Consistent with national and international trends, K-12 classrooms in the United States reflect the shift towards increased levels of diversity. Elementary classrooms continue to flourish with students who possess an abundance of cultural and personal experiences. The United States is becoming not only more culturally and linguistically diverse,…

Building on various models for "intercultural and interreligious competence" (IC/IR competence), this essay argues that classroom learning about religious and cultural diversity will engage students' "sociological imaginations" and lead to increased IC/IR competence. The current strategy for increasing intercultural competence…

If a pluralistic democratic state such as the United States wishes to move beyond coexistence and toward a more reflective religious pluralism, then public schools must take epistemic issues seriously. Taking a cue from multicultural education, many have called for including the study of religion from a cultural perspective. I argue instead that,…

This qualitative descriptive study examined the attitudes, awareness, and actions of elementary teacher prep faculty at NCATE accredited universities on issues of preparing elementary school teachers for teaching "about" religion within the curriculum. The purpose of this study was to learn more about what colleges of education are currently…

This article contends that teaching more effectively for diversity requires a radical re-envisioning of pedagogical practice. Drawing on qualitative interviews with religion and theology professors of color throughout the United States, it explores how faculty can re-imagine their teaching by engaging students where they are, acknowledging the…

Objective: This article describes the process of change in an academic department of psychiatry that has led to the development of a diversity initiative in teaching, research, recruitment, and services. Methods: The authors performed a literature review of diversity initiatives using PubMed. The authors then wrote a case study of the development…

Religion plays an important role in social studies content and is difficult to ignore, especially because of current world events. In our global society, it is more important than ever to know about and understand the religious beliefs of others. The social studies curriculum is infused with religion, but teachers circumvent the issue, mistakenly…

Education and schooling in Bulgaria bear the potential to address the challenges that arise from poverty, unemployment, demographic developments, social polarising, migration, and fractured identities. This paper briefly reviews four recent and ongoing projects illustrative of a wide scope of intercultural education programmes, currently initiated…

In response to our increasingly global and multicultural world, undergraduate degree plans have come to include courses, which meet the "Diversity" requirement. While "diversity" may have a variety of definitions, clearly the educational institution believes that all students earning a degree should complete course work that exposes them to…

In this reflective essay, the author considers the interpretations, perspectives, and intentions she brings to religious education, and how they become part of the curriculum, influencing not only what she teaches but how she perceives the needs of students. She asserts that instead of focusing on curriculum to solve cultural diversity issues,…

This paper establishes a rationale and preliminary model for the examination of the "holy men and women" narratives in contemporary democratic education. The overarching assumption is that education is the primary institution for reclaiming historical narratives and creating new ones about individuals whose lives can serve as deeply satisfying…

Contends that a full and balanced education in the social studies requires study about religion and religious issues. Describes an elective course in world religions for high school students. Includes course objectives, course outline, teaching methods, and instructional materials. Addresses the issue of the controversial nature of teaching about…

This guide features materials concerning ethnic and religious groups and the annual dates important to those groups. Specifically, the guide contains an index of religious holidays; a list of the historical dates important to Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism; and a calendar that lists, by month, cultural and…

This curriculum unit was developed by a participant in the 1993 Fulbright-Hays Program "India: Continuity and Change." The unit attempts to place India in the "picture frame" of the ancient world as a part of a whole, not as a separate entity. Reading materials enable students to draw broader general conclusions based on the…

Using the country of Pakistan, this project is designed to reinforce student knowledge about the five themes of geography and to develop creative ways of transferring written information into maps, charts, and timelines. The five themes are location, place, human-environmental relations, movement, and regions. Students are asked to present…