Civic Education through Service Learning

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert G. Bringle ◽  
Patti H. Clayton
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Civic Education

scholarly journals What kind of citizen? Political choices and educational goals

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Westheimer ◽  
Joseph Kahne
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Curriculum Evaluation ◽  
Educational Goals ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Good Citizen ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Good Citizenship ◽  
Broad Variety ◽  
Political Choices

The notion of democracy occupies a privileged place in our society. Educators and policymakers are increasingly pursuing a broad variety of programs that aim to promote democracy through civic education, service learning, and other pedagogies. The nature of their underlying beliefs, however, differs. “What Kind of Citizen?” calls attention to the spectrum of ideas represented in education programs about what good citizenship is and what good citizens do. Our argument derives from an analysis of both democratic theory and a two year study of educational programs in the U.S. that aim to promote democracy. The study employed a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative data from observations and interviews with analysis of program documents and quantitative analysis of pre/post survey data. We detail three conceptions of the “good” citizen: personally responsible, participatory, and justice oriented that emerged from literature analysis and from our study. We argue that these three conceptions embody significantly different beliefs regarding the capacities and commitments citizens need in order for democracy to flourish; and they carry significantly different implications for pedagogy, curriculum, evaluation, and educational policy. We underscore the political implications of education for democracy and suggest that the narrow and often ideologically conservative conception of citizenship embedded in many current efforts at teaching for democracy reflects not arbitrary choices but rather political choices with political consequences.

Ensuring good character and civic education: connecting through service learning

2012 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 430-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Shumer ◽  
Carolina Lam ◽  
Bonnie Laabs
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Civic Education

Service Learning as Pedagogy and Civic Education: Comparing Outcomes for Three Models

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Parker-Gwin ◽  
J. Beth Mabry
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Civic Education

Facilitating youth development through service-learning: Social justice implications for underserved youth

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-103
Author(s):  
Christopher A Curtis
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Youth Development ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Protective Factor ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Afterschool Programs ◽  
Marginalized Youth ◽  
Underserved Youth ◽  
Learning Programs

The implications of how service-learning participation can enhance civic knowledge and engagement among young people are discussed at length in the existing literature. However, research that explores the utility of formalizing service-learning as a means of enriching civic education for underserved and minority youth is lacking, particularly within the context of secondary education. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the discourse around increasing the use of service-learning programs as a means of supplementing existing methods that facilitate well-rounded youth development (e.g. school curricula, afterschool programs, mentorship) and enhance well-being among underserved youth within a social justice framework. The aims of this article are met by first illuminating the risk factors facing minority and underserved youth. The social justice implications of service-learning participation for youth are then discussed. Finally, the feasibility of utilizing service-learning as a protective factor for marginalized youth is explored.

Minimizing the POSH Bias Through Education: Necessity of the “How-To” Component

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 392-395
Author(s):  
Justina M. Oliveira
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Psychology Education ◽  
Implementing Change ◽  
In The Beginning ◽  
Newly Hired ◽  
Education Process

Gloss, Carr, Reichman, Abdul-Nasiru, and Oestereich (2017) neglected the “how-to” component of their proposal for increasing humanitarian efforts in the field of industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology. Implementing change at an earlier point in the education process, through social justice awareness and applied service learning, is likely to lead to a more robust and fruitful shift away from a POSH bias compared to an attempt at persuading those currently in the field to adopt this change after their training (although I would never argue that the latter is utterly irrelevant). I hold an unwavering conviction that a natural route toward change would be to ensure that I-O psychology educators are explicitly focusing on the humanitarian workplace movement within our courses and that I-O professionals in organizations aid this cause by encouraging a humanitarian perspective as they train their newly hired, fresh-faced I-O graduates. The purposeful threading of humanitarian goals into I-O psychology education, in large part through service learning or civic education, is the key to our effectiveness. Without such a focus in the beginning stratum of I-O psychologists’ training, our other well-intentioned attempts at shifting the field's focus toward humanitarian concerns may be in vain. Below, I offer suggestions to reach this goal.

scholarly journals Deployment of service-learning as a pedagogy for social transformation

2022 ◽  
pp. 91-103
Author(s):  
Y.J. Dzinekou ◽  
G. Mureithi ◽  
P. Sergon
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Transformational Learning ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Transformative Education ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Traditional Role ◽  
Slum Dwellers ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Education And Development

Teaching is not only a traditional role of universities, but it remains one of the most critical missions of them. The pedagogy used in teaching determines if learning will be transformational or just transactional. Transactional learning has continually increased university graduates who become a problem to the community instead of being a source of solutions to the community problems. This study introduces service-learning as a transformational learning pedagogy that empowers students to identify problems in their community and enables them to work with the community as co-creators to solve the myriad challenges that the communities battle with daily. The study provides empirical evidence of how the service-learning model is used as an education pedagogy in the informal settlements of Nairobi to train slum dwellers in civic education and development. The study adopted a qualitative approach. The study's findings demonstrate that service-learning enables students to acquire knowledge and skills to deploy in their communities. It provides evidence on how service-learning can be modelled for transformative education. The study results reveal how service-learning as a teaching pedagogy can contribute to students' personal transformation and the social transformation of the community.

