The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) require teachers to think very carefully about the structure of lessons, which content must be taught to allow students to achieve NGSS expectations, and how content is delivered. With the standards' focus on three-dimensional learning and the use of relevant phenomena, most teachers are urged to make…

The second edition of "Words and Actions" features an expanded framework, a variety of new unit, lesson, and activity examples from different languages and levels, and additional content on how social justice education fits within the context of contemporary approaches to language instruction. The revised text provides concrete examples…

With the introduction of "Next Generation Science Standards" ("NGSS"), teachers have been called to find meaningful and engaging ways to teach science content while incorporating engineering practices and, to a lesser extent, computing and computational thinking. The task becomes even more complex when they also have to…

Courses: Ethics, Organizational Communication, Political Communication. Objectives: After completing this unit activity, students should be able to (1) apply multiple ethical perspectives to real-world diversity issues in a debate format, and (2) explain the role of informational and social category diversity in current controversies.

Courses: Argumentation, Public Speaking, Political Communication. Objectives: After completing this unit activity, students should be able to (1) demonstrate comprehension of Burke's (1941) concept of terministic screens; (2) apply the concept of terministic screens to write a brief political autobiography of themselves that analyzes the history…

Developing content knowledge in teachers presents a constant challenge for teacher educators. This article introduces a teaching and assessment tool called a "content map," which allows teacher educators, teachers, and coaches to conceptualize the scope, sequence, and relational characteristics of the content being taught. Content maps…

In the DISCUSS (Dialogic Inquiry for Socioscientific and Conceptual Understanding in School Science) research project, a Socioscientific Issues (SSI)-based curriculum is developed and implemented in sixth-grade science classrooms with predominantly English language learners (ELLs) in Houston, Texas. A four-week space unit is designed in…

This resource is part of a series produced by the Center for Standards and Assessment Implementation (CSAI) to assist teachers and those who support teachers to plan teaching and learning from College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) for all students, including students with disabilities, English learners, academically at-risk students, students…

Writers in this journal have presented a number of strategies that sociology teachers can use to facilitate the expression--and serious analysis--of unpopular opinions. This article contributes to this dialog by illustrating the application of a Bill of Rights learning module. In this module, students are expected to create a document that…

Students are well served by course simulations that employ active learning styles and student-driven interaction. For debate on political issues, particular public policies are quite effective in stimulating that discussion. We developed an in-class simulation of political debate on the issue of Social Security. We describe the simulation itself,…

A unit in a college course on technology and human values involves the students' questioning of traditional Western values as they relate to technological rationalism, calling dominant ideology into question. The approach is based on Paulo Freire's problem-posing pedagogy, and incorporates analysis of selected paintings from the Futurist movement.…

Discusses, in the light of an escalating "war on crime," ideas on teaching about the concept of punishment. Offers a framework for understanding punishment's functions. Delineates ideal criteria for applying punishment. Describes processes that influence uniformity. Suggests a method for teaching about punishment and underscores its advantages and…

This social studies unit of study will help high school students learn about the geography of South Africa. Such a geographic background is necessary if students are to learn about apartheid, South Africa's system of racial domination. (RM)

Includes theory and principles, basic guidelines, suggested teaching unit, classroom activities, annotated list of films, and a bibliography. (PD)

Describes a six-week study unit that requires students to examine specific aspects of the Iran-Contra affair in light of models such as presidential leadership style. The combination of a case study, student-centered cooperative learning, and writing across the curriculum proved popular with both the students and teacher. (MJP)