Too often, students sit compliantly in class and are not engaged in the learning. Acclaimed speaker and author Aaron Hansen uses compelling stories and a step-by-step framework to help educators become hero makers. These powerful classroom mentors empower students to break free of their self-limiting stories and fixed mindsets and experience a new…

Explicit and reflective teaching of communal goals forms connections between STEM content and practices, providing in- and out-of-class opportunities to reflect on how communal goals relate to class activities. This lesson integrates the concepts of "prosociality" (science helps others and gives back to the community) and…

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…

"The First-Year Seminar: Designing, Implementing, and Assessing Courses to Support Student Learning and Success," a five-volume series, is designed to assist educators who are interested in launching a first-year seminar or revamping an existing program. Each volume examines a different aspect of first-year seminar design or administration and…

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…

The typical "Astro 101" lecture-based course is passive, and adding well-designed learner-centered labs allows students to experience science as a pattern of thought. In this article, we present an approach to developing an introductory lab course. Identification of goals and student outcomes, particularly skills, and process and attitudinal…

Integrating other content areas into physical education does not have to come at the expense of learning and practicing movement concepts, skill themes, or fitness concepts. Through the use of the content linkage approach, physical educators can reinforce classroom content in a physical education setting. This article discusses the content linkage…

This two-part series describes the structure of the stoichiometry course at North Carolina State University. The course had a variety of learning objectives, and several nontraditional pedagogies were used in the course delivery. The first paper outlined the course structure and policies, the preparation given to the teaching assistants who played…

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,…

Asserts that global education has two interrelated dimensions: (1) a substantive, or knowledge of the world and how it works; and (2) a perceptual, or an orientation or world view. Contends that global education can provide a powerful focus for improving educational quality and help students cope with emerging global realities. (CFR)

Summarizes the response to complaints that a class examining the sociology of minorities unfairly emphasized negative behavior. The course was restructured to include an examination of resistance and interracial cooperation against racism. This new perspective was incorporated into writing assignments, class discussions, and instructional…

Utopian societies can actually demonstrate some essential needs for community life. In this sociology course students read utopian literature and then investigated the lessons gleaned from their study of the utopian societies through experiential learning projects, e.g., participant observation of dorm life, leadership simulations, and utopian…

Uses the example of New York State to illustrate how the rancorous political debate over education can render national standards irrelevant and contradictory. In appeasing so many factions the standards become inclusive to the point of obfuscation. Provides a brief overview of the controversy concerning national standards. (MJP)

Based on a National Council for the Social Studies position statement on the essentials of social studies, a rationale for teaching about religions in the social studies is presented. The author's rationale includes the following points: (1) that knowledge about religion is not only characteristic of an educated person but also necessary for…

Suggests that citizenship education has been defined too literally and narrowly, resulting in loss of meaning for social studies. Argues that schools in the United States rest on solid civic motivations and were never intended to legitimate any particular school subject. Insists that every school subject must be understood to be based on civic…