This activity allows students to explore the gray areas that lie between polar opposites on an issue. Recognizes the knowledge, opinions, and values supporting various positions that emerge as current positions and discusses the reasons for choosing them. Learning to be flexible and open is the goal of this activity. (PVD)

A study of 304 social work faculty examined faculty sensitivity and responses to critical classroom incidents related to race. African Americans, women, assistant professors, and faculty experienced in teaching diversity courses showed more sensitivity to racism than other ethnic groups, men, full professors, and faculty who had never taught…

Believes that all students should focus on the interpretation of documents in the secondary history curriculum. Describes a unit where students learn to interpret the events of the "battle" of Fort Pillow (Tennessee) that was the most controversial engagement of the Civil War. Provides background information on the battle of Fort Pillow. (CMK)

The paper describes a discussion strategy for secondary school students. The strategy focus the various dimensions of Science, especially the internal sociological and philosophical dimensions. Students are expected to learn more about Science, namely the role of controversy for scientific progress. The article contains key questions for the…

This paper describes an experiential learning exercise I have used to teach race discrimination in my introductory and criminology courses. The exercise is designed to introduce students to the concept of non-conscious forms of racial bias, a form of race discrimination often difficult for students to grasp. Using a hypothetical criminal case,…

Critical literacy is about how people see and interact with the world; it is about having, as a regular part of one's life, the skills and desire to evaluate society and the world. It is especially focused on issues of power: Who has it and who is denied it; how it is used and how it is abused. More specifically, it often revolves around issues of…

The ubiquity of documentary films in social studies courses, along with their potential to influence what students learn, clearly show that documentary films matter in social studies education. While the high rate of documentary film usage by social studies teachers indicates that they are amenable to bringing new films into their classrooms, they…

This article develops the notion that virtues can be utilized as a means of understanding the professional expertise that science teachers demonstrate when they deal with socioscientific issues. Socioscientific issues are those contentious issues that connect science to the society in which it operates--environmental issues being a prime example.…

Although inter-religious conflicts have not yet surfaced as major social problems in Japan, religious education for peace and tolerance is needed in the country as much as in other countries. This article aims to disclose that, in light of political contexts, supposedly neutral "teaching about religion" can be as problematic as history…

This study investigated the influence of two different explicit instructional approaches in promoting more informed understandings of nature of science (NOS) among students. Participants, a total of 42 students, comprised two groups in two intact sections of ninth grade. Participants in the two groups were taught environmental science by their…

Critical thinking enjoys almost universal support, except when applied to controversial topics. Yet it is these topics that are often the most effective initiators of critical thinking exercises that improve students' rational approaches to challenging problems. The use of controversial issues to promote critical thinking requires an institutional…

Religion, like Superhero discourse, is a contested topic of question and debate in early childhood education. This article draws on data from a small ethnographic study that took place in a long day care centre in Sydney Australia. The study examined how children negotiated their "identity work" in the context of popular culture. In this…

This paper reports a qualitative study on students' informal reasoning on a controversial socio-scientific issue. Twenty-two students from four science classes in Norway were interviewed about the local construction of new power lines and the possible increased risk of childhood leukaemia. The focus in the study is on what arguments the students…

In this article, the author contends that the shift in the way public literacy instruction is talked about and enacted is not merely a semantic one designed to conceal liberal motives from the students--or at least it should not be. Rather, it aims to honor the ways that personal, private interests can construct and reconstruct the public sphere.…

Fifty experts with a special interest in peace education (and representing 22 different countries) were confronted with the following set of questions (as part of individual interviews): "In many countries, questions related to disarmament and peace are highly controversial. Would you anticipate any difficulties, for example with parents or…