WHAT SHOULD WE TEACH AS CONTROVERSIAL? A DEFENSE OF THE EPISTEMIC CRITERION

Abstract There is an emerging consensus that to teach something as controversial is to present it as a matter on which different views are or could be held and to expound those different views as impartially as possible. This raises an important normative question that has yet to receive the attention it deserves from educational theorists: how are we to decide which topics to teach in this way? The answer suggested by Robert Dearden is that we should apply the epistemic criterion: a matter should be taught as controversial when contrary views can be held on it without those views being contrary to reason. In this essay, Michael Hand aims to defend that answer. In the first part of the article he revisits Dearden’s rather thin and unsatisfactory justification for the epistemic criterion and attempts to mend its deficiencies. In the second part, Hand examines an alternative to the epistemic criterion in the area of moral education, an alternative he labels the political criterion, and explains why he thinks we should reject it.     

Epistemology of the Nakba in Israeli education

In Israel, the Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the most fundamental political and moral issue current and future citizens face. If we accept the maxim that schools should prepare citizens for participation in determining the future of their state, Israeli students must be introduced to the historical, political and moral questions at the heart of the conflict. But this responsibility of Israeli schools and teachers is a highly contentious issue. The most important issue in Israeli political education is thus the hardest to teach. In this article I argue that, despite considerable educational and political risks, teaching Jewish Israeli students about the 1948 Palestinian Nakba (alternatively known as the Israeli War of Independence) holds substantial potential for their epistemic development as capable knowers. I begin by reviewing the political, dialogical, cognitive and epistemic deficits in Israeli education, highlighting how the Nakba is suppressed in history and citizenship education. By analysing the epistemic context of the Nakba in Israeli society and education, I present two pedagogical approaches for teaching controversial issues, arguing for an inquiry-based approach over the widely held approach. I demonstrate the benefits of an inquiry-based approach in the context of history education. In the final section of the article, I build on the case of the Nakba to argue for a new epistemic framework for Israeli citizenship education. I begin by outlining the shortcomings of the current epistemic framework of the subject and point to possible future directions for the subject.     

Iris Murdoch, Liberal Education and Human Flourishing

Articulating the good of liberal education—what we should teach and why we should teach it—is necessary to resist the subversion of liberal education to economic or political ends and the mania for measurable skills. I argue that Iris Murdoch's philosophical writings enrich the work of contemporary Aristotelians, such as Joseph Dunne and Alasdair MacIntyre, on these issues. For Murdoch, studies in the arts and intellectual subjects, by connecting students to the inescapable contingency and finitude of human existence, contribute to the cultivation of intellectual and moral virtues and thus to human flourishing.     

We Made Progress: Collective Epistemic Progress in Dialogue without Consensus

Class discussions about ethical, social, philosophical and other controversial issues frequently result in disagreement. This leaves a problem: has there been any progress? This article introduces and analyses the concept ‘collective epistemic progress’ in order to resolve this problem. The analysis results in four main ways of understanding, guiding and judging collective epistemic progress in the face of seemingly irreconcilable differences. Although it might seem plausible to analyse and judge collective epistemic progress by the increasing vigour of the dialogue community, by how long the conversation is continued, or by how close we have moved towards consensus or the truth, I argue that these fail to provide serviceable analyses or epistemic criteria. Yet, we might instead analyse, understand and judge progress using epistemic criteria such as whether we have: furthered the one distributed process of inquiry or deliberation; and reached mutual understanding; inquiry milestones; or consensus about our procedures.     

The Controversy Over Controversies: A Plea for Flexibility and for “Soft‐Directive” Teaching

A controversy rages over the question of how should controversial topics be taught. Recent work has advanced the “epistemic criterion” as the resolution to this controversy. According to the epistemic criterion, a matter should be taught as controversial when contrary views can be entertained on the matter without the views being contrary to reason. When an issue is noncontroversial, according to the epistemic criterion, the correct position can be taught “directively,” with the teacher endorsing that position. When there is a legitimate controversy, the view should be taught “nondirectively,” with the teacher remaining neutral. In response, Bryan Warnick and Spencer Smith argue that the proponents of the epistemic criterion fail to recognize the multidimensional nature of what it means to learn to be rational. Recognizing this complexity undermines the link between the epistemic status of the controversy and directiveness of one's teaching, suggesting more flexibility in how teachers approach controversial issues. It also implies the need for a new category of teaching, which Warnick and Smith call “soft‐directive” teaching.     

How Should Creationism and Intelligent Design be Dealt with in the Classroom?

Until recently, little attention has been paid in the school classroom to creationism and almost none to intelligent design. However, creationism and possibly intelligent design appear to be on the increase and there are indications that there are more countries in which schools are becoming battle‐grounds over them. I begin by examining whether creationism and intelligent design are controversial issues, drawing on Robert Dearden's epistemic criterion of the controversial and more recent responses to and defences of this. I then examine whether the notion of ‘worldviews’ in the context of creationism is a useful one by considering the film March of the Penguins. I conclude that the ‘worldviews’ perspective on creationism is useful for two reasons: first it indicates the difficulty of using the criterion of reason to decide whether an issue is controversial or not; secondly, it suggests that standard ways of addressing the diversity of student views in a science classroom may be inadequate. I close by examining the implications of this view for teaching in science lessons and elsewhere, for example in religious education lessons and citizenship lessons and at primary level where subject divisions cannot be made in so clear‐cut a manner.     

