Whereas hate is defined as extreme negative feelings for others because of some aspect of their identity (Perry, 2001; Waltman & Haas, 2011), hate speech is discourse devoted to the vilification of the other's identity (Waltman, 2015; Waltman & Mattheis, 2017). It is an attempt to vandalize the other's identity to such an extent that the…

This three-article dissertation addressed a central question: What do teachers describe as their beliefs and feelings about race and teaching, and how can we build practices in teacher education to support them? Considering vast evidence of racial inequities, research has stressed that teachers need a deeper understanding of race and the ways in…

Purpose: Even as sites for higher education work to transform curricula and strive for greater diversity among students and faculties, little is done to create safe, inviting environments for people to openly discuss the contradictions and challenges in teaching about differences. The authors' purpose is to examine multiple and intersecting…

Verity Morgan took an unusual approach to the challenge of teaching the Holocaust, coming to it through the lens of environmental history. She shares here the practical means and resources she used to engage pupils with this current trend in historiography, and its associated concepts. Reflecting on her pupils' responses, Morgan makes a case for…

This study investigated the ways novice social studies teachers navigated classroom exchanges connected to broader societal and political discourses that are potentially controversial. The difficulty of such conversations often leads teachers to avoid discussions vital to the fabric of democratic life. In this paper, we explore the teaching…

Despite scientific evidence suggesting close phylogenetic relationship between chimpanzees and humans, the inclusion of these apes in the genus "Homo" is controversial. Several tools have been used to analyse this issue such as fossils, molecular clock and genome. This work intended to understand the biology teachers' conceptions about…

The newly adopted Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) requires that California secondary science teachers integrate global climate change (GCC) content into their curriculum, but research reveals major inconsistencies in teaching GCC content across the nation. The teaching inconsistencies are due to factors such as the lack of scientific…

In their article "Mindfulness and discussing 'thorny' issues in the classroom" Konstantinos Alexakos et al. ("Cult Stud Sci Educ," 2016. doi: 10.1007/s11422-015-9718-0) describe "thorny" issues as "difficult topics to discuss because they are more personal to some perhaps even cause pain and violence." As…

Because race is treated as a controversial issue within K-12 social studies classrooms, teachers report avoiding the topic. Some consider it too sensitive or complex for their students; others don't want to say the wrong thing; still others fear being labeled a "racist." The authors argue that one of the reasons why social studies…

This qualitative case study explored the implementation of critical citizenship education in an eighth grade social studies classroom. This research was guided by Johnson and Morris' (2010) framework for studying critical citizenship education and took place in a public charter school located in a capital city in the southeastern United States.…

This study analysed questionnaire responses from 309 history teachers who come from nine European countries and Israel. The open-ended questions explored their experiences of teaching Sensitive historical Issues (SI) from joint social psychological and history didactics perspectives. First data was analysed hermeneutically, it was then interpreted…

Based on a cross-national study conducted in Northern Ireland, England, and the United States, this article expands current literature by examining 4 teacher educators' efforts to prepare preservice teachers to teach controversial issues. Teaching controversial issues, strongly advocated for decades, is both urgent and risky, especially in divided…

How can young people make use of digital tools and methods to get to grips with the risks and dilemmas arising out of contemporary science, technology and society relations? This chapter addresses the forms of agency enabled through a set of techniques for exploring and visualizing controversial technoscientific issues on the web. Given the…

Historians collect and verify evidence and then interpret it in an acceptable way. A general consensus is that history does not present us with an absolute truth -- the most we can hope for is historians' reliable, evidentially based interpretations of the historical topic. History not viewed as interpretation has long raised alarm bells in…

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…