Teaching Classroom Controversies: Navigating Complex Teaching Issues in the Age of Fake News and Alternative Facts

Teaching Classroom Controversies is the essential guide for all teachers trying to navigate their way through issues of controversy in the age of ‘fake news’ and ‘alternative facts’. Arguing that schools have a key role to help turn the tide and promote intellectual humility and openness, the book shows teachers how they can set the boundaries to ensure a purposeful learning environment that thinks about controversy in terms of evidence, reasoned argument, and critical reflection.

Drawing on the latest research, the first part of the book provides frameworks for teaching and learning about controversy, including how to facilitate respectful discussion, the biases that impact student beliefs, and the pedagogical techniques that should be applied in the classroom. The second part offers practical guidance on how to teach the most contentious issues facing young children and teenagers in society today, dealing with wide-ranging questions such as:

• Is Santa Claus real?
• Do I have a ‘normal’ family?
• Is the Holocaust a hoax?
• Should there be any limits on free speech?

Teaching Classroom Controversies offers teachers the tools to develop their students' critical thinking on the timely and cutting-edge issues of controversy that are shaping our world.

Glenn Y. Bezalel is Deputy Head (Academic) at City of London School, where he teaches Religion & Philosophy. Glenn is also researching the pedagogy of conspiracy theories and controversy at the University of Cambridge and has written numerous articles on a range of educational topics for both academic and professional publications. He lives in London with his wife and five children.