In the context of global crises, the priorities of vocational education and training (VET) need to be reconsidered. VET should educate critically reflective global citizens who are capable of acting to create a more just and sustainable world both in their workplaces and in society at large. This study examines VET teachers' views on addressing…

Policy makers increasingly call on higher education to prepare learners for challenges such as global health emergencies or ecological crises. These can be understood as 'wicked problems', which are unbounded, complex and resist simplistic definition. Wicked problems involve stakeholders with incompatible value positions and attempted solutions…

In democratic societies schools have an obligation to address complex societal issues such as ethnic/religious tensions and social conflicts. The article reports an exploratory study of how theatre plays were used in upper-secondary schools to generate pedagogically relevant platforms for addressing the current Middle East conflicts and their…

Globalization significantly influences the very notion of citizenship that is no longer universally seen as only a nation-related concept. Therefore, the discourse of global citizenship is getting more attention in programmatic educational texts and curricula. This study investigates how teachers use the conceptual framework of global citizenship…

A study which explored the degree to which belief in a politically responsive/unresponsive world might be related to opinions concerning nuclear disarmament, the insanity defense, and women's rights is described. A total of 206 male and female undergraduates completed a 63-item questionnaire consisting of 46 Likert-format I-E items and 17 attitude…

Reports on a study which was conducted to provide a sample of biology teachers an opportunity to describe their experiences and opinions regarding the controversial issue of evolution and creation as it relates to teaching about the origins of life. Provides the objectives, sample selection, an analysis, and a conclusion. (RT)

Nuclear war education has become a topic of concern among educators who, on one side, see it as an essential component of undergraduate education or, on the other, see it as political indoctrination dominated by direct and indirect Soviet interests. This study assessed the affective impact of an intensive (eight hours per day for five straight…

According to National Council for the Social Studies and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development respondents, the issues deemed important--nuclear disarmament, pollution, worldwide wealth and poverty, and alternatives to the U.S. social-economic-political system--are not included in the social studies to the extent they should…

Special education teachers (n=407) were surveyed regarding coverage of 45 controversial or sensitive topics in their instruction of students with learning disabilities, mental retardation, or behavior disorders. Topical issues were addressed only to a very limited extent, but were addressed more with students having behavioral disorders and at the…

The findings of a study that examined the impact of peace studies courses at the college and university level upon students is reported. The study involved 260 undergraduate students at 3 midwestern universities. At the beginning of each course, students filled out a questionnaire; at the end of the course, students were given identical…

Because the numbers responding to the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) social issues survey were so small, any generalizations about the views of the membership of NCSS policy directions must be made with extreme caution. With this limitation in mind, survey results are discussed. (RM)

Describes research conducted on the organization of information from many disciplines to teach social issues raised by nuclear technology. States that the social sciences provided the organizational base for most courses examined, courses emphasized moral responsibility and political choice, and syllabi emphasized technological, strategic, and…

The study examines the extent to which the global issues of population growth, world hunger, air quality and atmosphere, and water resources were treated in sixth and seventh grade science textbooks. Ten textbooks were examined by five raters to determine the amount of content presented by different textbooks on global issues, the number of pages…

Includes eight articles: Judith Dwyer and Francis Meehan on nuclear education for Catholic undergraduates; Kathy Greeley, Susan Markowitz, Carol Rank, Roberta Snow, and Lisa Goodman on high school curricula developed by peace organizations; Charlotte Watertow on global solutions; Michael Antrim on the science of nuclear energy; Frederick…

This study examines the effects of school contexts, individual differences, and motivational goals and benefits on current events knowledge. A review of the literature focuses on motivation study of goal theory and self-efficacy. The sample includes 798 students from nine high schools (grades 9-12) in diverse geographical locations and of various…