In 2005, the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners in Tampa, Florida, took steps to forbid government support for gay pride events. The issue came under scrutiny when a public library created a gay-themed informational display. When the commissioners learned of the display, they voted overwhelmingly (5 to 1) in favor of a policy prohibiting…

This paper examines the idea of using advertising to facilitate difficult conversations about diversity, politics, race and gender in the classroom. In our current tense political climate, I explore how cultural competence can be developed in the classroom by introducing topics related to diversity through the viewing of Super Bowl 2017…

This qualitative study sought to explore reasons why social studies teachers chose to teach controversial issues and counternarratives in their classroom in an era where doing so is dangerous for teachers and their job security, and how they go about doing so in their classrooms. The theoretical framework of this study encompassed the notion that…

In this article, we confront the challenges to teacher education students and practicing teachers raised by the concept of numeracy and its place in the curriculum. In the Australian Curriculum, there is an expectation that teachers at all grade levels and in all subject areas develop students' numeracy capabilities. At Monash University, a…

Ice-breaking discussions around race and personal perspectives can be challenging in any classroom, they also are crucial to cultivating racial consciousness among those espousing that they know better. This provides the groundwork needed to implement--in a non-threatening manner--the creative, alternative methods that will combine students'…

This special issue comprises five studies which vary in their focus and mathematical content, yet they all share an underlying communicational theoretical framework--commognition. Within this framework, learning mathematics is defined as a change in one's mathematical discourse, that is, in the form of communication known as mathematical. Teaching…

Physics textbooks often present items of disciplinary knowledge in a sequential order of topics of the theory under instruction. Such presentation is usually univocal, that is, isolated from alternative claims and contributions regarding the subject matter in the pertinent scientific discourse. We argue that comparing and contrasting the…

This article offers a discussion about the depiction of traumatic materials to postsecondary human service students. Presently there is an on-going debate about trigger warnings and whether trigger warnings are necessary prior to engaging in materials that depict the suffering of others. Perhaps after depicting graphic images some teachers have…

This research explores the opportunities and challenges for incorporating employability-related support into STEM (Sciences; Technology; Engineering; Mathematics) degree programmes, based in part on recent research (O'Leary, 2016a) outlining that significant variations in employability-related support exist across the STEM disciplines. These…

At our predominantly white university, students often shy away from controversial conversations. How can the classroom encourage students to value and engage in potentially explosive conversations? We develop a concept of "empathic scaffolding" to articulate an approach that integrates diversity and inclusion into the classroom. Empathic…

The Economics Across the Curriculum approach encourages the integration of economic concepts into various disciplines. This article features the essence of the approach built on best practices described in the literature. Several creative lesson ideas for teaching about money and inflation are showcased. These lessons were field-tested by high…

While teachers in many states are implementing the Common Core State Standards, increased attention is being paid to supporting teachers through professional development, especially for meeting standards involving digital literacy. This study explores the influence of targeted professional development, the Support, Time, Access, and Knowledge…

Disparities in health outcomes between U.S. population subgroups, related to factors like race/ethnicity, income, and geographic location, are alarming. By integrating health disparities awareness content into the curriculum, academic institutions can play an important role in developing conscious health practitioners to help close gaps in health…

Preparing classroom teachers to teach English Learner (EL) students continues to challenge teacher educators. This article argues for EL teaching work to be situated within theories of professional learning that focus on developing teachers who can flexibly and innovatively integrate EL instructional practice into content area teaching. We propose…

All students with disabilities are required to access instruction related to the general curriculum; however, little is known about how this instruction actually occurs for students with significant intellectual disability, who would be eligible to participate in the alternate assessment based on alternate achievement standards. In this study, we…