Classroom debates used to be familiar exercises to students schooled in past generations. In this article, the authors describe the technique called "intimate debate". To cooperative learning specialists, the technique is known as "structured debate" or "constructive debate". It is a powerful method for dealing with case topics that involve…

In this article, I present a qualitative analysis of third graders' experiences with a unit from their district-mandated commercial reading curriculum in which the children made strong connections between a fictional account of a Depression-era farm family's economic hardships and their own 21st century lives in a city with one of the highest…

In this article, we examine how youth in one urban high school talked about race and racism while participating in a curriculum that introduced the analytic lens of story types (stock stories, concealed stories, resistance stories, and counterstories) to look at race and racism and engage these issues through storytelling and the arts. We draw on…

This paper deals with the discourses related to race and anti-racism in a social sciences textbook for grade 12 Ontario students that was published in 2002. It is argued that the complexities of race and anti-racism are not dealt with systematically and cohesively. The textbook does not adequately address the topics of race and racism within the…

This paper points out that creationists have developed a skill unique to their trade, namely, that of misquotation and quotation out of context from the works of leading evolutionists. This tactic not only frustrates scientists but it misleads school board members, legislators, and the public. A representative sampling of scientists' responses to…

Focuses on the censorship controversy in Peterborough County, Ontario, from 1976 to 1985, and examines the attack on, defense of, and counter argument to teaching Margaret Laurence's "The Diviners." Generalizes the anticensorship stance often taken by English teachers to defend the teaching of controversial literary works. (JK)

For schools, teachers, and principals, there is no censorship insurance--especially against attacks directed at learning techniques involved with problem solving and higher order thinking skills. Pincipals faced with disputes must work for consensus before, during, and after a controversy and mitigate self-righteousness and arrogance on either…

Describes an educational program which uses primary sources, guest speakers, and group activities to deeply involve students in the study of the Holocaust. Includes student evaluations of the class and descriptions of their work and activities. (GEA)

Describes an exercise in which students select an article or program pertaining to a problem or issue in their field and write a "letter to the editor," which is then critiqued in class. Illustrates how the exercise supports adult learning principles. (SK)

Of participants in forest stewardship workshops; 63 controls were surveyed upon arrival, a second group (n=77) after viewing slides, and a third (n=56) after slides and field demonstrations. Knowledge increases were higher for the second group than for controls and highest for slide/demo group. Only the latter indicated acceptance of the…

The presidents of the University of California Berkeley, Central Connecticut State University, Colorado College, and the University of North Carolina explain their actions to support academic freedom in controversies concerning Middle Eastern studies at their respective institutions. (EV)

Examines, based on a survey, potential differences between races in the agenda-setting process. Finds that whites and minorities do not have different issue agendas and do not differ on the magnitude of agenda-setting effects. (TB)

This letter, requested by University of California Berkeley's president, discusses the issues of academic freedom and responsibility raised by the controversy surrounding "The Politics and Poetics of Palestinian Resistance," a section of English taught there in fall 2002. (EV)

To overcome agent resistance to issues-based programming, an extension service used a stakeholder task force to identify critical issues. A survey was constructed and conducted with a sample population to verify the importance of the issues for program development. (SK)

A gerontology course on moral and ethical issues in aging must choose between advocacy or scientific objectivity, relative orientation or absolute standards, theoretical intellectual versus applied/personal orientation, and age-specific or age-irrelevant viewpoint. (SK)