This year marks the 100th anniversary of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. The fight was a protracted one, lasting over 70 years, and it did not result in equity for diverse women. Voting and citizenship came to women of color differently depending on region, class, race, and ethnicity. For example,…

The United States is currently experiencing its most severe measles outbreak in decades, driven in part by parents' belief that vaccines cause autism. That harmful misinformation is contrary to scientific evidence (DeStefano et al. 2013). The CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world's largest multidisciplinary…

Reflecting on the mediascape since the 2016 elections, it's tempting to think that "fake news" is strictly a twenty-first century phenomenon--designed by webmasters as clickbait for shadowy networks seeking power and profit. This article will explore some ways in which teachers can use the analytical tools of news literacy to unearth the…

This article describes a unit-length project involving students in the analysis of how public memory is shaped by multiple factors and functions persuasively to influence one's understanding of historical events. This project was designed for an upper-division undergraduate course in Rhetoric and Public Memory, but could be adapted for use in…

Recent surveys have indicated a worryingly low level of support for democracy among Australian youth and around the world. For example, in the 2017 Lowy Institute Poll, 36% of Australians indicated that, in some circumstances, a nondemocratic government is preferable. Such concerns, while hardly new, have triggered calls for more civic education…

Public Agenda's Choicework Discussion Starters support dialogue and deliberation on a wide variety of issues. They have been used in thousands of community conversations, discussion groups and classrooms and by journalists, researchers, policymakers, community leaders, and individuals looking to better understand and discuss solutions to a variety…

The "Stop.Think.Connect. Community Outreach Toolkit" was adapted from the Federal Trade Commission's "OnGuardOnline.gov," a project that provides practical tips to help guard against Internet fraud and protect your privacy. The kit will help you offer your community information about protecting kids online. It includes "Stop.Think.Connect.," a…

Stop.Think.Connect. is a national public awareness campaign aimed at increasing the understanding of cyber threats and empowering the American public to be safer and more secure online. The Campaign's main objective is to help individuals become more aware of growing cyber threats and arm them with the tools to protect themselves, their families,…

Research Findings: This study assessed public perceptions of child care and its providers in a Canadian province where government funding for child care includes subsidies and a voluntary accreditation process. In 2007-2008, 1,443 randomly selected adults in Alberta, Canada, completed a telephone survey. Individuals were eligible to participate if…

The impressions we make as instructors of physics can affect student learning and public perception of physics teachers, physics as an academic subject, and physics as a profession. There are many sources from which we can collect evidence of these impressions. Among these sources are online public forums such as those at the Internet site known…

Teachers say that they would gladly teach a day in the classroom if at the end of the day they could leave and have no marking. There is a common staffroom perception that mathematics teachers have it easy when it comes to marking. In arts subjects, setting an essay can be a fairly straightforward matter--a one-line question may suffice--but…

For far too long, public education had been under the shadow of terms such as failing schools, achievement gaps, and poor classroom management. While many publications have outlined these issues, the goal of this book is not to resonate despair but to illuminate individuals' hopes and dreams for public education. For the authors of this book,…

This manuscript provides a historical and pedagogical framework for American educational and sociopolitical responses after national tragedies (e.g., Pearl Harbor, 9/11). Moreover, this research explores the overt xenophobic and ethnocentric tendencies (exacerbated by media forums) after these events, which triggered resurgence in a sort of…

Celebrated annually on April 22, schools and communities organize numerous activities during Earth Day to promote awareness. To help teachers plan their own initiatives and to learn more about what is happening around the world, they can join the Earth Day Network at: http://network.earthday.net/. Once they have joined, they can create a webpage…

In today's world of restrictive school budgets and increasing property taxes, it is an unfortunate reality that many school districts will be faced with a budget crunch crisis that unenlightened school boards may try to solve by cutting or eliminating funds for music. At the crisis stage, it is often only the effective advocacy of an organized…