The author challenges her students and herself to engage with tough issues like class, race, gender, disability, and homophobia. In this article, she discusses how she helps them learn from, and even embrace, the conflict that inevitably arises. Constructive management of classroom conflict begins with creating a cooperative learning environment…

This study illustrates the processes by which 8 pairs of adolescents in Northern Ireland struggled to come to grips with tensions between school and community history. Findings are based on data collected through open-ended, semi-structured interviews with students from a variety of backgrounds. Although these students appreciated the attempt by…

Scientific expertise and outcomes often give rise to controversy. An educational response that equips students to take part in such discussions is the teaching of socially acute questions (SAQs). With SAQs, the understanding of uncertainty, risk and how knowledge is developed is central. This study explores the way in which students from different…

In this paper we share findings of a textbook analysis in which we explored the treatment of segregated education in eight, widely-used secondary United States history and government textbooks. We positioned our findings within the historiography related to the African American school experience which challenges the notion that the lack of…

The question, "what role--if any--should religion play in public schools?," continues to be asked. There is no single answer that satisfies all participants in the debate. The parameters of possibility are too broad, too infused with differing worldviews. Too often both sides see the issue in stark, black and white, either-or terms; and…

A reader might assume contemporary society has progressed beyond literary censorship. However, as recently as 2008, the "Gossip Girl" and "Twilight" young adult literature series both faced challenges in distinct sectors of United States society (American Library Association (ALA), 2009: Martindale, 2008). A number of concerned…

With the increasing prominence of "How science works" in science courses in England and the imperative of equipping students to engage with the controversies thrown up by the advance of science, science departments need new teaching strategies. Here we describe the application of "Dramatic Enquiry" to GCSE science. The project,…

This paper observes that an ironic tension occurs in the discussion of controversial issues in some Catholic schools. One technique that teachers use in response to student disagreement with the official Church view on a controversial issue like contraception, homosexuality, or female ordination is to present Church teaching but then suggest that…

I explore Darwin and his Theory of Natural Selection from a Social Science perspective and a social studies approach of inquiry into contemporary issues. This approach augments the more common natural science focus on the mechanics of natural selection and evolution in favor of a focus on social issues, controversy, and dialog necessary to support…

Teacher preparation begins with students who explore challenging topics and issues under the guidance of knowledgeable and skillful teachers. This preparation continues, as pre-service candidates examine theories and research data that support and promote teacher freedom to deal with issues of significance on which there is a range of…

Based on a three year action research project, this study examines one strand of that research, namely the impact that "purpose", "i.e." exploring the range of rationales for studying a subject, has in helping white trainee teachers embrace cultural and ethnic diversity within their teaching. Through "purpose"…

In this practitioner research study, a social studies teacher examined the intersection between his students' race/ethnicity and their experiences learning history. Using the theory of culturally relevant pedagogy as a lens, this study employed mixed methods, analyzing teacher journaling, classroom artifacts, and student reflections, as well as…

There is a divide between what students are being taught within the science classroom and what they experience out in the real world. This study sought to explore possible relationships between a socioscientific issues embedded curriculum and outcome variables addressing environmental attitude and knowledge, oral and written argumentation and…

In this article, the author investigates the controversial curricular and instructional aspects of teaching about Islam in social studies courses. Specifically, the author discusses pedagogically sound approaches to teaching about "jihad" and "Shari'ah" law, two of the most important and controversial concepts in Islam that often generate intense…

Bloom and Webinger (2011), written by two professors from John Carroll University in the USA who are involved in teaching accounting, discusses an attempt at embedding relevant lessons from the recent global financial crisis (GFC) into an undergraduate accounting curriculum. It suggests that accounting courses infused with such a treatment would…