Numerous articles and books focus on questions about teaching controversial issues in the classroom, and these controversial issues are on the educational agenda in many countries. The modest goal of this essay is to lay the necessary groundwork for a discussion and study of the goals for teaching controversial issues in schools, in order to…

Politically neutral pedagogy is often the subject of both praise and condemnation. But treating political neutrality as a principle to be either embraced or rejected confuses the issue, because the permissibility of neutrality actually varies across educational contexts. Educational practice should not be evaluated on the basis of whether or not…

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…

In this paper, the author argues that a professor's academic freedom should be limited when choosing teaching methods. Currently, many professors choose teaching methods without serious consideration of whether such methods are effective at achieving the course's learning outcomes. As a matter of professional responsibility, however, professors…

Michael Hand has defended the "epistemic criterion" for "directive and nondirective teaching" in his 2008 "Educational Theory" article, "What Should We Teach as Controversial? A Defense of the Epistemic Criterion," as well as subsequent pieces. Here, John Tillson defends use of the epistemic criterion in the…

Teacher educators who seek to advance social justice perspectives and promote equity-oriented dispositions often engage with challenging and controversial issues relevant to schooling, the lives of students, and the work of teachers. Addressing equity issues and controversial topics can be challenging and fraught with tensions for both students…

Even after you have decided to tackle a problem like racial equity, it may seem daunting to broach the subject in a physics classroom. After all, the idea of a (typically White) instructor in power tackling a sensitive topic such as social justice can be scary in any (mostly White) classroom. Not only that, but physics is typically viewed as a…

This paper proposes rethinking intercultural education in teacher education, arguing that any discussion of student teachers' intercultural education should be connected more explicitly to a theoretical conceptualisation of love. The first part of the paper focuses on identifying discursive boundaries in engaging with intercultural education in…

What happens when a class assignment becomes a source of controversy? How do we respond? What do we learn? By describing the controversy surrounding an assignment on religion and representation, this article examines conflict's productive role in teaching about New Religious Movements (NRMs) and religion. It suggests that we consider how our…

The current study aims to investigate social studies and science teachers' attitudes and classroom practices associated with controversial issues. The study is a qualitative research based on data collected through interviews and observation. Social studies and Science teachers participated in the current study which was conducted in Kirsehir, a…

In the present STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics)-driven society, socioscientific issues (SSI) have become a focus globally and SSI research has grown into an important area of study in science education. Since students attending the social and science programs have a different focus in their studies and research has shown…

A primary rationale for studying the Holocaust (Shoah) involves the opportunity to consider the moral implications that can be drawn from examining the event. Studying the Shoah forces students to consider what it means to be human and humane by examining the full continuum of individual behavior, from "ultimate evil" to "ultimate good". This…

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…

Fifty-five teacher candidates explained their ideas about the purpose of education, controversy, and balanced instruction. In a quarter-long course that focused on effective teaching methods, these future teachers experienced a civic engagement project based on Socratic discussion about the Pledge of Allegiance. This qualitative study argues that…

How can teachers effectively use documentary film to teach history, and toward what goals? This article addresses these important questions by: (1) exploring what we know about secondary teachers' practices with documentary film and secondary students' beliefs about documentary film as a source of knowledge about the past, (2) proposing a…