The events of September 11th occurred twenty years ago this year. The destruction of the Twin Towers in New York and the attack on the Pentagon represented a key moment in history. While the world had experienced multiple terrorist acts previously, this event exposed the vulnerability of civilian populations in major Western countries to attacks…

This paper contributes to the debate about what should be taught as controversial through an application to the sex education classroom, looking specifically at questions of moral controversy. I argue that the debate about controversiality needs to be reframed to be less concerned about identifying a standard definition of controversy and instead…

University social science instructors sometimes encounter student silence or quarrels around culturally contentious subjects. In a culture that promotes distrust around the issues they teach, how do professors perceive and cope with such difficulties? Preliminary research using qualitative interviews with teachers from two different US…

This article unfurls in the aftermath of an event where three first grade children at a reputable progressive elementary school were found playing slavery during school recess. As word caught on, parents ignited into a frenzy: some railed against the teacher, others demanded an answer, while still others believed this was precisely the meaning of…

In educational contexts, including early childhood settings, ableism and racism circulate interdependently to define normalcy and deviance. Book reading offers an important platform for dismantling these interlocking ideologies with young children. In this article, we examine dis/ability and race talk in the context of picture-book reading,…

The present article reports research conducted during 2018 in a secondary school in South Yorkshire, England with a class of 11-12-year-old boys and girls and the class teacher of religious education (RE), in consultation with the head and deputy head of the RE faculty. The focus of the project was on the extent to which existing research findings…

Although the age of the planet, the theory of biological evolution, and climate change are not "scientifically" controversial, students' familial and religious teachings can be perceived to be diametrically opposed to the science curriculum. However, there is a way for teachers to acknowledge alternative views and let students voice them…

Biological evolution stands out as critically important content for K-12 education as it is considered a cornerstone of the biological sciences. Yet, it remains one of the most socially controversial topics related to science education. In this exploratory study, we are seeking to understand the ways elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) use their…

The normative elements underlying efficiency are more complex than generally portrayed and rely upon ethical frameworks that are generally absent from classroom discussions. Most textbooks, for example, ignore the ethical differences between Pareto efficiency (based on voluntary win-win outcomes) and the modern Kaldor-Hicks efficiency used in…

The authors consider the implications of speaking out and remaining silent in the aftermath of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. They reflect on the forms of speech available to and expected of educators and educational anthropologists in order to raise questions about whose voices are heard or ignored in the current public discourse. Drawing…

This dissertation examines the use of dialogic discussion to improve young adolescents' ability to critically evaluate web sites. An intervention unit comprised three iterations of an instructional cycle in which students independently annotated web sites about controversial issues and discussed the reliability of those sites in dialogic…

Recommendations for teaching the nature of science (NOS) are grounded in a deficit view of students and/or the public--wherein people accept pseudoscientific claims, particularly about evolution, because they do not adequately understand what counts as being "scientific." Under the deficit view, correct views of science are defined by…

Sustainability is a complex, ill-defined concept that has been the subject of much debate over the last two decades (Wals and Jickling, 2002). The ill-defined nature of sustainability manifests itself within socio-scientific issues where conflicting reality constructions, values, norms, and interests interact. Initial teacher education as part of…

One of the most perplexing dilemmas in modern science is chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Even though the illness was recognized at the beginning of the 20th century, the pathogenicity and etiology of the disease remain unknown. We describe an open-inquiry case study on CFS that we have used in our biology classrooms to increase students'…

Socioscientific issues (SSIs) are used to guide science instruction by presenting scientific real-world problems as multifaceted, consisting of social as well as scientific components that must be considered when constructing solutions to the issues. Using SSIs in classrooms can support students in developing scientific literacy by enhancing their…