The so-called Culture Wars have made the issue of religious tolerance in schools more confusing than ever. Where once free speech trumped nearly every concern in these wars in the public schools, there is now great concern about whether messages put out are politically correct. The preoccupation teachers now have with avoiding speech or themes…

Roswell has long been synonymous with aliens and UFOs, and people have been arguing over what happened that night in 1947 for many years. It is a topic left out of most textbooks and neglected in many social studies classrooms. However, Roswell has found a permanent place in American culture, and teaching about Roswell can be valuable to social…

Many libraries offer for-credit courses that intend to foster information literacy. These courses will be strengthened if the librarian as instructor has a familiarity with learning theory. This article suggests that Robert Gagne's "Nine Events of Instruction," based on information processing theory, can provide support to bibliographic…

According to the California Department of Education's Curriculum Framework, the secondary curriculum for grades nine through twelve is geared toward students who are beginning "to develop [an] abstract understanding of historical causality--the often complex patterns of relationships between historical events, their multiple antecedents, and…

Efforts to include democratic ideals in public education are not new. However, current leadership efforts to foster these ideals within a PK-12 curriculum are often fruitless, partly because of a lack of common definition or perceived benefit. What exactly is meant when we suggest that educational leaders advocate teaching about democracy in our…

Critical thinking receives increasing emphasis from educators looking to infuse analytical thinking skills into the curriculum. Many research projects have been conducted on the transferability of critical thinking skills to other disciplines and how critical thinking may be taught. There are numerous studies on teaching critical thinking, yet…

We report 3 experiments using yes-no recognition tests of student memory for course content. Each test consisted of items encountered in the course and an equal number of foils. Experiment 1 involved an initial test of the methodology and addressed test reliability. Experiments 2 and 3 examined performance before and after completion of courses in…

Biochemistry and molecular biology occupy a unique place in the medical school curriculum. They are frequently studied prior to medical school and are fundamental to the teaching of biomedical sciences in undergraduate medical education. These two circumstances, and the trend toward increased integration among the disciplines, have led to…

Much of the content of college courses on the Vietnam War is superficial and biased toward the American point of view. The greatest problem is ignorance about the Vietnamese perspective, both Communist and non-Communist. (MSE)

Discusses objectives of "Canada in a North American Perspective," a controversial postsecondary course taught as an Ontario Academic Credit course. Argues examination of Canada's perspective and history as a North American nation can benefit from comparison to the United States. Suggests this continentalist approach need not diminish…

The reasons for offering a course in bioethics to law students and some approaches to take in addressing controversial issues are examined. The use of hypothetical vs. real cases, emphasis on clinical problems, and overall course objectives are discussed. (MSE)

Discusses issues related to teaching international relations. Supports the position that teaching controversial issues is an integral part of any social studies course. Explores some controversial issues that might be considered in the classroom, describing approaches to teaching these issues. (KO)

Environmental issues that can be explored in social science courses include problems with potential to cause serious or irreversible change to an ecosystem or biosphere. Areas for discussion include: environmental attitudes, values, and behaviors; the environmental movement; risk perceptions; and the political economy of the environment and…

An American Council on Education survey of almost 360 colleges and universities found that few institutions have experienced controversy over course content, speeches, or faculty lectures, suggesting that reports of widespread efforts to impose "politically correct" thinking on college students and faculty are exaggerated. Some…

Helping behavioral sciences students succeed in their first course in basic inferential statistics can be a challenging problem for the teacher. This paper addresses this situation through suggesting a number of potentially helpful techniques for the quantitative teacher. (Author)