Framing Controversial Identity Issues in Schools: The Case of HB2, Bathroom Equity,and Transgender Students

This article explores how teachers might address controversial identity issues in their classrooms, using the 2016 North Carolina House Bill 2 that raised the issue of transgender bathroom rights to the forefront of societal discourse as an example. I analyze the issue using the three most commonly cited criteria for determining the openness of controversial issues: epistemic, political, and politically authentic. I then discuss the challenges teachers face when confronted with issues that are epistemically settled but publicly open and implicate students' identities. I conclude by arguing that in those cases in which there exists a clear empirical justification for teaching a controversial identity issue as settled, doing so may be prudent even if it limits democratic discourse or presents an inherent risk for teachers.     

A mirror of society: a discourse analytic study of 15- to 16-year-old Swiss students’ talk about environment and environmental protection

Environment and environmental protection are on the forefront of political concerns globally. But how are the media and political discourses concerning these issues mirrored in the public more generally and in the discourses of school science students more specifically? In this study, we analyze the discourse mobilized in whole-class conversations of and interviews with 15- to 16-year-old Swiss junior high school students. We identify two core interpretive repertoires (each unfolding into two second-order repertoires) that turn out to be the building blocks of environmental discourse, which is characteristic not only of these students but also of Swiss society more generally. The analysis of our students’ discourse demonstrates how their use of interpretive repertoires locks them in belief talk that they have no control over ecological issues, which can put them in the danger of falling prey to ecological passivity. As a consequence of our findings we suggest that teachers should be endorsed to interpret their teaching of environmental issues in terms of the enriching and enlarging of their students’ interpretive repertoires.     

Caught in the Middle: Arendt,Childhood and Responsibility

This essay critiques the infection of the curriculum with the concerns of the adult political community, treating successive generations of children as if they were responsible for changing the world and that education was the vehicle. Such impulses are, in part, the result of a failure to consider childhood as a particular, liminal, space rather than a refraction of the public spaces of the agora. The drive to see education as a vehicle and schools as the site of political change is not confined to the ideological obsessions of Right or Left; both may be considered culpable. Here I illustrate the normative problem through the particulars of a number of socio-political challenges faced by ‘the World’, and in each case show why it is inappropriate to treat the school and education as the solution. Rather than teaching children how to solve the challenges of the agora, I suggest that what we in actuality do, is teach them the art and artifice of deferral and procrastination because we have failed to assume responsibility for the world. Drawing on Arendt's insights on natality, I suggest that schools should be spaces of ‘qualified’ shelter and that students should not be exposed to the harshness of political choice, nor should teachers merely act as a surrogate for political interests irrespective of their provenance or driving imperative.     

构建以学为主的“思政课”教学理念

为提高思政课的教学实效性,使学生的心思回到课堂上,必须转变以"教"为主的教学理念。以"学"为主的教学理念符合知识建构的原则,有利于学生形成批判性思维,有助于培养学生的团队合作意识和沟通协调能力,对于思政课教学有重要的启示。构建以学为主的教学,应以学生为中心,关注学生的需求,优化以学习为中心的教学设计,重点解决好"教什么""怎么教""学到什么"的问题。     

对中长跑教学的初探

中长跑教学在大学的体育教学中占有一定的比例,但是中长跑是一项比较难教的项目,其难点是：动作单一,趣味性不强,学生易感枯燥,单调而不愿学;再,长跑运动负荷大,学生在练习中怕“极点”的出现．针对这个问题,本人进行心理征的研究分析,采用了斯的教学手段,效果较好．     

教育实习后的思考

通过教育实习对学校课堂教学进行反思，如何提高师专学生的教育教学能力?目前应着力从教会学习方法，提高教学素养．培养敬业精神等方面下功夫，才能培养出素质优良、能力较强的教师。     

Using critical incident reflections: a self-study as a mathematics teacher educator

In this paper, I report the results of a 4-year study into how my students learn to become mathematics teachers during the combined 15-week methods and field placement course I teach. At the start of most weekly methods class meetings, groups of three or four students reported their critical incidents to each other, and then chose one incident to report to the whole class. Each student then submitted a written report of 10 critical incidents for grading. At the end of each semester, I administered a questionnaire about the usefulness of each of the elements of the course. Using these two main data sources, along with my own personal reflections on the course, this paper answers the question “What are the critical incidents preservice teachers encounter during their field experience, and what do they learn about teaching for understanding through reflecting on those critical incidents?” My analysis of the students’ incident reports found that the issues raised focused on four main areas: teaching and classroom management; student factors such as pre-requisite knowledge, understanding, resistance and motivation; issues concerning relationships with colleagues, students and parents; and school organizational issues such as policies and access to resources. Their learning about teaching for understanding focused on three broad areas: the conditions necessary to teach for understanding; facilitators of teaching for understanding; and barriers to teaching for understanding. The paper concludes with a discussion of the lessons learned about fostering reflection in novice teachers, and suggestions for further research.     

