Building on sociocultural theories of literacy learning, in this article, we think at the intersection of reader response theory and multimodal literacies to examine how 13 preservice teachers in the course Teaching Social Sciences Through the Arts remediated responses to Francisco Jiménez's "The Circuit: Stories From the Life of a Migrant…

This article employs "banality of evil" to explain the actions of insurrectionists at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. We discuss the responsibility teacher educators and professors of political science bear to teach students the role both have in preparing future teachers, political and government leaders, and all college graduates to be…

Despite limitations and challenges, teaching about difficult histories is an essential aspect of social studies courses and units across grade levels. This practical resource highlights stories of K-12 practitioners who have critically examined and reflected on their experiences with planning and teaching histories identified as difficult.…

For decades, sexuality educators have fought to include condom lessons in sexuality education programs. Condoms have been promoted for good reason: they work to prevent pregnancy and remain the only form of contraception that also offers protection against STIs. While most sex educators agree that sexual health programs must include conversations…

This mixed-methods study examines university students' reflections on their high school social studies teachers' views and pedagogy surrounding the issues of immigration, nationalism, and patriotism within the classroom. The article is based within the framework of critical pedagogy, particularly critical nationalism. The sample (N=58) comes from…

Students' argumentation skills are considered a central tool to contribute to scientific controversies in the science classroom. Scientific controversies of social relevance (socioscientific issues; SSI) are subject to multiple viewpoints that are often rooted in diverse disciplines. However, the relationship between issue familiarity and…

Socio-scientific issues and socially acute questions enable moral judgement through rational, emotional, intuitive and imaginative thinkings. Our research focuses more specifically on the place of the myth in student discussions about controversial issues. We have analysed the mythemes expressed through online exchanges between students from…

This paper examines how teachers expressing their political views influence students' opinion formation and discussions in classrooms regarding controversial issues. We used the methods of Journell (2011) and built on the scholarship of Hess and McAvoy (2015) and Iwasaki (2021). As a case study, we observed a junior high school social studies…

Widespread global interest and adoption of deliberative democracy approaches to reinvigorate citizenship and policymaking in an era of democratic crisis/decline has been mirrored by increasing interest in deliberation in schools, both as an approach to pedagogy and student empowerment and as a training ground for deliberative citizenship. In…

As the partisan divide becomes more toxic to civil discourse, the role of science in that conversation also suffers from collateral damage, becoming suspect at best, and marginalized at worse, in terms of its contribution to resolving issues rooted in science having national and global significance. The authors suggest ameliorating that damage by…

Teaching students about human reproduction is becoming increasingly daunting as assisted reproduction technologies challenge scientific, social and legal perceptions of parenthood. Mitochondrial replacement in particular forces us to re-examine established paradigms not only in the context of human reproduction but also with regard to the way in…

Memorials and monuments represent a society's view of its own history and the conclusions we collectively wish to draw about its meaning. In America in recent years, public clashes over the presence of contested public memorials--including and especially monuments dedicated to the Confederate cause in the United States Civil War--have led to…

In 2014, a US college created a policy requiring faculty to provide trigger warnings for students. This spurred a heated debate across North America regarding the need for and efficacy of trigger warnings in classes. A content analysis of comment responses (over 1500) to 20 articles on the topic of trigger warnings from two higher education news…

In this paper, the author argues that a professor's academic freedom should be limited when choosing teaching methods. Currently, many professors choose teaching methods without serious consideration of whether such methods are effective at achieving the course's learning outcomes. As a matter of professional responsibility, however, professors…

The following article examines the implementation and controversy that surround climate change education and the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). In order to fully understand why NGSS and climate change education continue to generate significant public debate, one must examine the work of both climate advocates and…