With the challenges of a global pandemic, political and social unrest, and the consequences these issues bring, there is a universal call for empathy as we attempt to maneuver through this tumultuous time. For instructional designers, this includes employing empathy and empathic design as they grapple with how to design instructional interventions…

Income inequality is a central social justice concern, and hence excellent motivation for real-world applications in mathematics classrooms at every level. We describe the "Mathematics for Social Justice" course at Saint Michael's College, giving a specific example of one of the typical social justice projects for the course, and showing…

Project-Based Learning (PBL) is a dynamic classroom approach in which students actively use driving questions to explore real-world problems and acquire deeper knowledge through constructive investigations (Stepien & Gallagher, 1993; Thomas, 2000). Although not a new pedagogical approach, PBL has recently gained in popularity and come to the…

A "Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS") are intended for all students, hence "all standards, all students" (NGSS Lead States 2013). To make this vision a reality, the "NGSS" highlight three key instructional shifts: (1) explain phenomena or design solutions…

The urgency of the current climate crisis emphasizes the need for university graduates equipped with relevant knowledge and skills to tackle environmental and social problems such as material consumption, environmental degradation and inequality at all spatial scales. Geographic and spatially sensitive concepts and approaches to sustainability and…

Mathematics has a unique and powerful role to play in the teaching of social justice issues. There is substantial quantitative evidence for social injustice, but many citizens lack the quantitative skills to understand that evidence. A course in quantitative literacy is a unique opportunity to provide this quantitative understanding to a wide…

Since its establishment in 1974, Aalborg University has aimed to deliver cutting-edge research and innovative practices in engineering education. However, increasing complexity related to rapid developments in digitalization and emerging societal challenges offer new opportunities, requirements, and expectations across disciplines for educational…

This article describes how a class of year 9 (age 13-14) students engaged in a research-informed and negotiated action science project to address socio-scientific issues. The project was informed by the 'STEPWISE' curriculum framework. Evidence suggests that students benefited from collaborative problem-solving, developing confidence, motivation…

Secondary schools in Maine and New Hampshire have been involved in a citizen science program called "All About Arsenic" aimed at addressing arsenic contamination of well water, one of the most pressing public health issues in both states. Nearly half of the population of Maine and New Hampshire derive their drinking water from private…

Statistics education has the potential to assist students to develop their identities and engage in problems and social contexts that assist in empowering them to act politically in the future. The actions and narrative reported in this paper seek to identify the way in which teachers could develop and implement statistical inquiries that utilize…

Recent research has called on scholars to develop pedagogical interventions to address issues of media literacy. This teaching note answers that call by describing a media literacy project designed for use in social problems classes. The project acquaints students to the constructionist approach to social problems and the method of content…

Service-learning can provide a range of literacy learning experiences for children as they work to solve real world problems and engage in inquiry, collaboration and reflection. Rather than being an extracurricular activity, service-learning projects are designed to meet standards and align with existing curriculum. This article explores how…

This paper presents a narrative inquiry study on agency development in student-teachers of an English language teacher program at a public university in the south of Colombia. Our goal was to understand how student-teachers develop agency when narratively inquiring their community by planning and conducting community-based pedagogy projects on…

In this article we discuss an action research experience that took place from 2002 to 2015. We analyze the inception and progress of several project-based learning-centered academic courses that were aimed at developing the project management skills of graduate and undergraduate students. The experience involved approximately 1,800 students from…

The current political climate has created urgency around civic education. The authors argue that educators can best seize the moment by infusing authentic activities and experiences in content studies. They provide an example of one such hybrid instructional model from Democracy Prep Public Schools.