Conversations about controversial political issues within the public-school classroom are necessary for the whole development of students as they prepare to participate fully in democracy, part of their role as conscious social reproducers of the American political regime. Effective educators train students to critically understand and analyze…

Friction in the classroom may create useful tension for teachers when they attempt to discuss sensitive topics as part of democratic learning. Due to the openness and indeterminacy of these topics, students can experience what it is like to be (political) subjects in a diverse society and become aware of other people's subjectness in a charged…

Social studies is by virtue opaque, unwieldly, and rarely neutral. It challenges convention and conventional thought and action. Embedding controversy into social studies instruction allows students to think deeply, critically, and passionately. Yet controversy is fraught with philosophical and pedagogical hurdles that often limit its use. Thus,…

The aim of this study is to determine the opinions of pre-service classroom teachers about academic controversy, from the cooperative learning methods, implemented in social studies teaching course. Using the action research pattern from the qualitative research approaches, the study group for the research comprised 42 preservice teachers in third…

As the school National Science Curriculum in Turkey includes topics such as human reproduction, hormonal growth and adolescent health, elementary school science teachers (ESTs) are required to teach sexuality-related topics to their students. However, studies have shown that teachers in Turkey, like their counterparts in many other countries, have…

A recent report by the Southern Poverty Law Center revealed that many history teachers avoid or minimize conversations about race for fear they will trigger "racialized conflict." This silence should raise alarms, as we know that race and racism permeate the lived experiences of teachers and students and inevitably surface in historical…

Independent, critical thought has never been more important in the United States. In the Age of Trump, political officials spout falsehoods called "alternative facts" as if they were on equal footing with researchable, scientific data. At the same time, an unquestioning populace engages in acts of "willful ignorance" on a daily…

In this study, academic freedom was defined by 17 foreign-born professors: 12 Arab-born and five non-Arab professors from nine different higher education institutions, as the ability to express different ideas, research any topic, and publish the results without fear of intimidation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to examine how…

In a divisive age, how do we support beginning teachers in taking up the challenge of teaching controversial topics and creating classroom environments that promote civil discourse? For insights, the author looked to the work of teacher educators in Northern Ireland, a region that is still affected by many generations of intense sectarian…

This article details a four-faceted approach we developed to help structure discourse about topics in partisan arenas, many of which intersect with issues of equity and social justice. The article's narrative centers on challenging and emotionally charged discussions that unfolded in a classroom management class in our teacher preparation program…

This article recounts our efforts as three critical teacher educators to respond to the postelection aftermath at an Hispanic-serving institution by organizing a conference aimed at re(engaging) our students in the kinds of critical conversations we deem essential to the profession. By considering the ways in which neoliberal ideology has shaped…

Discussions surrounding ideology and free speech on college and university campuses continually occur in the popular press. In this forum, Herbeck (see EJ1171161) chronicles several heated clashes over free speech that have recently erupted on campuses across the country, fueling news stories reported through traditional and social media. Issues…

Purpose: Even as sites for higher education work to transform curricula and strive for greater diversity among students and faculties, little is done to create safe, inviting environments for people to openly discuss the contradictions and challenges in teaching about differences. The authors' purpose is to examine multiple and intersecting…

In their article "Mindfulness and discussing 'thorny' issues in the classroom" Konstantinos Alexakos et al. ("Cult Stud Sci Educ," 2016. doi: 10.1007/s11422-015-9718-0) describe "thorny" issues as "difficult topics to discuss because they are more personal to some perhaps even cause pain and violence." As…

The social roles and responsibilities expected from citizens are increasing due to changing global living conditions. Science education is expected to prepare conscious and sensitive students because today's students are the adults of the future. To do so, the main pre-requisite is quality teacher education. In the past decade, one of the most…