This article explores the power and potential of a role-play collaborative argument project centered on a literary work that has been banned or challenged in schools. In the project, students read a banned or challenged novel as they prepared to play the role of a community stakeholder (parent, teacher, librarian, minister, etc.) at a simulated…

Together an education librarian and education professor developed a series of exercises for education students about intellectual freedom and book challenges. The resources are primarily online and they progressively work from book censorship cases and concerns to handling book challenges proactively through discussions, activities, and role…

Describes a unit on censorship using simulations (of school board meetings and a principal seizing books) to engage students actively with the issue. (MM)

To help leaders or "facilitators" of a series of simulation exercises on controversial issues for school board members, this guide describes how the simulations work and provides some of the materials required for the simulation exercise on censorship and book banning. After defining simulation or gaming exercises, the author notes the…

Built around the case method approach recommended by the Carnegie Foundation in their report "A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century," this hands-on, practical book presents 33 cases to absorb, analyze, and solve. The cases in the book dramatize the learning difficulties of students and the instructional options of teachers and…

Intellectual freedom is a concept fundamental to all libraries. It enables library customers to access a wide variety of materials in numerous formats, and is a concept dear to the hearts and minds of a democratic society. Libraries are often challenged by individuals and groups concerned about the availability of certain materials. The first part…

The purpose of this lesson packet is to raise issues about student rights of free expression in public schools. Included are preparatory reading material and two classroom simulation activities. The lessons are based on the U.S. Supreme Court case of Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, in which a Missouri high school principal and school district were sued by…