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Problem-based learning allows students to learn disciplinary knowledge while strengthening critical-thinking, problem-solving, and research skills. In this paper, I describe my experience with problem-based learning in an introductory political science course, discussing the nature of the problems presented to students, learning objectives, method of assessment, and student reactions to the projects. This paper also provides strategies for easing the transition of students into more self-directed learning, as well as overcoming resistance to group work. I argue that problem-based learning is particularly suited to the discipline of political science, and encourage political science professors to implement problem-based learning in their courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nearly every college mission statement expresses the desire to educate students who not only have mastered a body of academic knowledge and skills but will also be responsible and engaged citizens. But it is not clear how well colleges are achieving these traditional civic and democratic goals. This paper shares insights from a three-year Carnegie Foundation study of moral and civic education in American colleges and universities, whose results are discussed in the forthcoming book, Educating Citizens: Preparing America's Undergraduates for Lives of Moral and Civic Responsibility (Jossey Bass, February 2003). Our study combined broad-based research on the practices and effects of higher education with in-depth case studies of twelve campuses that demonstrate a strong institutional commitment to civic education, including public and private, religious and secular, and residential and commuter campuses, community colleges and research universities, a tribal college, several women's colleges, a historically black college, and a military academy. These colleges and universities understand that the entire campus can be a site for civic teaching and learning, and that moral and civic education need not limited to a particular course or program focused on traditional "civics" content but should be integrated across curricular and co-curricular programs and many campus experiences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]