Play it Safe or Take a Risk?: Tradeoffs & Decisions in Teaching Controversial Issues, with Judy Pace (University of San Francisco)

When teaching controversial issues, should teachers play it safe or take some risks? How much risk is too much? How do political and historical contexts affect how educators explore controversial issues in their classrooms? Should students be expected to share their perspectives on controversial issues?

In Part 2 of Brett's interview with Judy Pace, Judy explains what her research taught her about how contextual factors affect educators' instruction about controversial issues. She also discusses the challenges involved in building classroom community and how to make teaching controversial issues more widespread.

Judy's research and this podcast episode were supported by the Spencer Foundation, a non-profit organization that supports educational research.


Links to Judy Pace's Work

Judy Pace's Website at USF

Judy's Book - Hard Questions: Learning to Teach Controversial Issues


Links to Other Related Resources

Education for Sustainable Democracy Website 

Education for Sustainable Democracy Facebook Page

Brett Levy et al.'s Article & Framework for Guiding Classroom Discussions


Related ESD Episodes

Judy Pace Interview, Part 1: Learning to Teach Controversial Issues

Prof. Diana Hess on Teaching Controversial Issues

Prof. Wayne Journell on Modeling Political Tolerance