This study investigates the effectiveness of two pedagogical strategies--deliberation and debate--in fostering productive political discussions among high school students, with a focus on overcoming affective polarization. Paying attention to students' comfort, engagement, and willingness to participate, this study employs a mixed-method approach…

It has been well established that controversial issue discussions are an integral component to a high-quality civic education. However, as the United States has become increasingly politically polarized, teachers have become more hesitant to engage students in discussions of controversial political issues. Two decades worth of literature on…

Jada Pinkett-Smith, Willow, and Gammy are hosts of the internationally renowned "Red Table Talk," where family members and A-List celebrities join the Facebook Live streamed conversation about personal and controversial issues. This proposed activity builds upon black feminist thought and utilizes the format of the "Red Table…

The public schoolhouse is one of the few remaining public spaces in which citizens may routinely gather to discuss controversial issues. Furthermore, it is social studies classrooms and teachers, in particular, that bear the moral imperative to ensure such civic discourse takes place. Nevertheless, many social studies teachers refrain from…

Purpose: Unprecedented global challenges of the twenty-first century have highlighted the need for novel programs to train students in the skills necessary to address increasingly complex controversial science issues. Issues-360[TM] was developed as an innovative year-long co-curricular, issues engagement initiative designed to address this need.…

Purpose: This study seeks to gain an understanding of the complexities involved in real-life classroom teaching. The aim is to trace values and tensions displayed in what the teachers regard as successful and unsuccessful. Design/methodology/approach: Teachers were interviewed to explore their perceptions of success and failures in their teaching…

This much-needed guide provides the specific skills and materials necessary to facilitate effective dialogues across identity differences. We are living through arguably one of the most divisive times in our country and the world. People do not know how to communicate across differences in a way that advances the public good--from the…

This study explores how political discussions among diverse youth can support students' open-minded political engagement. For this study, we collaborated with two teachers to adapt and enact instruction aimed at supporting students' discussion of controversial issues across political, geographic, and cultural boundaries. During an instructional…

The job market puts pressure on marketing educators to adapt the content of their courses to current business events impacted by race, diversity, and gender issues. However, students may experience discomfort when learning about and discussing controversial topics that are not normally discussed in class. To provide tools for educators to tackle…

The political nature of socioscientific controversies becomes starkly apparent in countries of the Global South where science and technology are embedded in societies characterized by pervasive structural inequalities which, in part, were created by the Global North. This article presents empirical work from the standpoint of a critical science…

Educators assume the role of gatekeepers when they make literature selections for adolescent classrooms. Their taken-for-granted assumptions, or figured worlds, about adolescent and youth literature may inform their decisions to either select or preemptively censor books. In this qualitative study, the authors examined the figured worlds of six…

In a cultural moment when professors experience a debilitating hesitancy about initiating difficult conversations with undergraduate students, and the imperative of trigger warnings sometimes outweighs the will to navigate controversial materials, the fate of "violent films," as worthy of academic study, hangs precariously in the…

One purpose of classroom discussions is not to try to change people's views but to better understand why classmates believe whatever they believe. One of the best ways to achieve such deeper understanding is to hear the basis for other people's beliefs. In this light, the author modeled this behavior for students, which required revealing personal…

This study works to answer the question: How are pre-service social studies teachers conceptualizing the difficult knowledge of climate change during a pedagogical encounter related to impending and unfolding climate catastrophe? Drawing on small group discussion and using critical discourse analysis, the author theorizes moments of hope, agency,…

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.