Political Science as Training for the Information Age

1990 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Christopher Daniel
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Information Age ◽  
Computer Work ◽  
Mixed Emotions ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Work Style ◽  
Work Session ◽  
The Face ◽  
Communications Skills ◽  
Central Purpose

Computers inspire mixed emotions among political scientists. Love, hate, fascination, ennui, and frustration sometimes occur during the course of a single computer work session. Individuals come to terms with the beast in varying ways; obviously personal work style and level of computer dependency are each scholar's own business. However, expanded use of information technology in the disciplinary curriculum is a common concern deserving discussion. Like earlier debates between behavioralists and traditionalists, the current discussion raises questions about the discipline's central purpose. This essay reviews proposals to “computerize” political science curricula in light of contemporary theories about information and managerial work.Historically, political scientists' computer involvement has been limited, but it is now intensifying in response to educational, technological, and environmental influences. Political scientists have used computers as teaching tools since at least the early 1970s, when the APSA “SETUPs” began appearing, but as novelty items, diversions reflecting the devotion of idiosyncratic individuals. This publication has disseminated many such “experiments,” as have Social Science Computer Review and the National Collegiate Software Clearinghouse. Even as desktop machines began proliferating in the early 1980s, their use in the classroom was considered to be optional, something peripheral to the discipline which one could attempt if one had the inclination.This laissez-faire ambience may be ending in the face of societal transformations. In the classroom political scientists foster intellectual skills broadly useful to former students. A student may be an activist or an avid pre-lawyer, but his or her future professional development will be built on analytical, and communications skills honed in political science courses. This linkage between political science classrooms and the professional world could weaken if we do not adopt to societal change.

Teaching Campaign Finance with Federal Election Commission Resources

1987 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 14-15
Author(s):  
Clyde Wilcox
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
Public Office ◽  
Federal Election ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Federal Election Commission ◽  
Campaigns And Elections ◽  
Student Projects ◽  
Election Commission

Many Political Science courses include sections on campaign finance activity. Courses on Congress and on the Presidency may include sections on the financing of elections for these offices, and courses on campaigns and elections will probably cover campaign finance. In addition, courses on interest groups and on parties may include sections that focus on the activities of these actors in financing campaigns for public office.The Federal Election Commission can provide an assortment of materials that may be useful in teaching about campaign finance. Some of these materials are most useful as sources of data for lecture preparation, while other offerings can be used as part of student projects or papers. In the sections below, these materials will be described, and some classroom uses will be suggested.

Harold D. Lasswell's Political World: Weak Tea for Hard Times

1981 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard M. Merelman
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
International Politics ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Political World ◽  
Terra Incognita ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
Hard Times ◽  
The Law ◽  
The 1950S

I first encountered the work of Harold Lasswell in the late 1950s, when I was a barely awake undergraduate at a university whose reputation for mediocrity was richly deserved. I opened Politics: Who Gets What, When, How to the first paragraph: ‘The study of politics is the study of influence and the influential. The science of politics states conditions; the philosophy of politics justifies preferences. This book, restricted to political analysis, declares no preferences. It states conditions.’ I had never heard of Lasswell, for my political science courses limited themselves to subjects like Congressional seniority and Cabinet responsibility in Britain. One course discussed the law of piracy, a subject I had trouble linking to international politics in the 1950s. Some enterprising instructors occasionally discussed the balance of power, and one even assigned David Truman. But Lasswell was terra incognita to me, as he no doubt was to most undergraduates in those years.

scholarly journals Why Do Students Enroll in Political Science Courses?

