Unexpected conflicts, or eruptions, in class during discussions of controversial issues are not uncommon in the field of English language teaching (ELT). This can be especially true for critical English language teachers who hope to address social justice issues in their classrooms. Existing literature of these events often mentions emotional…

Citizens often face dilemmas where they need to make decisions that impact our lives and are related to science and religion. For example, genetic cloning, nuclear energy and climate change can potentially appeal to moral and religious values as well as scientific knowledge. The ability to coordinate knowledge and values in reaching justified…

2020 ushered in the convergence of multiple societal, political, environmental, and health crises. Racial reckoning collided with fearmongering on a national scale and punitive policies targeted non-citizens simultaneous to the global health pandemic COVID-19. COVID-19 required the unexpected pivoting from in-person instruction to what was, for…

This article describes the process teachers at a public elementary school completed to develop and implement a developmentally appropriate, race-conscious, anti-bias curriculum in all K-5 classrooms. The study focuses on the experiences of the teachers and children in three early childhood classrooms using a case study design. Data were gathered…

This article analyses the extent to which history education (HE) in Turkey adheres to the HE principles proposed by the Council of Europe. A compulsory history textbook is analyzed in detail. The analysis finds an understanding of HE that marginalizes minorities due to nationalist and militarist content. The Atatürk's Principles and History of…

When faced with unexpected and charged conversations about race, class, gender, and other social identities, faculty often seek a list a strategies for what to say or do. Yet numerous, sometimes contradictory, strategies for navigating these discussions already exist. This article explores the issue of how might faculty and/or the faculty…

Student-active science teaching that includes interactions among students is suggested to support students' reasoning skills. However, little is known about what are the beneficial modes of interaction to support learning. In the present study, we investigated how different types of classroom discussion on socioscientific issues can encourage…

Following the appraisal framework (Martin & White, 2005), in particular the two discourse-semantic systems of Engagement and Attitude, this study examines the extent to which second language learners in a US-Spain telecollaborative project (a) engaged with their own ideas and those of their partners and (b) expressed their attitude towards…

This paper attends to the emotional and affective relations that manifest through political discussions in secondary classrooms. In particular, the focus is on the dynamics of classrooms during discussions of political issues. Specific attention is given to interpretations of movements and manifestations of emotions as well as the ways that…

Today, pedagogical stakes are high for students who experience incidents connected to their safety and privacy. Unfortunately, students live in an age when Code Red drills, or the more current Active Shooter drills, are a fact of life. In this article, the author argues that dystopian texts are not only positioned to enhance the complexity of…

High-quality talk about issues that raise high-intensity emotions in the public sphere is timely needed. Still, researchers committed to the fostering of high-quality types of school talk generally disregard the role of emotions. We show that this disregard is not accidental and that it conveys a customary reluctance in schools to consider the…

This study focused on teachers' perceptions of caregiver support for engaging in conversations about race in the classroom. We analyzed data from the Teachers' Race Talk Survey, an exploratory survey that examines teachers' perceptions about discussing race and racial violence in the classroom. Our analyses suggested that respondents espoused…

In this essay, Rebecca M. Taylor and Ashley Floyd Kuntz explore the higher education aims of advancing truth, respecting speech, and fostering inclusive learning environments in the context of controversial invited speakers on college campuses. They consider the case of Charles Murray's visit to Middlebury College in 2017. They argue that…

This dissertation uses the theoretical framework of Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) across three discrete articles to examine teaching and teacher education. CWS offers a mechanism to highlight and critique the ways Whiteness operates within teaching and teacher education. Across the pieces, I argue that Whiteness is both pervasive and shifting…

The authors designed an assignment for a writing class for late-secondary and early-college students, one with a central goal of giving students the opportunity to engage with a controversial topic by identifying and representing views other than their own. The authors called it a "not my opinion" assignment, and they piloted it in a…