The Understanding Evolution website (http://evolution.berkeley.edu/) was developed to provide a freely accessible resource that promotes the teaching of evolution and improved understandings of evolution among students and the general public. Evaluations show that the strategies employed in site design have allowed it to effectively meet those…

Teachers are often exhorted by creationists to "teach the controversy." Although such encouragement sounds on the surface like a proposal for critical thinking instruction, the history of the creationist movement in North America belies this claim. Rather than teach students to analyze and evaluate actual scientific controversies, the intent of…

This paper presents results from a study with the following research questions: (a) are pupils' opinions on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) influenced by biology teaching; and (b) what is important for the opinion pupils hold and how does knowledge work together with other parameters such as values? 64 pupils in an upper secondary school…

Faith schools and divisiveness is one of the key issues in the faith school debates in both England and Wales and Scotland. In Scotland the faith school debate is focused on Catholic schools. This paper, based on a review of relevant literature and the findings of a series of expert interviews, argues that the complexity of this issue of the…

Citizens participating in contemporary socio-scientific issues (SSI) need to draw on local knowledge and personal experience. If curricular developments in the teaching of controversial SSI are to reflect contemporary notions of citizenship then the personal narrative is an indispensable instrument in bridging the gap between the local/personal…

College honors courses provide an opportunity to tackle controversial topics in an atmosphere that encourages active learning, critical thinking, and open discussion. This venue is particularly appropriate for examining the debate about teaching intelligent design (ID) in public school science classes. A one-credit honors enrichment seminar taught…

In this article, the author challenges English teachers of literature to examine applications of reader response theory in teaching reading which posit that readers approach a text from two stances: "aesthetic" (emotional) or "efferent" (literal). The essay presents a case study of pre-service English teachers and adolescents'…

In this paper I respond to Long's paper in which he uses an ethnographic snapshot of a rally of scientists against the perceived "dumbing down" effect of the new Answers in Genesis Museum in Kentucky to raise educational concerns about the effects of creationist influence on the science curriculum in American schools. In my response I…

While much has been written on teaching equity and social justice issues in the higher education classroom from a faculty perspective, there exists scant literature on these issues from the perspective of graduate Teaching Assistants (TAs). In this paper, a TA of a research intensive university, using a variety of sources of evidence, analyzes his…

Frame analysis was used to examine how competing stakeholders framed a sixth grade curriculum controversy over whether the WWII internment of Japanese Americans should be categorized as a controversial issue. Teachers and administrators in a northwestern U.S. school claimed that the internment was clearly wrong and not controversial, but these…

This paper questions the perceived divide between "science" subject matter and "moral" or "ethical" subject matter. A difficulty that this assumed divide produces is that science teachers often feel that there needs to be "special treatment" given to certain issues which are of an ethical or moral nature and which are "brought into" the science…

Home economics curriculum content lends itself to the technique of informal debate. Advantages include the development of critical thinking skills, stimulation of student interest, and flexibility. (SK)

Philosophy has not been widely recognized as a means of approaching theory development in gifted education. This article provides an historical overview of the foundations of philosophy related to the field, as well as a structural means of developing philosophical sense for exploring the Natures of knowing, being, and values and valuing through…

This study examined what worldviews are present among Dutch students and teachers and how the students cope with scientific knowledge acquired in the biology classroom. Furthermore, we investigated what learning and teaching strategies teachers adopt when they teach about evolution and worldviews. For this survey, 10 schools for higher general…

The aim of this article is to compare the teaching of religion in government-run primary and secondary educational institutions in Poland and Canada (Ontario and Quebec). The theoretical framework for this work is supplied by the general idea that the school is an organization and social institution. It is concluded that religious instruction in…