Summarizes a nuclear power workshop that presented techniques useful in controversial issues education. An introductory exercise and an overview of propagandistic techniques (listed in "The Propaganda Game") related to self-deception, language, irrelevance, exploitation, form, and maneuver are included. Outline of workshop presentation…

Highlights a workshop with children focusing on the treatment of controversial issues and guidelines typically provided by school districts or organizations. Activities designed to stimulate discussion on three issues (endangered species, acid rain, and predator control) are included. (BC)

Argues that a compromise must be struck between the transmission of values and the unfettered questioning, analyzing, and evaluation of values. (FL)

While schools cannot--should not--attempt to provide answers to controversial questions, they do need to teach children to pose those questions themselves and to examine them objectively. Regular forums in public schools in which various social issues are analyzed and discussed from a variety of viewpoints are one possibility. (Author/DCS)

Threats to the freedom to teach and to learn are examined; what can be done to counter these threats is discussed. The threats or problems are of two kinds: (1) internal, i.e., self-censorship of professional educators; and (2) external pressure from individuals and groups outside the schools, e.g., book banning. (RM)

This seventh-grade lesson plan asks students (working in teams) to create a multimedia advertising campaign on a current controversial issue. The lesson plan states that team members are not to apply any dialogue (either written or verbal) to any part of their presentation so that they may emulate the non-verbal, image only process that Martin…

This paper develops a moral approach to educational controversy, examining a collaborative research project that promotes reconciliation between diverse perspectives and laying out the foundations of a reconciliatory discourse. Section 1 discusses problems in education that contribute to unproductive discourse (conflict of educational purposes,…

Concepts which represent the minimal conceptual essentials for the study of nuclear weapons in secondary level social studies classes are discussed, and issues and controversies which may rise during such a study are examined. (RM)

Vietnam and El Salvador can serve as models depicting the failure of American education to teach students to critically and objectively examine a current event. Only a decade after the Vietnam debacle, public schools are once again equating critical inquiry into the formulation of American foreign policy with anti-Americanism. (RM)

In the Australian state of Victoria, control of academic curriculum has shifted from the bureaucrats to locally based teacher networks and statewide associations which limit subject scope and teaching styles. However, curriculum has not changed significantly, indicating that institutional reforms do not necessarily result in radical alterations of…

An interdisciplinary course focuses on the catastrophic threat that nuclear weapons pose for humanity. The course involves secondary students taking a preassessment quiz, discussing nuclear warfare terms, answering a Gallup Poll survey, reading literature, listening to guest speakers, learning about organizations concerned with nuclear issues, and…

Most articles on creationism focus on whether or not creationism should be included in science courses, on equal footing with evolutionary theory. However, positive influences that the debate can have on biology teaching should also be considered, this could lead to a deeper understanding of evolution and of science itself. (Author/JN)

Presents major issues involved in the controversy over whether sex education should be offered in public high schools. Topics discussed include the campaign against adolescent pregnancy, realistic sex education, relationship of sex education to public health programs, government role in developing and funding sex education, and various approaches…

Discusses the reaction of evolutionists to the creationist's efforts to pass legislation which would mandate the teaching of the biblical account of creation. (DS)