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas B. Bunte
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Personal Development ◽  
American Government ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Qualitative Evidence ◽  
The World ◽  
Current Events ◽  
The Way

ABSTRACTWhy do students enroll in political science courses? I conducted an experiment designed to test the appeal of three possible motivations: students might hope to develop valuable skills, look for a better grasp of current events, or expect a deeper understanding of how the world works and their place within it. The experiment involved visiting several sections of Introduction to American Government courses. In each section, I advertised a political science course offered in the following semester. However, I varied the way in which the course was described and subsequently tracked whether students enrolled in it. I find that highlighting opportunities to develop skills does not have a significant effect on enrollment. In contrast, emphasizing “how the world works” is most effective at increasing enrollment. Qualitative evidence suggests that students are attracted to this type of course because it offers the opportunity for personal development and growth.

scholarly journals Visual Literacy Intervention for Improving Undergraduate Student Critical Thinking of Global Sustainability Issues

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (23) ◽  
pp. 10209
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Krejci ◽  
Shirma Ramroop-Butts ◽  
Hector N. Torres ◽  
Raphael D. Isokpehi
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
Visual Literacy ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Literacy Intervention ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Global Sustainability ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
The Face

The promotion of global sustainability within environmental science courses requires a paradigm switch from knowledge-based teaching to teaching that stimulates higher-order cognitive skills. Non-major undergraduate science courses, such as environmental science, promote critical thinking in students in order to improve the uptake of scientific information and develop the rational decision making used to make more informed decisions. Science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) courses rely extensively on visuals in lectures, readings and homework to improve knowledge. However, undergraduate students do not automatically acquire visual literacy and a lack of intervention from instructors could be limiting academic success. In this study, a visual literacy intervention was developed and tested in the face-to-face (FTF) and online sections of an undergraduate non-major Introduction to Environmental Science course. The intervention was designed to test and improve visual literacy at three levels: (1) elementary—identifying values; (2) intermediate—identifying trends; and (3) advanced—using the data to make projections or conclusions. Students demonstrated a significant difference in their ability to answer elementary and advanced visual literacy questions in both course sections in the pre-test and post-test. Students in the face-to-face course had significantly higher exam scores and higher median assessment scores compared to sections without a visual literacy intervention. The online section did not show significant improvements in visual literacy or academic success due to a lack of reinforcement of visual literacy following the initial intervention. The visual literacy intervention shows promising results in improving student academic success and should be considered for implementation in other general education STEM courses.

scholarly journals CONFIDENTIALITY AND INTRUSION: BUILDING STORM DEFENCES RATHER THAN TRYING TO HOLD BACK THE TIDE

2016 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 452-455
Author(s):  
Oliver Michael Butler
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Private Information ◽  
Information Age ◽  
Online Media ◽  
England And Wales ◽  
High Court ◽  
National Courts ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
The Face ◽  
Held Back

THE image of King Canute trying to hold back the tide is a popular one used to critique attempts by national courts to restrain the publication of private information in the face of a global and online media. The truth, or at least the allegation, will out. The issue is certainly not a new one. The futility of an injunction in England and Wales, given extensive publication out of the jurisdiction, played a key role in the Spycatcher litigation in the late 1980s. Such futility is a feature of confidentiality or secrecy: the tide of information cannot be held back in an information age. In PJS v News Group Newspapers [2016] UKSC 26, the Supreme Court, endorsing an approach developed by the High Court in several earlier authorities, distinguished between protecting confidentiality and preventing intrusion as twin rationales for the tort of misuse of private information. The intrusion of a pending media storm in the jurisdiction, repeating allegations already widely available, was a further misuse of private information and could usefully be restrained in England and Wales. Even where confidentiality had already been lost, privacy injunctions could continue to play a useful role as a defence against the significant additional intrusion, at least where it could be practicably restrained, and the pending media storm that would accompany a lifting of the injunction represented one such case.

scholarly journals Getting the Most from Classroom Simulations: Strategies for Maximizing Learning Outcomes

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (03) ◽  
pp. 547-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Wedig
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Learning Objectives ◽  
Core Component ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Science Courses ◽  
Instructor Role ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractClassroom simulations can make a significant contribution to learning outcomes in political science courses, provided that they are firmly linked to course content and learning objectives. This article offers a step-by-step decision framework for instructors seeking to use simulations as a core component of their courses, including selection of an exercise, pre-simulation preparation, instructor role during a simulation, and techniques for debriefing after the exercise. Options such as online and face-to-face, synchronous and asynchronous, distributed and single classroom, and individual and team formats are compared, with a focus on their associated learning outcomes.

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