As misinformation proliferates in social media and news, information literacy skills are increasingly important for family science professionals and scholars. Family science courses' focus on controversial issues may contribute to dispositions and practices that support information literacy. However, it is unclear whether there is any added…

Teaching controversial issues poses challenges for teacher candidates, stemming from apprehensions about potential backlash and gaps in content and pedagogical knowledge. The prevailing emphasis on tested subjects such as mathematics and reading/writing in elementary school education often sidelines social studies and science, limiting…

This qualitative case study explored the implementation of critical citizenship education in an eighth grade social studies classroom. This research was guided by Johnson and Morris' (2010) framework for studying critical citizenship education and took place in a public charter school located in a capital city in the southeastern United States.…

Sex and relationships education has been a controversial area of the curriculum in England for many years. Despite changes to the content and the approach to this material, many teachers and parents remained unhappy about issues such as: the right of schools to teach material that some think should be done in a family situation only; the problem…

Socio-scientific issues, which are often controversial, involve the use of science and are of interest to society, raising ethical and moral dilemmas. Examples of these issues could include genetic technology or air pollution. Following a curriculum reform in England in 2006, socioscientific issues now have a heightened presence in the 14-16…

In this article, a veteran teacher expresses the importance of drawing on the life-texts of students and recognizing the ways that personal experience influences a student's perception of the world.

Communicative self-efficacy serves as an important link between discussing controversial issues and civic engagement because confidence in one's discourse skills is important to managing conflicting perspectives and developing solutions to community-based problems. Freely available to schools, "Word Generation" is a cross-content…

There is a divide between what students are being taught within the science classroom and what they experience out in the real world. This study sought to explore possible relationships between a socioscientific issues embedded curriculum and outcome variables addressing environmental attitude and knowledge, oral and written argumentation and…

Decision making is influenced by multiple factors, especially when approaching controversial socio-scientific issues, such as stem cell research. In the present study, we used qualitative data from 132 college student papers in a biotechnology course to investigate how students made decisions about stem cell research issues. Students indicated…

Shares the responses of children to an initial exploration of books with gay and lesbian characters. Intends to learn from this experience in order to plan future curriculum engagements that encourage conversation around such a critical and controversial issue, and to use differences to take some sort of action against discrimination. (SG)

The teaching of controversial issues has been widely viewed as preparing students for effective citizenship and, as such, is regarded as inevitable in social studies classrooms if students are to be able to think intelligently and to participate effectively in society. However, the effective implementation of issue-centered education in African…

Proposes a method for teaching about Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) by using poetry written about the disease. Identifies specific anthologies as resources and reviews the literature. Says poetry addresses AIDS-inspired fears and helps reshape negative attitudes and homophobia. Suggests that it also enhances prevention-oriented public…

Discusses the benefits of marking sexual identities (as heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexual) in the classroom, exposing students' hetero-normativity, and alerting them to ways in which seemingly "personal" lives are shaped by the political. Relates the authors' classroom experiences in trying to illustrate the socially-constructed aspects of…

This paper discusses a project that was designed to explore Dutch student attitudes about World War II and how the War is portrayed in Dutch history textbooks. The project was undertaken as part of an effort to help teachers provide Dutch students with better insight into the causes, background, and aftermath of World War II; and to develop in the…

Designs and teaches a required course on cultural diversity in U.S. society. Develops effective strategies for counteracting students' intergroup intolerance. Focuses on two common triggers of intolerance and offers strategies for reducing that intolerance. (Author/NL)