Unpacking the ‘Education’ in Civic Education :: Education Learning essays

Unpacking the pedagogics in Civic Education precisUnpacking the Education in Civic EducationIn this paper, we explore civic education through an examination of twoapproaches to the introductory course in American government. Our endeavor is to identify how differences in pedagogical method affect student learning and attitude formation. We do this through a comparison of two identical groups of students iodine group experiencing a standard text- reproof-test approach and the other having the additional experience of a three-week character-playing simulation of the congressional policy process. While we find that both(prenominal) groups of students agnize short-term gains on factual knowledge and both experience attitude shifts in our hoped for directions, the effects are greater in the standard lecture course. Our general findings help clarify directions for further revision in both formats of the course. The impressiveness of civic education has been well-established. F rom the earliest political theorists, we see discussion of the importance of a well-informed citizenry for the health of a polity. While skeptical of the power of the people to self-govern, the framers of American democracy still argued that the ultimate power rest in the people, who would even have the right to overthrow government should it violate the social contract with those over whom it governed (as in the Declaration of Independence, where we see Jeffersons thoughts so understandably influenced by Locke). Closer to modern times, much public opinion literature has engaged in discussions or so Americans levels of political knowledge, and the consequences that flow from this (see, for just a rattling few prominent examples, Campbell, Converse, Miller and Stokes 1960 Converse 1964 Delli Carpini and Keeter 1991, 1996 Graber 1994 Jennings 1996 Nie, Verba and Petrocik 1979).To our minds, civic education is about preparing our students to be citizens in the American democracy. This involves teaching them the rudiments of knowledge postulate for nurture a newspaper (or political web site), watching the news on television, and understanding what is going on in the world. Civic education likewise concerns itself with attitudes for example, teaching students to have a healthy skepticism for what goes on in government, but grounding this skepticism in a reality that does not continue phantasmagorical expectations for government or its officials (see Hibbing and Theiss-Morse 1995, 2002 for a useful discussion of unrealistic expectations). Finally, civic education also concerns behaviors, as we encourage students to make intelligent, informed decisions about the end to which they will participate in the political system.Unpacking the Education in Civic Education Education Learning essaysUnpacking the Education in Civic EducationAbstractUnpacking the Education in Civic EducationIn this paper, we explore civic education through an examination of twoappr oaches to the introductory course in American government. Our goal is to identify how differences in pedagogical method affect student learning and attitude formation. We do this through a comparison of two equivalent groups of students one group experiencing a standard text-lecture-test approach and the other having the additional experience of a three-week character-playing simulation of the congressional policy process. While we find that both groups of students make short-term gains on factual knowledge and both experience attitude shifts in our hoped for directions, the effects are greater in the standard lecture course. Our overall findings help clarify directions for further revision in both formats of the course. The importance of civic education has been well-established. From the earliest political theorists, we see discussion of the importance of a well-informed citizenry for the health of a polity. While skeptical of the power of the people to self-govern, the fram ers of American democracy still argued that the ultimate power rested in the people, who would even have the right to overthrow government should it violate the social contract with those over whom it governed (as in the Declaration of Independence, where we see Jeffersons thoughts so clearly influenced by Locke). Closer to modern times, much public opinion literature has engaged in discussions about Americans levels of political knowledge, and the consequences that flow from this (see, for just a very few prominent examples, Campbell, Converse, Miller and Stokes 1960 Converse 1964 Delli Carpini and Keeter 1991, 1996 Graber 1994 Jennings 1996 Nie, Verba and Petrocik 1979).To our minds, civic education is about preparing our students to be citizens in the American democracy. This involves teaching them the rudiments of knowledge required for reading a newspaper (or political web site), watching the news on television, and understanding what is going on in the world. Civic educatio n also concerns itself with attitudes for example, teaching students to have a healthy skepticism for what goes on in government, but grounding this skepticism in a reality that does not hold unrealistic expectations for government or its officials (see Hibbing and Theiss-Morse 1995, 2002 for a useful discussion of unrealistic expectations). Finally, civic education also concerns behaviors, as we encourage students to make intelligent, informed decisions about the extent to which they will participate in the political system.