the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam invited more than 30 experts in the field of Holocaust education from a dozen countries for a three-day seminar to share their thoughts and experiences to provide insight into the kinds of opportunities and challenges educators might face in the future when teaching about the Holocaust in diverse…

This article examines what science education might be able to learn from phenomenological religious education's attempts to teach classes where students hold a plurality of religious beliefs. Recent statements as to how best to accomplish the central pedagogical concept of "learning from religion" as a vehicle for human transformation are…

Schools have a legitimate and vital role in providing Americans with a better and more accurate understanding of the Muslim world. Given the cultural and ideological issues at play in any understanding of Islam, the theories and practices of critical literacy can provide useful guidance to teachers. The purposes of this article are to counteract…

In this paper, the author seeks to initiate a conversation about the discomfort that can emerge and the violence that might possibly take place in the "critical", dialogic, and justice-oriented Foundations of Education classroom between students and instructors when all are invited to negotiate "the necessary conditions" for learning. Believing…

Teaching that intentionally integrates cognitive learning with students' affective lives is the kind of pedagogy that can leave a long lasting, even transformative impression on students that outlives the details of course content. Because this author wants her students to truly engage with the subject of domestic violence, she finds it essential…

As with many states, Florida has official directives that are intended to influence what type of sexuality education, if any, takes place in public school classrooms. However, little is known about contextual factors that facilitate or challenge the ability of teachers to implement effective sexuality education initiatives. Levels of sexually…

Many of our children are exposed to practical, everyday issues that would have seemed foreign to us as a society twenty years ago: sexual harassment (regardless of gender), cyberbullying, virtual violence, and stalking by Internet predators. Widespread censorship for middle school students is counterproductive to thinking in such an open and…

Teaching about sex and relationships is one of the greatest challenges in not only the combating of HIV and AIDS, but also in preparing the youth for responsible sexual behaviour. Although it seems as if teachers to some extent do feel comfortable with the teaching of sexuality education at school, the question however remains as to whether youth…

This article arose out of my involvement in an undergraduate drama module at the School of Education, University of KwaZulu-Natal, where I made use of workshop theatre methodologies to explore how second-year drama students construct knowledge and develop sociocultural understandings of critical issues in society. The workshop theatre project…

Independent schools have the pedagogical freedom to determine the best approach to contemporary, perplexing educational challenges. This article focuses on the increasingly complex arena of Gender and Sexuality Diversity (GSD) in the pre-K-12 setting, offering specific reference points and frameworks for engaging these issues. Independent schools…

The term "political activity" can be interpreted in a myriad of different ways, but in this paper, it is taken to mean involvement in a variety of campaigns around issues affecting the way we live and the sort of society we want to live in. At a time when support for the main political parties has never been weaker, it is essential that…

In this article, the authors describe a classroom incident and their subsequent learnings about effectively managing issues of gender diversity in an MBA course titled "Women in Organizations." The authors employ Kolb's learning cycle as a framework for describing the incident ("concrete experience"), reflecting on and discussing what occurred…

Censorship is a complex question. Studies show a number of reasons teachers refrain from teaching controversial issues. These include: (1) The general "chilling effects" in school and community contexts, characterized by fear of reprisal; (2) Standards and high stakes testing; (3) Insufficient teacher preparation to teach about…