The United States still has one of the lowest evolution acceptance rates in the world. Biology educators have been diligent in their methods to increase evolution acceptance and knowledge, with much success. However, misconceptions still arise through education, textbooks, and even social and religious settings that may influence our citizens' low…

Recent legislation restricting the topics teachers may discuss with students raises the issue of what role the teacher should play in society. We argue that this legislative scrutiny of teachers is symptomatic of an aversion to defining what a teacher is. We argue that, though a reluctance to provide an explicit definition of "teacher"…

Anti-Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and/or Queer (LGBTQ+) education laws are defined as laws that prohibit or limit schools from discussing same-sex relationships, broader sexuality, and gender issues in their sexual education curriculum. This study presents a historical context of anti-LGBTQ+ sex education laws, examines the extant literature on…

Prior research has explored the complex issue of how future teachers learn to engage in socially just and antiracist teaching practices. This research revealed reasons why pre-service teachers do not engage in racialized conversations, including not believing that it is appropriate to talk about race with young children, and exhibiting resistance…

This mixed-methods study investigated how secondary social studies educators mediate their own and their students' emotions while engaging in pedagogical reasoning and teaching about difficult content within a highly charged sociopolitical landscape. This research was informed by sociocultural theory, Shulman's (1987) model of pedagogical…

Recently we have seen a heightened public assault on critical race theory (CRT), anti-racist ideologies and practices, and on scholars, faculty, and activists who employ CRT in their work. In this article we draw upon CRT, Latina/Chicana feminism, and critical raced-gendered epistemology, to situate the experiences of Latina faculty in…

All modern nation-states have periods of difficult history that teachers fail to address or address inadequately. The authors present a framework for defining difficult histories and understanding what makes them difficult. These events 1) are central to a nation's history, 2) contradict accepted histories or values, 3) connect with present…

Courses in gender communication are designed to enable students to examine the role of gender and gender identity in everyday communication. To aid them to understand gender communication, they should be exposed to at least three foundational areas and supporting content. Sex and gender differences, the social construction of gender, and…

This study investigates the effectiveness of two pedagogical strategies--deliberation and debate--in fostering productive political discussions among high school students, with a focus on overcoming affective polarization. Paying attention to students' comfort, engagement, and willingness to participate, this study employs a mixed-method approach…

This paper explores the intricate relationships between security, gender, and education by examining the construction of girls' education within the security-centric state of Pakistan. Utilizing a Foucauldian qualitative methodology, the study conducted power elite interviews with officials from the army, religious scholars, bureaucrats,…

A newspaper article about the availability of guns in Chicago, presented at a mathematics education conference in that city in 1998, is linked to a tragic shooting near that city in 2022. The article was used in Australia for many years in research with teachers and students to assess statistical literacy in relation to sampling, until ethics…

In recent years, the teaching of controversial issues in English language education has gained significant empirical attention. To date, this body of research has not been reviewed. This integrative review analyses and synthesises the main findings of 29 empirical studies on English language teachers' beliefs, experiences, and approaches related…

In this essay, we reflect on our experience teaching divisive issues to undergraduates in a required business ethics class. We want to share lessons learned, and what worked and what did not, in hopes that it will help other instructors who are tackling these topics. In particular, we share a list of "guiding principles" we developed…

This essay advocates the use of "unresolved" speech assignments in introductory public speaking instruction. Unresolved speeches work to decenter persuasion in the speech class by asking students to critically explore the landscape of arguments surrounding controversial topics and issue questions without making the turn to opinion giving…

When it comes to creationism, it might seem as if the United States is trapped in a century-long culture-war rut. In a sense, the Scopes Trial of 1925 put science itself on trial, and it can seem as if every new dispute over teaching evolution is only a repetition of that famous trial. In truth, however, the power of creationism has ebbed…