As science educators, we must view the changing nature of society brought on by technology and the global nature of society as an impetus to reexamine the nature of science instruction. We have been bestowed with the responsibility to educate students on a variety of topics that less than two decades ago did not exist. Many of these social issues are controversial in nature and are directly linked to the local, regional, national, and global communities in which we exist. However, including these social issues in the extant curriculum of science has, at best, been limited. This is true even though the National Science Education Standards specifically indicate that science and technology, as well as science in personal and social perspectives, are integral to science education. The following study examines a group of science teachers’ beliefs about the implementation of controversial social/technological issues in the extant science curriculum. Indications are that teachers believe that social issues are important to study, yet lack the support from their communities to teach social issues.

This article examines the genesis and implementation of the Atrocities Documentation Project initiated by the US State Department as well as the US government's determination that genocide had been perpetrated in Darfur, Sudan, between late 2003 and August 2004. In doing so, the author considers and analyzes the rationale for the investigation and the reasoning for the genocide determination, as given by various US officials. He also delineates and discusses the perceptions of various scholars vis-a`-vis the same issues, noting that many of the latter suspect there were ulterior motives behind the genesis and implementation of the investigation as well as the genocide determination. Finally, the author discusses the positive aspects of the investigation and the potential negative ramifications of the genocide determination.

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