To fulfil its third mission and equip students with the appropriate competencies to address complex societal issues, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) offers undergraduates the chance to learn about issues that transcend the confines of their own discipline through the cross-disciplinary Broader Mind Course (BMC). This study investigates to what…

The Grand Challenges for Social Work were introduced by the American Academy for Social Work & Social Welfare in 2016, which are social problems that are interrelated and "exceedingly complex". We discuss the relevance of complexity theory, operationalized by complex adaptive systems (CAS), to the Grand Challenges. CAS moves beyond…

This paper proposes a new approach for combining top-down and bottom-up approaches intended to lead to a curriculum for action in the public interest that builds on social entrepreneurship and digital skills for students at community colleges. This integrated approach requires a collaborative, participatory approach and aims to provide relevant…

The aim of this study is to address the importance of implementing discussions about Black Lives Matter in early childhood education and care. The article starts with presenting the background of the study, describing how talking about race and whiteness may perceive difficult to address for both preschool teachers as well as early childhood…

Climate change is a growing global crisis with short and long-term physical and human impacts. Although climate change is a global occurrence, the impacts of climate change are not felt equally among all locations and all groups of people. Climate justice education is a form of social justice education that invites students to consider how the…

This study explored how elementary teachers identified and adapted their personal experiences, or lack of them, to address social issues that students face in classrooms. The study involved six elementary school teachers. Using ethics of care and justice theories, the findings show that teachers use their own experiences to help them make…

Northeastern University's EdD faculty faced unique challenges during the pandemic and racial reckoning following George Floyd's murder. During this period, however, we found opportunities to adapt and improve our program. We prioritized compassion and connection. We made significant strides in curriculum development through design and…

The importance of engaging students with complex societal challenges has led to the adoption of various interdisciplinary teaching and learning practices in both K-12 and higher education. However, interdisciplinary learning is one of the most complex domains of contemporary educational practice, and, despite its significance, remains…

Ball State University's (BSU) bold strategic plan, which was drafted in 2019, states that all students will have access to one of four specific High Impact Practices (Immersive Learning, Undergraduate Research, Study Abroad, and Societal Issues) before they graduate. This article documents the key steps that occurred as the Ball State campus…

Given tremendous negative societal effects of mass incarceration, the social work profession's investment in the Grand Challenge to Promote Smart Decarceration, and the call for criminal justice transformation, educational content that prepares social work students to engage in smart decarceration efforts is essential. This article presents…

Nearly one million undergraduates take Introductory Statistics each year, and both the importance of statistics and viewpoints about how it should be taught have changed markedly over the last several decades (Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction in Statistics Education College Report, ASA Revision Committee, 2016). Modern introductory…

Mulla Sadra's philosophy has an ontological approach. However, his explicit texts or philosophical foundations in social issues such as education and especially the curriculum and its relationship with learning methods can be extracted. Mulla Sadra's different approach to learning has distinguished his educational system from other educational…

To guide students to make reasonable decisions in the face of adversity and pressure, a new general course named 'Introduction of Life Education' was established. The course was organized based on the knowledge of biological science, with the integration of social scientific issues on life health, food safety, environmental protection and…

This paper has two main purposes. The first, more informational, is to introduce, re-introduce, the German-Nordic concept of "Bildung" to Canadian environmental education. This includes a brief attempt to define, a short overview of its history which stretches back to the Eighteenth century at least, and then an exploration of why and…

As China increasingly engages in global human rights mechanisms, it has demonstrated a commitment to reforming its national curriculum. Through examining textbooks published during Xi Jinping's tenure, this study investigates how China embeds human rights issues in the English language curriculum. The findings indicate that the human rights issues…