Unlike less personal subjects, teaching intimate relationships involves navigating students’ experiences, perspectives, and beliefs. Students bring personal histories and assumptions to classes on intimacy, which can lead to challenging moments when these deeply held beliefs are questioned. How can instructors address and reframe these preconceived assumptions with respect and empathy?
Category: Author Conversations
Separating Science Fact from Science Fiction: Tools for Science Literacy
What gave rise to this seemingly sudden decline in scientific trust? In retrospect, the public’s misapprehension about the value and meaning of science and scientific consensus clearly reflects a failure of science education.
Teaching Difficult Topics in the Humanities Classroom
As a teacher of moral and political philosophy, currently teaching at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford on a Master of Public Policy Degree, I typically teach students from around 50 countries with very different social, educational, and professional backgrounds, and I often encounter passionate disagreement in the classroom. So how do I keep the peace and encourage thoughtful, respectful dialogue?
Using Famous Figure Chatbots to Make Challenging Ideas Accessible: Q&A with Martin Puchner
I started to play around with the technology and was amazed how relatively easy and interesting it was. It made me realize that much of what had driven my work—how to make the past speak to the present, how to read ancient texts, and what it meant that the words of long-dead authors were available to us in the present—was relevant for interacting with chatbots.
Using Storytelling to Engage Environmental Science Students
Engaging students in the principals of physics, chemistry, and biology that underlie environmental science can be a challenge, especially in large and introductory classes, which I frequently teach. Over more than three decades as an educator at the college and high school level, I have honed an approach that I find reaches and engages many students in these large, lecture-based classes—teaching about the environment through the lens of people, their lives, and out-of-the-box ideas.
Taking a New Approach to Stats: Q&A with Jessica Hartnett
The Norton Psychology team recently sat down with psychology professor Jessica Hartnett to discuss the launch of her book Psychological Statistics for Everyone (available Fall 2025). Read more about why she wrote the book, her advice to instructors teaching the course for the first time, and more, below.
AI Ethics in the Classroom
Artificial Intelligence has become ubiquitous, with its bots and algorithms permeating every aspect of our lives. For several years now, it’s been too late to turn back; AI (often invisibly) powers our smartphones, vehicles, homes, and businesses. But with the more recent advent of widely available generative AI, educators now face the divisive challenge of how, or whether, to use this technology in the classroom.
Disability Concerns for Our Collective Futures
Earlier this year, I was interviewed by a reporter about large language models (LLMs, like ChatGPT) and disability. I talked about the many concerns the disability community might have about LLMs not providing very good information, and about how biases against disabled people will be repeated and amplified in what LLMs spit out.
Specifications Grading: A Before-and-After Tale in My Organic II Course
By replacing high-stakes exams with shorter, focused assessments emphasizing achievement instead of percentage grades, and allowing students to retake those assessments without penalty, I was confident I could reduce anxiety, promote a growth-mindset, and improve student engagement, all while keeping the bar high. So, I jumped in with both feet.
Exploring Wild Girls: A Q&A with Tiya Miles
The Norton Shorts team sat down with award-winning historian Tiya Miles to discuss her new book Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation. Tiya discusses the inspiration behind the project, what she hopes students will take away from the book, and more, below. How did your personal and academic journey …
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