浅议体育教学中的心理健康教育

体育锻炼不仅对人的身体发生影响，而且会对人的心理产生影响。以新课程的基本理念为指导思想，在体育教学中，通过挖掘教材中的心理健康教育因素，加强对心理教育内容的教学；改善师生关系；因材施教，有针对性等教学方法，提高学生对心理健康的认识，排除心理障碍，培养能适应新环境的身心健康的合格人才。     

Epistemic explanations for divergent evolution in discourses regarding students’ extended historical writing in England

In England, two concurrent but largely disconnected discourses have emerged whose representatives have promulgated initiatives relevant to students’ extended historical writing: genre theorists and the history teachers’ ‘extended writing movement’. Despite certain goals held in common, the two discourses have tended to talk past one another resulting in wastage, incoordination and replication in resourcing. One reason for these divergent discourses is that inter-discursive communication is difficult owing to epistemic differences regarding what the curricular goals regarding students’ extended historical writing should be. Using Bernstein’s model for the production of pedagogic knowledge as an interpretative framework, first I explain these discourses’ differing curricular conceptions by characterizing it as a tension between contrasting emphases on ‘recontextualization’ and ‘reproduction’ of academic knowledge. Second, as a representative of the extended writing movement, I offer a theoretical critique of genre theorists’ greater concentration on the field of reproduction. Third, I situate these developments in England in an international context by briefly comparing them to trends in the United States. Finally, I argue that these epistemic tensions regarding curricular goals matter and need to be resolved. Otherwise, the recommendations of the representatives of both discourses are destined to appeal to only limited audiences.     

提高研究生思想政治理论课教学实效性的策略思考

为提升研究生的政治理论水平和思想道德素质,提高思政课的教学实效,教师必须从教学过程的各个环节入手,寻求多种策略：一是从教学主体看,增强教师信心,提高学生兴趣;二是从教学内容看,把握社会现实,关注形势发展;三是从教学方法看,强调讨论环节,加强实践教学;四是从教学评价看,创新考核方式,重视平时努力。     

BookReviews

Teachers in American study-abroad programs usually receive little, if any, training before the trip, because ‘teaching is teaching’. The cultural differences between Chinese and American university classrooms, however, affect the students' ability to learn and the teacher's ability to teach in profound ways. Foreign teachers in China require at least a basic understanding of the educational, moral and political dimensions of their classrooms if they wish to maximize the learning potential of their Chinese students. Faculty teaching abroad should be prepared for the politics of their new university department, including management styles that can hamper efforts to acclimatize to the new setting.     

高校思想政治理论课教学探赜——以毛泽东思想和中国特色社会主义理论体系概论为例

提高高校思想政治理论课教学质量,已成为高校教学重要课题。毛泽东思想和中国特色社会主义理论体系概论是所有思想政治理论课中最难教的课程,探究其原因是教师"不愿全心全意地教"和"不能得心应手地教"。必须改革职称评定制度和完善教师的选拔和退出机制,让教师愿教。必须备教材、备学生、备教法,提高教学本领,让教师会教。     

Implementing a disciplinary-literacy curriculum for US history: learning from expert middle school teachers in diverse classrooms

In recent years, educators in the USA have emphasized disciplinary literacy as an essential path forward in cultivating adolescents’ understanding of subject matter in tandem with literacy practices. Yet, this agenda poses challenges to teachers who have been tasked with its implementation. Here, we examine two expert US history teachers’ efforts to implement curriculum that integrates reading, writing and thinking in history with academically diverse eighth graders. We conduct qualitative analyses of teacher observations and interviews as well as student work. This analysis provides insight into several issues that emerge in efforts to teach disciplinary literacy in history classrooms: the nuances of teachers’ use of curriculum materials created by people other than themselves, teachers’ appropriation and adaptation of curriculum materials and teachers’ understanding of curriculum materials and disciplinary literacy goals. We find that teachers’ knowledge of the discipline and attention to students’ ideas allowed them to skillfully adapt the curriculum to better meet students’ needs and push students’ thinking. Orienting teachers toward disciplinary learning, ensuring a foundational understanding of their discipline and providing teachers with tools to teach disciplinary literacy are important steps to help students meet the demands of the disciplinary literacy agenda.     

高校开展生命教育的内容和途径探析

高校对学生的生命教育主要应该包括要教育学生敬畏生命、热爱生命、创造生命、超越生命。高校开展生命教育可以通过开设专门的课程传授,在思想政治理论课中倾注,在各专业课、公共课、教学管理中渗透,在各种实践活动中加强,在心理健康教育和心理咨询中维护。