Search

While traditional civic education in the United States is inextricably linked to notions of a public sphere, this paper argues that the digital era requires a reimagining of this premise. The opaque nature of digital spaces makes it difficult for young people to understand how large of an audience they are interacting with and to what extent a conversation that may feel private is rebounding across public contexts. In this conceptual paper, we (1) use semiotic squares to present publicly private and privately public as two ways to reinterpret traditional presumptions about the role of "the public" in civic education and (2) present the implications of these blended spaces for civic education and civic learning. The paper asks, what does it mean to prepare young people for interaction in the "public" sphere within our classrooms today? By drawing on a vignette of teacher practice, we articulate what civic education could be for students around the world in the 21st century.

Built as a national effort to promote excellence in history and civics for all learners, Educating for American Democracy (EAD) brought together content experts, civic education organizations, and school district leaders to identify and outline disciplinary concepts that are essential for robust civic education. The EAD steering committee sought to map out the disciplinary and conceptual terrain of what an individual needs to know and grapple with as a responsible member of our society. Members of the steering committee are quick to point out that EAD never meant to, and did not, create a set of national standards or curricula. Instead, the project produced a roadmap that aims to guide national, state, and local educators on essential themes and topics to incorporate when developing standards and curricula for social studies education. In this article, Jane C. Lo presents an overview of the project, how its Roadmap compares to the College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework, some potential uses for the EAD Roadmap, and a few challenges of the overall EAD effort.

Background: In recent years, the United States has seen a resurgence in calls for mandating civics coursework across the country. For decades, scholars have identified classroom practices that help make civics courses more impactful to students' civic engagement and knowledge. As more civics courses are required of young people, one begins to wonder if these courses include the kinds of curricular goals and pedagogical practices that can support students' understanding of politics and promote their engagement with the system. Purpose: With increasing calls for mandating middle school civics coursework across the country, it becomes necessary to better understand what happens in these courses. To gain insights into a mandated civics curriculum, the study presented in this article examined students' experiences in a mandated middle school civics course and how the course influenced students' civic knowledge and engagement outcomes. Research Design: We used a fully mixed concurrent triangulation design to develop a robust understanding of how a mandated middle school civics course was implemented. We collected and analyzed quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously to confirm, cross-validate, and corroborate findings. The qualitative portion of the study looked to understand quantitative trends by examining these relationships through in-depth interviews and classroom observations. Findings: Three takeaways were elucidated by analysis of data -- (1) Students' experience of a mandated civics course varied a great deal between the two cases explored in this study; (2) these differences were instigated by the academic pressures associated with an end-of-course exam; yet (3) certain kinds of civics instruction have the potential to promote some desired civic outcomes in middle school. These findings suggest that middle school civics has the potential to promote students' developing civic knowledge, interest, and engagement. However, these findings hint at a troubling civic inequality that exists as early as middle school. Conclusions: Our study found that middle school is a good time to introduce students to civics content because they seem to have fairly positive attitude toward civic-mindedness. At the same time, we found that the civic opportunity gap can manifest as early as the middle grades. Specifically, these inequalities are exacerbated by the existence of a high-stakes end-of-course exam, which negatively impacts students who are already considered low academic performers.

The notion of educational gaps often portrays students of color as lower performing (or with less resources) than their White counterparts. The most prevalent gap narratives in civic education are the civic opportunity gap, where students of color in low-income areas tend to receive less quality civic education than White, wealthier students; and the civic empowerment gap, where disenfranchised students (often students of color in low income neighborhoods) display less civic knowledge, attitude and behavior than White students. In this paper, I argue that both of these civic gaps are a manifestation of a larger civic debt that is partially rooted in the racial grammar of civic education.

While simulations and role-play have been staples in the civic classroom, little is known about how they work as best practices. This study explores the ways simulations and role-play may influence students' civic identities. Drawing from sociocultural theories, the article seeks to understand how students' practice-linked identities may be shaped by their experiences with simulations and role-play in the classroom. Specifically, this study follows 2 students of color in an effort to elucidate how political simulations and role-play may impact their practice-linked identities as citizens. Findings suggest simulations and role-play provide ways for students (who may initially feel disempowered) to engage with political processes that support their identities as active citizens who are empowered to change the system.

Deliberative models of democratic education encourage the discussion of controversial issues in the classroom (e.g., Hess, 2009); however, they tend to curtail conflicts for the sake of consensus. Agonism, on the other hand, can help support the deliberative model by attending to antagonism in productive ways (Ruitenberg, 2009). In this paper, I present how agonistic deliberation (the infusion of agonism into deliberation) can work as an account of the political that may help empower young people. The paper presents two classic democratic classroom practices--structured academic controversy (SAC) and debate--together as examples of how agonistic deliberation can help students engage politically. This paper suggests that while deliberation can help students learn about political participation, agonistic deliberation (with its focus on conflict) has the potential to help students harness social frustrations into political action.

The past 15 years have seen a wealth of civic education initiatives. States have passed supportive laws, a blue-ribbon commission has identified best practices, and new programs are blossoming. Some emphasize knowing, and others emphasize doing; some are geared to academic learning about government and politics, while others emphasize participation in civic action. Both are needed because they add up to a valued hybrid: knowledgeable action or "enlightened political engagement." The authors conducted course-development research to design one such hybrid. The aim is to invigorate the high school government course, which remains a mainstay of civic education in the United States. The objective is to deepen students' knowledge of U.S. government and politics while engaging them in it through lively simulations. The authors' work includes development of an authentic assessment of deep political learning, the "Complex Scenario Test (CST)." It is a classroom-based performance assessment that can be used as a summative test at the end of the course or used formatively along the way, or both. In this article, the authors share the assessment and invite readers to adapt it to their own uses.

Social studies education and research can and must play a central role in sustaining democratic societies. As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of this vital journal that aims to strengthen social studies education, democratic societies face numerous serious challenges. Although today's circumstances are unique, many of our current challenges have existed (and will continue to exist) in some form throughout the history of democracy. In this article, scholars from various sub-fields of social studies education explore how research, scholarship, and practice in the field can address seven of these persistent civic challenges: ecological sustainability, media literacy, equity and inclusion, civic engagement, political pluralism, civic competency, and sociohistorical change. Essays on each of these topics analyze relevant prior research and offer suggestions for how future research and scholarship can explore how educators can help to address these persistent civic challenges, with the goal of supporting robust participatory democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]