There is a growing consensus that simply learning enough science to decipher public debates on socioscientific issues will not make citizens better equipped to handle the complex and ill-structured problems these controversial issues present. This study highlights the interaction and complex interplay between youth authored and appropriated frames…

This article examines the historic uses of the phenomenon recently defined as "Deep Politics" to shed light on the underlying realities of the contemporary War on Terror. Deep Politics describes the multiple uses of misinformation to marshal public sentiment in directions desired by dominant political and economic forces. Facing the reality of…

Climate change and its effects are likely to present challenging problems for future generations of young people. It is important for Australian students to understand the mechanisms and consequences of climate change. If students are to develop a sophisticated understanding, then science teachers need to be well-informed about climate change…

This article explores the underlying and epiphenomenal manifestations of milieus and contexts that serve to control and undermine, or provide pathways to, the discussion of controversial issues in classrooms. Given the importance of teaching and discussing controversial issues, as an essential lever for democratic citizenship education, I draw on…

The authors explored the ethical reasoning of 27 preservice teachers in the first course of a 4-course social studies education program. The students discussed 2 historically analogous cases that focused on 1 of 4 value problem areas: consent of the governed, general welfare, property, and morality. The authors were interested in exploring whether…

In this article the author examines changes in students' self-awareness of multicultural topics during a multicultural education course. The course is a three-credit elective course offered in the university's school of education but taken by students across disciplines at a large, public research university in a mid-Atlantic state. Course…

This study examines how students in Finland (16-18 years of age) constructed meaning and knowledge in a collaborative online reading situation. Student pairs (n = 19) were asked to write a joint essay on a controversial issue. First, the pairs discussed the topic freely to activate their prior knowledge. Next, they gathered source material on the…

In this article, the author reflects on his work as a textbook writer. Given that knowledge is memorable when it is related to engaging stories, the author wonders if it is possible to turn the history of our great nation into such tales to motivate children's learning. Attempts to make his textbook writing more vivid, however, are met with a…

Policing is widely held to constitute a contentious issue in classrooms on both sides of the border on the island of Ireland, despite the fact that the ongoing peace process has led to a normalising of cross-border policing relationships. The Education for Reconciliation Project works with teachers and members of the two police services to produce…

The move toward evidence-based practice has fortified, and continues to strengthen, the social work profession through accountability, greater support for social interventions, and linking research and practice. This article considers potential limitations in exclusively promoting evidence-based practice in social work programs and advocates for…

Although it is important to include creative potential in the criteria for gifted programs, a review of the literature reveals creativity testing for this purpose to be a controversial topic. As creativity is a complex, multifaceted construct difficult to measure and operationalize, instruments purporting to measure creative abilities may lead to…

This article investigates how affluent students made sense of social justice issues that were embedded in mathematics learning activities. I present 2 case studies of such activities at the intermediate and secondary levels in 2 different schools. The analysis draws on video records and classroom artifacts and applies the theoretical framework of…

In post-conflict and divided societies, global citizenship education has been described as a central element of peacebuilding education, whereby critical pedagogy is seen as a tool to advance students' thinking, transform their views and promote democratic behaviours. The present study investigates understandings of and attitudes to global…

To respond to calls for more research on culturally relevant science teaching, we present findings from one middle school science teacher's practices in an effort to contribute to this research. We describe how a discussion lab centered on Derrick Bell's (1992) short story "The Space Traders" was purposively included in a lesson on scientific bias…

In this article, the author argues that whiteness remains an overwhelmingly absent dimension in literacy teaching that addresses systems of power from a critical perspective. One way literacy teachers may bring this dimension more explicitly into the classroom is by facilitating critical conversations on whiteness with young adult literature. As…