During the unprecedented and rapid spread of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) around the World, students have been concerned about the disease as much as the rest of the global community. As a real-world problem, the COVID-19 pandemic with many different debatable facets has social and scientific components, impacts society, and shows…

This article was an examination of the relationship between presenting controversial literature in middle school English Language Arts classrooms and adolescent students' social and emotional development. Social and emotional development (SEL) of adolescents were understood in view of psychological theory and educational research. The consequences…

An increasing number of school districts encourage discussion of current events in classrooms. However, teachers' ability and willingness to manage these conversations may be hampered by concerns about what they are or are not allowed to disclose, especially because their First Amendment speech protections do not fully extend into the classroom.…

How physical literacy (PL) is presented on 'the web' (i.e. Google) has implications for how health and/ physical education (H/PE) teachers and coaches engage with and understand the concept, and ultimately how it is "made to" act in practice. This research sheds light on the type of PL content they are likely to encounter in their search…

Evolution is one of the most controversial scientific issues worldwide, mainly because of the presumed conflict with religion, which also arises in school biology classes. Here, we surveyed biology teachers from different Jewish sectors in Israel about their experiences teaching evolution and their perspective on relating to students' religious…

Grounded in our commitment to support preservice teachers (PSTs) in an urban elementary teacher education program to develop anti-bias pedagogies, we engaged in a design-based study aimed at enacting critical conversations about texts that foster dialogue about power and privilege. In this analysis, we explore how PSTs engaged with children during…

Policy makers increasingly call on higher education to prepare learners for challenges such as global health emergencies or ecological crises. These can be understood as 'wicked problems', which are unbounded, complex and resist simplistic definition. Wicked problems involve stakeholders with incompatible value positions and attempted solutions…

As HE professional educators in Social Sciences, we teach a curriculum which foregrounds inequalities. This includes inequalities related to diverse social groups and differences of race, class, gender, disability and sexuality, underpinned by global approaches. Learners are asked to reconsider the social world through a critical lens with perhaps…

One of the major contemporary topics in education is teaching issues of race in K-12 social studies classrooms. Over the last several years, at least 35 states have passed or proposed legislation to prohibit or restrict conversations about race in K-12 schools. Most supporters of this legislation argue that teachers are indoctrinating students and…

Science education literature has highlighted socio-scientific issues (SSI) as an effective pedagogy for teaching science in a social and political context. SSI links science education and real-world problems to engage students in real-world issues, making it ideal for teaching global climate change (GCC). Additionally, technological advances have…

Educators face a reality that was unimaginable a few years ago: inclusivity is now a dirty word; anti-racist actions are labelled discrimination and lies have become a convenient substitute for facts, reality, logic, and decency. It is, indeed, dystopian and mirrors a worldwide trend towards authoritarianism (McNeill 2023). In the USA, Thomas…

"Divisive concepts" legislation, which seeks to restrict teaching about topics like race, gender, and sexuality, for example, has proliferated across the United States, creating confusion and challenges for students, teachers, and teacher educators who want to include discussion of complex topics in their classrooms (Ervin & Gannon,…

Amidst the backdrop of rising censorship legislation, it is important to understand the influence of teachers' particular contexts on their perceptions of potentially controversial texts and subsequent instructional choices. This study explores five in-service teachers' acts of positioning observed in year-long antibias antiracist professional…

Johnston County Public Schools (JCPS) Board of Education passed policy code 5100 in response to demands from the Johnston County Commissioners for an anti-Critical Race Theory (CRT) policy. Initially, the JCPS Board of Education had initiated equity-focused initiatives; however, the convergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial justice protests…

Health communication courses explore health phenomena from various angles. Whether focusing on interpersonal and organizational relationships or addressing community and national campaigns, instructors may choose from various contents to design these courses. This essay highlights critical questions, contents, and activities useful for instructors…