Oddly, most religious controversy in public schools concerns school-sponsored rituals or student expression outside the classroom, not teaching of religious ideas. Reforms such as vouchers or tax credits would not violate the Establishment Clause, as they do not favor a particular religion. Instead, they demonstrate fairness to all parents,…

Presents a brief legal history of the evolution/creationism controversy as a means of highlighting the issues involved in the controversy. Argues that understanding this legal history has many benefits to student understanding. Contains 46 references. (DDR)

In this new feature of the "Academe" journal, work by faculty members is highlighted who are mobilizing in support of academic freedom on their campuses and beyond. This September-October issue of the journal includes the following brief reflections from faculty all relating to the central theme of "fighting back": "Free…

This paper develops a conceptual basis for a model on the teaching of socio-scientific controversial issues for secondary or high school students. I argue that the teaching of controversial issues needs a stronger theoretical base. Drawing on a liberal democratic conception of possible sources of conflict, three strands are developed that provide…

Since its acceptance as a pedagogic field, environmental education has experienced divergence and antagonism in its theoretical and methodological approaches and standpoints. In this paper, the author talks about the conflicting relationship between environmental education and education for sustainable development as well as the many discourses…

We implemented a series of three guided controversies to provide experience in environmental problem solving to students in a science course designed for nonmajors. Students wrote essays in response to their experiences in each controversy; we analyzed these essays for five problem-solving criteria. A questionnaire administered at the end of the…

On May 17, 2004, the United States will observe the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas. By invalidating the doctrine of "separate but equal" in the field of public education, a doctrine that had been approved by the same court nearly sixty years earlier in Plessy…

Draws on data from schools in Scotland (n=25) to consider how teachers talk about sex education and look at the factors that shape provision at the school and teacher levels. Finds that four interrelated factors are important in understanding the provision of sex education in the classroom. Provides references. (Author/PAL)

The following paper is intended as an exercise in "friendly criticism" of one of Harvey Siegel's and Mike Smith's ("Knowing, Believing and Understanding", this volume). I'm in substantial sympathy with the general thrust of their paper and my remarks merely provide some criticism of their discussion's conceptual coherence and clarity and a…

The development and use of computer mediated communications as a tool for teaching and learning has grown considerably in recent years. It has been developed to extend the conventional face-to-face tutorial environment and for distance-learning purposes, actively engaging students in productive learning situations. Here we document the findings of…

Discussing the ethical issues involved in topics such as cloning and stem cell research in a large introductory biology course is often difficult. Teachers may be wary of presenting material biased by personal beliefs, and students often feel inhibited speaking about moral issues in a large group. Yet, to ignore what is happening "out there"…

This article describes a new curriculum which explores a disturbing side of the Progressive Era. The national education program Facing History and Ourselves is a 25-year-old organization best known for its trenchant examination of the Holocaust and other genocide campaigns. Facing History discovered in the course of that work that many of the…

Since the time of Kinsey, sexuality education courses in colleges across the country have drawn large numbers of co-eds to their rosters. As educators move beyond discussions about the facts of anatomy, physiology, and biology, they increasingly look to technological advances to further the art of teaching. Taking a conversational approach to…

Considering the sizable number of visitors to the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument on the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana each year (more than four hundred thousand in fiscal year 2002), careful examination of the prominence of "Custer's Last Stand" in American mythology, and the widespread use of the phrase…

This resource guide contains lessons, suggested activities, and 54 individual student activity sheets for using editorial cartoons in the classroom. Editorial cartoons, at their best, are well-thought out arguments about important issues in the news. They are meant to provoke thought, not merely assert a position and, as such, they engage the…