Reports the results of a study of 12 recently published U.S. history textbooks' content on the Vietnam War. Concludes that, overall, the textbooks of the mid-1980s provide an improved treatment of the war when compared to earlier books. States that texts still lack depth on the topic, making use of supplementary materials as necessary. (GEA)

Describes an assignment in which students wrote letters to the editor of the "English Journal" in response to Edna Bogert's article, "Censorship and 'The Lottery.'"

Controversial issues should be taught in school. Charles Bailey's and R.F. Dearden's opinions of what makes an issue controversial are critiqued. Bailey accounts for controversial issues in behavioral terms; Dearden advances an epistemic account. (RM)

Describes the processes used by the North Salem Central School District in New York when parents challenge school materials. (MD)

Since the United Nations adopted the International Bill of Human Rights in 1948, the deprivation of human rights has been rampant and brutal. To help students understand human rights devaluation and protection issues, teachers in all curricular areas can use three primary elements: knowledge, values, and social participation. (11 references) (MLH)

By using pseudoscientific examples to show what science is not, instructors can generate a healthy skepticism in students while making them understand how science applies to their daily lives. A course incorporating such pseudoscientific examples (including extra-sensory perception -- ESP) is described. (JN)

Reviews varying positions taken in the Cretaceous/Tertiary (K/Y) extinction controversy. Analyzes and contests the meteoritic impact theory known as the Alvarez Model. Presents an alternative working hypothesis explaining the K/T transition. (ML)

Argues that teachers must bring works of the Holocaust to the classroom and focus discussion around its revelations. (FL)

Discusses techniques and provides background information to help teachers use debate in U.S. history courses. By debating controversial issues, students learn to do in-depth research. The necessity for anticipating evidence and arguments generates great incentives for study. (RM)

Discusses a journalism course that analyzes relationships between mass communication and conflict issues with respect to recurring themes or problems in communicating the issues, the time in which the communication occurred, and the medium of communication. (RL)

What part, if any, should momentous current events play in the curriculum? This article suggests that some events are so significant they impose themselves on the curriculum, that children need to discuss political events, and that teachers should be realistic, respectful, and reassuring in dealing with these matters. (Author/RH)

There are many possibilities for the use of controversial issues such as animal experimentation in biology classrooms. Outlines a series of three lessons that asked senior biology students to consider the issue of animal experimentation from three perspectives. (Author/LM)

The paper challenges recent criticism of higher education curricula as "biased." Teachers are encouraged not to attempt to rid their teaching of such "bias" but to state and defend positions, however controversial, for the furthering of students' critical capacities. (Author/DB)

Describes how a high school newspaper handled a sensitive issue (in this case the arrest and indictment of a teacher), choosing to face undesirable news by getting the facts correctly, explaining them, and putting a stop to speculative stories. (SR)

Provides both the pedagogic and scientific thinking that guided the construction of a classroom role play called "The Great Evolution Debate," which is about the publication of Darwin's "The Origin of Species." Provides tentative findings regarding learning from role playing. (ZWH)