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Discussion-Based Teaching and Handling Controversial Topics in the Classroom | CRLT

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Many instructors consciously avoid controversial issues in the classroom because of the difficulty involved in managing heated discussions. However, controversy can be a useful, powerful, and memorable tool to promote learning. Research has demonstrated that conflict or controversy during classroom discussion can promote cognitive gains in complex reasoning, integrated thinking, and decision-making.

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This site offers information about the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and the campaign against the Dakota Access Pipeline.

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The Oceti Sakowin Camp is a historic gathering of tribes standing in solidarity to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline. Stand with Standing Rock today.

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This site provides information and resources about anti-Arab Americanism

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This site provides lesson plans.

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The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) enabled millions of Black and other voters of color an opportunity to participate in our democracy. Ten years ago, on June 25, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder significantly weakened a key provision of the landmark VRA. These LFJ articles remind us of the struggle for voting rights and education and the powerful legacy of Freedom Summer 1964. As we confront current voter suppression and education censorship, let us continue the fight for justice in today's movement.

"Following record-breaking voter turnout in the 2020 election, several state legislatures passed laws to disenfranchise voters, especially in Black communities. These attempts at voter suppression work in concert with censorship policies targeting education to further undermine civics literacy and engagement in the United States." -Freedom Schools for Today's Social Justice Movement

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Learning for Justice | Education Resources

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Learning for Justice provides free resources to educators-teachers, administrators, counselors and other practitioners-who work with children from kindergarten through high school. Educators use our materials to supplement the curriculum, to inform their practices, and to create civil and inclusive school communities where children are respected, valued and welcome participants.

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Dunn, Dana et alii.

Controversy in the Psychology Classroom: Using Hot Topics to Foster Critical Thinking. Washington DC: American Psychological Association, 2013.

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Sweeney, Maria. “Sweating the Small Stuff: Mickey, Michael, and the Global Sweatshop.” Controversies in the Classroom: A Radical Teacher Reader. New York: Teachers College P, 2008. Ed. Joseph Entin, Robert C. Rosen, and Leonard Vogt. New York: Teachers College P, 2008. 53-60.

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The predominance of Eurocentric views and the exclusion of other voices in course materials (what's considered “core knowledge”).

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Linder, Suzanne. "A True War Story: Addressing the Real Obscenities." Can I Teach That? Negotiating Taboo Language and Controversial Topics in the Language Arts Classroom. Ed. Suzanne Linder and Elizabeth Majerus. London: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.

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(Linder 17)

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Hess, Diana E. Controversy in the Classroom: The Democratic Power of Discussion. New York: Routledge, 2009.

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Peterson, Bob. “Planting Seeds of Solidarity.” Controversies in the Classroom: A Radical Teacher Reader. New York: Teachers College P, 2008. Ed. Joseph Entin, Robert C. Rosen, and Leonard Vogt. New York: Teachers College P, 2008. 61-69.

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"A public forum where participants air the views on an important controversial issue as a way to either affect public policy, or educate others, or persuade others to come around their point of view" (Hess, Controversy in the Classroom 57)

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Napier, Sarah. “Nuns, Midwives, and Witches: Women’s Studies in the Elementary Classroom.” Controversies in the Classroom: A Radical Teacher Reader. New York: Teachers College P, 2008. Ed. Joseph Entin, Robert C. Rosen, and Leonard Vogt. New York: Teachers College P, 2008. 136-142.

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“Teaching kids about the oppression of women may inspire them to work against it and to understand that sexism is related to the oppression of people of color and other groups” (Napier 141)

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Hess, D. “Discussing Controversial Public Issues in Secondary Social Studies Classrooms: Learning from Skilled Teachers.” Theory and Research in Social Education 30.1 (2002): 10-41.

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Verma, Rita. "Dialogues About 9/11, the Media, and Race: Lessons from a Secondary Classroom." Controversies in the Classroom: A Radical Teacher Reader. New York: Teachers College P, 2008. Ed. Joseph Entin, Robert C. Rosen, and Leonard Vogt. New York: Teachers College P, 2008. 29-39.

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Kumashiro, Kevin K. “Teaching and Learning Through Desire, Crisis, and Difference: Perverted Reflections on Anti-oppressive Education.” Controversies in the Classroom: A Radical Teacher Reader. New York: Teachers College P, 2008. Ed. Joseph Entin, Robert C. Rosen, and Leonard Vogt. New York: Teachers College P, 2008. 113-125.

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“Teaching from a social justice and critical literacy perspective necessitates that I locate a balance between risk taking and pushing the limits of my work environment in order to retain my job for future years of transformative reaching” (Sweeney 59)

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Interview witnesses.

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Move beyond the "us versus them" dichotomies

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Move beyond the "us versus them" dichotomies

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“Using simple stories to raise profound questions is among the oldest and best teaching techniques” (Peterson 62)

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Beginning with the instructor, share experiences about the subject matter.

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"Teachers need to engage our students in a deep critical reading of terms—such as terrorism, freedom, patriotism, and our way of life—that evoke vivid images but can be used for ambiguous ends" (Bigelow 9)

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Involving Students in the Democratic Process

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Involving Students in the Democratic Process

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Discussing controversial issues, according to Diana Hess (2002), correlates with powerful educational outcomes and the effective participation of secondary students in democratic processes.

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“It is important to encourage students to search for facts, challenge their own assumptions, and envision what a peaceful world would look like. Addressing student fears and encouraging students to think about ways to engage in global understanding form important elements of peace pedagogy. Building a vision for peace and encouraging students to be futurists, where they envision a peaceful world, is valuable pedagogy” (Verma 38)

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To Promote a Better Understanding of the Complexity of the World

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To Promote a Better Understanding of the Complexity of the World

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“What is taught in the classroom can have a positive effect in interrupting stereotypes and assumptions about ethnic groups. Painting a more accurate picture of what is happening in the world and understanding the complexity of issues such as terrorism, immigration, and cultural difference are integral to achieving this goal” (Verma 30)

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Education as Crisis: Moving Beyond Affirmation and Sameness

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Education as Crisis: Moving Beyond Affirmation and Sameness

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“…[A]s Shoshana Felman (1995) suggests, educators should expect students to enter crisis. In fact, she argues that “teaching in itself, teaching as such, takes place precisely only through crisis” (p. 55). How so? Consider the difference between education and repetition. “Education” is not about repeating what we already know, or affirming what we already believe, or reinforcing what we previously learned. That is merely repetition. Education is about learning something new, something different; education is about change. …[E]ducation—especially the process of learning something that tells us that the very ways in which we think and do things is not only wrong but also harmful—can be a very discomforting process. Hence the notion that learning takes place “only through crisis” (Kumashiro 115).