Shows how encouraging students to discuss controversial issues in relation to their reading can help improve their comprehension. (MKM)

Although most teachers are aware of documents identifying standards in their subject areas, few know about "external" standards documents or the standards movement as a whole. Despite impressive lists of content standards, U.S. educators lack direction due to four major problems: multiple documents, too much information, controversial content, and…

To be safe havens for children, schools cannot address the intellect only. Brattleboro (Vermont) Union High School went beyond academics by sponsoring a performance of "The Yellow Dress," a powerful one-woman play about a teenage victim of dating violence. The production challenged participants to unite school and community, intellect…

Theology deserves a place in the life of a university, as a subject of inquiry and as an area of scholarly interest in many disciplines, alongside more technical areas of study. Maintenance of democratic values requires the broad understanding that study of religion can help develop. (MSE)

Asks whether teachers should teach the art of insightful reading or live in fear of parents and other well-meaning arbiters who may bar Shakespeare and other challenging texts from the curriculum. Examines the meaning of censorship, what censors fear, and the possibility of discussing mature topics with secondary school students. (TB)

Discusses a small group debate technique that can be utilized in any classroom that includes controversial topics. Explains the technique prepares students to give presentations. Includes information on the method, topic selection, group formation, debate location, group interaction, concerns with teacher supervision, student outlines, and…

Notes that at the school level and in the classroom, English educators can lead the way in open discussion, particularly discussion about books such as the Harry Potter series. Offers a seven-step framework as a way to begin an open discussion. Concludes that the framework acknowledges those concerns and provides a voice for them while also…

Three historians have recently questioned the moral and social significance of Holocaust education. However, it is unrealistic to demand that education result in complete cessation of atrocities. Holocaust education has lessons to impart in the areas of commemoration, antiracism, moral development, and socialization. (Contains 37 references.) (SK)

Includes an excerpt from "Tail Tigerswallow and the Great Tobacco War." Suggests using a similar story to design a social studies lesson to help students ask relevant social issue questions. Employs role playing, simulation, debate, and writing letters to editors in the lesson plans. (NL)

Discusses judicial decisions bearing on the nature of academic freedom as a constitutional right of public school teachers. Summarizes cases that recognize a teacher's right to teach contrary to the wishes of school authorities, and cases that uphold the state's right to control the public school curriculum. (SR)

Reports results of interviews and tests carried out with students after they had been taught the topic of evolution. Different interpretations of Charles Darwin's theories are also analyzed. Results revealed that students show a poor understanding of evolutionary theories. (ZWH)

Describes a set of writing assignments in a high school English class in which students research controversial, complex issues and then write letters to government officials or persuasive essays for other students, thus learning about persuasive writing, and civic action, and becoming more exacting in their language and more precise in their…

Addresses multiculturalism in science education reform: (1) problems with the universalist account of the nature of science; (2) an examination of some historical cases that illuminate the consequences of maintaining a universalist perspective on science; and (3) an argument for a multicultural perspective on scientific knowledge. Argues that the…

Offers a critical look at the media's role in presenting social issues, in particular, the reporting on riots in Los Angeles in spring 1992. Describes the Metropolitan Area Educators for Social Responsibility's Resolving Conflict Creatively Program and efforts to help teachers cope with children's questions and fears. (DMM)

Explores the teaching of the social foundations of education at Minnesota's private four-year colleges. Reports that, according to a faculty survey, most of the schools teach social foundations in an introductory, sophomore year course. Concludes that most of the courses focus on current educational issues and downplay educational history,…