A common misconception is that professors who use popular culture and fantasy in the classroom have abandoned the classics, yet in a variety of contexts--high school, college freshman composition, senior seminars, literature, computer science, philosophy and politics--fantasy materials can expand and enrich an established curriculum. The new essays in this book combine analyses of popular television shows including Buffy the Vampire Slayer; such films as The Matrix, The Dark Knight and Twilight; Watchmen and other graphic novels; and video games with explanations of how best to use them in the classroom. With experience-based anecdotes and suggestions for curricula, this collection provides a valuable pedagogy of pop culture.

This book reports the design, execution, and results of a cross-national study of classrooms in eight countries. Students were administered tests and completed questionnaires at the beginning and the end of the study. Teachers also completed questionnaires. Classrooms were visited by trained observers on the average of eight times during the study. The data were analyzed in a variety of ways: simple summaries, sequential analyses, and multivariate analyses. The results of these analyses are presented and discussed. Conclusions based on these findings as well as recommendations for further research are presented.

This book makes accessible the content, key themes and concepts, and pedagogical techniques of U.S. women's history. The essays in this volume provide concise, up-to-date overviews of American women's history from colonial times to the present that include its ethnic, racial, and regional changes.--[book cover].