This article addresses the importance of teaching controversial issues, especially within elementary school contexts. In particular, the article explores the underlying elements of justice within controversies and demonstrates the way in which teachers might explore procedural justice within an elementary classroom.

PEOE (predict, explain, observe, explain) is a strategy that supports conceptual change (Dial et al. 2009). "Conceptual change" is a process through which students can change their understandings, ideas, or beliefs (diSessa 1993; Konicek-Moran and Keeley 2015). This style of lesson allows students to express their scientific ideas…

Authors discuss the relationship between social studies education and patriotism. The authors share two lesson plans (one elementary and one secondary) that examine the racialized and politicized experiences of three professional athletes, Gabby Douglas, Colin Kaepernick, and Megan Rapinoe. Drawing on tenets of critical race media literacy and…

A strong foundation in early number concepts is critical for students' future success in mathematics. Research suggests that visual representations, like a number line, support students' development of number sense by helping them create a mental representation of the order and magnitude of numbers. In addition, explicitly sequencing instruction…

The learning curve on how to become a Teaching Assistant (TA) can be rather steep. In this paper, the authors explore three areas they wish they were advised in prior to beginning their teaching careers. The lessons are centered on balancing expectations and responsibilities in the following areas: 1) prioritizing their own work and research over…

One of the challenges in higher education courses is to improve learning authenticity or reducing the gap between what being taught at school and what being used in the real world. In this paper, we describe a 6-step model to employ learning authenticity in online courses. Our model infuses characteristics of authentic learning with Madeline…

In this article the authors demonstrate how pairing master and counter narrative picture books, along with critical literacy practices, can be used to enhance the social studies curriculum outlined by state standards taught in today's elementary schools. These intentional book pairings allow students to grapple with what history truly means and to…

A teaching approach based on the Biggs and Collis SOLO taxonomy is described. Lessons were planned using the SOLO taxonomy to communicate how students could demonstrate increasing complexity of response to scientific questions. Consideration is given to extending the use of the SOLO taxonomy to create a relational curriculum, which may be useful…

Evolutionary evidence is important scientific background for appreciating the theory of evolution. We describe a STEAM-based lesson plan that uses paleontological drawings and a modern evolutionary database to explore and understand fossil, morphological, and molecular evidence. Together, with a focus on arthropods and the Cambrian explosion,…

Nathanael Davies explains his radical rethink of how to teach transatlantic slavery. He explains how he came to question his earlier approach of focusing on the causation of 'abolition' and 'emancipation' and, instead, allowed scholarship, sources and his own students' meaning-making to guide him to a different, and much more profound, analytic…

This article explores the ways in which social studies classrooms can explore the history and status of U.S. territories as "unincorporated." We focus on the "Insular Cases" and in particular "Downes v. Bidwell" (1901), examine the construct of colonies as anathema to democracy, and explore the precedents court case…

Social connections are crucial for today's middle and high school students. We address this social need through a 3-H Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Cycle. Through the Three Sisters Garden activity presented here, we teach secondary school students about biodiversity and sustainability as we integrate the arts into STEM (STEAM). Students…

Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning (ERTL) has encouraged teachers and students to be autonomous and creative individuals. To create a supporting learning environment, the role of technology is important for classroom activities. Thus, this practical article aims to present an integration of digital applications in designing lesson plans across…

We suggest that two interpretations of time -- linear time and cyclical time -- that complement each other when planning lessons, can be used in both Western and Indigenous science. The idea of time in the Australian Curriculum: Science is examined and seen to be primarily associated with the Western science tradition, so it is suggested that the…

The lesson set in this article describes an introductory learning experience using wildlife camera-based citizen science projects hosted on Zooniverse (http://www.zooniverse.org). Wildlife camera projects were chosen due to the charisma of the study organisms, student engagement while looking at images, ease of access to projects, ease of teaching…