One of the hallmarks of a quality liberal arts education is providing undergraduates the opportunity to wrestle with controversial issues. Yet many teachers feel ill-equipped when it comes to broaching disagreeable topics, managing the resulting heated debates, or helping students to separate their personal feelings from scientific evidence.

This book provides frameworks for teaching controversial topics and skills for handling disruptions, so teachers can help students evaluate evidence and develop testable questions.

Specific teaching topics covered include:
  • evolutionary psychology
  • childrearing
  • sexual orientation
  • animal experimentation
  • evil
  • diversity and social justice
  • gender and ethnicity
  • religion
  • disability
  • healthcare policy
Les mer
Empowering educators to handle contentious classroom debates, this guide offers practical frameworks and strategies for navigating controversial issues in the liberal arts. It covers topics from evolutionary psychology and childrearing to sexual orientation, animal testing, diversity, religion, and healthcare policy.
Les mer

Contributors

Foreword: Deciding Where to Stand 
Jane S. Halonen

Preface

Teaching About Controversial Issues: An Introduction 
Dana S. Dunn, Regan A. R. Gurung, Karen Z. Naufel, and Janie H. Wilson

I. Guiding Frameworks for Teaching About Controversial Issues

  1. Frames of Reference: Social Psychological Perspectives for Teaching About Controversial Matters 
    Dana S. Dunn, Regan A. R. Gurung, and Karen Z. Naufel
  2. Preventing and Handling Classroom Disruptions 
    Kristin M. Vespia and Tonya E. Filz
  3. Treating Students as Early-Career Professionals: The Ethics of Teaching 
    Maureen A. McCarthy and R. Eric Landrum

II. Helping Students Arrive at an Empirically Based Conclusion

  1. Seven Tools for Teaching Evolutionary Psychology 
    David M. Buss
  2. Hitting Close to Home: Teaching About Spanking 
    Elizabeth T. Gershoff
  3. Sexual Orientation, Marriage, and Students of Faith 
    David G. Myers
  4. Addressing the Role of Animal Research in Psychology 
    Suzanne C. Baker and Sherry L. Serdikoff

III. Opening Consideration of Multiple Views

  1. Overcoming Discomfort When Teaching About Evil and Immorality 
    Karen Z. Naufel
  2. Anticipating and Working With Controversy in Diversity and Social Justice Topics 
    Cheryl B. Warner, Rosemary E. Phelps, Delishia M. Pittman, and Carla S. Moore
  3. Gender Matters: Engaging Students in Controversial Issues 
    Elizabeth Yost Hammer and Eugenia M. Valentine
  4. Teaching About Race and Ethnicity 
    Mary E. Kite
  5. Spirituality and Religion: How Contexts, Developmental Processes, and Personal Experiences Influence Behavior 
    Dean D. VonDras
  6. Disability as Diversity Rather Than (In)Difference: Understanding Others' Experiences Through One's Own 
    Dana S. Dunn, David J. Fisher, and Brittany M. Beard
  7. Health Psychology and Policy: When Politics Infiltrates Science 
    Regan A. R. Gurung and Daniel Bruns

IV. Concluding Thoughts and Going Forward

  1. Using Controversies to Teach Scientific Thinking in Psychology: Topics and Issues 
    Jeffrey D. Holmes

Index

About the Editors

Les mer

Produktdetaljer

ISBN
9781433812385
Publisert
2012-12-15
Utgiver
American Psychological Association
Høyde
254 mm
Bredde
178 mm
Aldersnivå
G, 01
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
272

Biografisk notat

Dana S. Dunn, PhD, is assistant dean for special projects and professor of psychology at Moravian College. He is the author or editor of 4 books and over 2 journal articles, chapters, and book reviews, his scholarship examines teaching, learning, and liberal education, as well as the social psychology of disability. Dr. Dunn served as president of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (APA Division 2) in 2 .
 
Regan A. R. Gurung, PhD, is the Ben J. amp amp Joyce Rosenberg Professor of Human Development and Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. He is the author or editor of books and has a research program focused on the scholarship of teaching and learning. Dr. Gurung served as president of the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (APA Division 2) in 2 .
 
Karen Z. Naufel, PhD, is currently teaching at Georgia Southern University. Her research interests include ethics in science, motivation, and stigma. She is the 2 winner of the Society of Teaching Psychology's Jane S. Halonen teaching award.
 
Janie H. Wilson, PhD, has been teaching at Georgia Southern University since 994. Her research interests include rapport in teaching, social buffering, and ego depletion. Dr. Wilson currently serves as the program director for the Society for the Teaching of Psychology (APA Division 2) she becomes vice president for programming in 2 2.