The study investigated the relationship of high school students' understandings about nature of science (NOS) aspects and their argumentation skills in relation to two controversial socioscientific issues. The study was conducted in five schools selected from different geographical areas in Beirut, Lebanon. Participants were 219 grade 11 students.…

In the art classroom--where art, identity, and culture are inextricably linked--racially and culturally responsive teaching play a critical role in how teachers interact with students and ultimately how students themselves come to understand cultural diversity, social inclusion, and antiracist behaviors. It is important that teachers understand…

Many scholars, teachers, parents, as well as others, are concerned with the decline of civility in public discourse and public schools. The sharp differences among various ideological groups, exacerbated by media incivility, are contributing factors to rising incivility. This ideological divide currently manifests itself in bitter partisan…

Developing pre-service teachers civically is the oldest need which is known for social studies. Social studies are the most humanistic science between other sciences. It is due to the goal of social studies to focus more on civic issues and its content. Teacher students can gain skill, knowledge, and trait of being a good citizen through courses…

In this paper we draw on theories of teaching English as a second language (L2) to examine ways in which a teacher taught a novel to Grade 9 students whose home language is not English. How this second language English-speaker engaged with and spoke about her teaching highlighted her understanding of the challenges students seemed to experience…

This article discusses the importance and benefits of incorporating ethics into the classroom and presents five strategies that both scaffold students' understanding of ethical issues and support students' abilities to come to a reasoned and well-supported decision about those issues. (Contains 1 table and 4 notes.)

Objective: Child sexual abuse is a significant health problem with potential long-term consequences for victims. Therefore, prevention and education programs are critical. This preliminary study evaluates changes in children’s knowledge of sexual abuse using a school-based train-the-trainer curriculum. Emphasis was placed on developing a…

The implementation of digital pedagogies (i.e. blogging) is one way to mediate large classroom discussions in culturally relevant ways. This 2.5-year longitudinal mixed-method action research study reflects on the ways blogging can further promote culturally relevant discussions explored in face-to-face classes. Findings include pre-service…

This article uses an educational effectiveness approach to model the impact of student, school, and educational system characteristics on several cognitive and non-cognitive student outcomes related to citizenship education. Using multivariate multilevel analysis, data from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational…

The LMS and library media program standards were written to reflect the 21st century learner. The most current documents, "Standards for the 21st-Century Learner" and "Standards for the 21st-Century Learner in Action", have embraced the 21st century learner jargon, despite how vaguely the terms are defined. The library standards, although written…

The resignation of the Revd Professor Michael Reiss from his position as Director of Education at the Royal Society over the issue of the teaching of creationism in school science classes provides the background to this article. The immediate controversy is described and considered in relation to its wider context and to the serious questions that…

Christian professors and professors generally, whether teaching at religiously affiliated or secular institutions, face an age-old question: Can one safely use the classroom to advocate one's personal position with regard to controversial issues or not? Positions examined include that of "value-free" science, "value-full" advocacy, and an…

In thinking about teaching nonfiction, the authors acknowledge that many contemporary and important nonfiction texts that students should be encouraged to read take up social issues that are not easy to talk about or even to think about. They discovered that combining well-chosen nonfiction on social issues with specialized digital games and other…

Alison Stephen, who has wrestled for many years with the challenges of teaching emotional and controversial history within a multiethnic school setting, relished the opportunity to link her school's teaching of the Holocaust with a comparative study of other genocides. As she reports, her aim was to not create a hierarchy of suffering or…

One of the most important goals of discussing controversial issues in the classroom is to educate students to possess an inclination towards reason, open mindedness and fairness. However, research tends to show that teachers are not adequately trained to lead fruitful discussions about controversial issues and do not possess the necessary skills…