Democratic Innovation in K-12 Education

2018 ◽  
pp. 43-66
Author(s):  
Albert W. Dzur
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Curriculum Design ◽  
Institutional Governance ◽  
Democratic Schools ◽  
The Social ◽  
Student Power ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Barriers To Growth ◽  
K 12

Civic engagement and service learning are now part of mainstream American education, but such programs are normally embedded in hierarchical, rule-bound, and inegalitarian institutions. Even while called to service outside, most students are excluded from meaningfully shaping the social environment inside their schools. This chapter examines schools embracing a different model. Democratic schools involve students in curriculum design, teaching, and institutional governance. Regular all-school advisory meetings, student-led inquiry, peer juries, and other forms of participatory conflict resolution are common in these schools. Historically linked to progressive education reforms and to student power efforts in the 1960s, contemporary democratic innovators in mainstream K-12 education are motivated by three factors seen as under threat: professional identity, academic engagement, and genuine civic education. Drawing on interviews with teachers and principals working in democratic schools across different regions, this chapter describes barriers to growth as well as available resources for sustaining long-term reform.

Citizenship and Civic Education: A Critical Elaboration on the Pedagogy of Rizal’s La Liga Filipina

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clement Camposano
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Sociology Of Education ◽  
General Will ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
The Social ◽  
Learning Programs ◽  
Ethical Project

Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s role in shaping Jose Rizal’s political ideas is a blurred spot in existing scholarship on the latter’s life and works. There seems to be an endemic lack of interest in this matter, with scholars preferring to explore Rizal through the optics of nationalism and/or liberalism, often in their attempt to construct the “unity” of his ideas. Aiming to fill this lacuna and unsettle established readings, this article explores Rizal’s decisive shift from Voltairean liberalism in favor of Rousseau’s vision of a cohesive civic body constituted through the social contract. It contends that the social contract theory and its associated concept of the “general will” could serve as bases for resolving the problem of fractiousness and excessive individualism Rizal observed among young expatriate Filipinos, a problem he became increasingly concerned with and nuanced his commitment to the campaign for liberal reforms. Putting on hold the obsession with a unified Rizal, this article asserts that invoking Rousseau’s vision crystallizes the meaning of La Liga Filipina—its place in the trajectory of Rizal’s thoughts and the educative role it was meant to play in relation to the Filipino nation as an ethical project. Finally, the article elaborates on this role, critically exploring its significance and implications for civic education using key sociological concepts and insights from the anthropology and sociology of education, as well as studies on the effectiveness of service-learning programs in promoting civic engagement and participation among young people. A critical elaboration on the pedagogy suggested by La Liga calls attention to how citizenship education might be situated in quotidian processes and spaces, how it is implicated in systems of inequality, and how it could open up new possibilities.

Teaching About America's Fiscal Future in the University's Core Curriculum

2010 ◽  
Vol 43 (02) ◽  
pp. 323-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Galatas ◽  
Cindy Pressley
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Budget Deficit ◽  
Core Curriculum ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
State University ◽  
Curriculum Instruction ◽  
Assessment Of Student Learning ◽  
The University

Civic engagement is increasingly recognized as a significant function of public universities. The university provides a variety of opportunities for civic engagement, including co-curricular activities, service learning opportunities, and specific majors and minors. This article reviews the attempt to embed civic engagement and civic education about the national debt and budget deficit issues in a university core curriculum course at Stephen F. Austin State University. We focus on specific issues of curriculum instruction and assessment of student learning of knowledge regarding the debt and deficit issues.

Civic Education in High School and Voter Turnout in Adulthood

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Aaron C. Weinschenk ◽  
Christopher T. Dawes
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Civic Education ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Case Scenario ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Education Effects

Abstract This article examines the effect of high school civic education on voter turnout in adulthood by integrating extensive academic transcript data on social studies and civic coursework into a large-scale, longitudinal survey of a nationally representative sample of adolescents. In an initial series of regression models, civics courses appear to have an effect on turnout in adulthood. However, after accounting for individual and family attributes, civic education has a fairly limited effect on turnout, though several measures have statistically significant effects even in the presence of controls. Interestingly, the study finds no support for the idea that high school courses that focus on service learning, civic skills development or political issues increase turnout in adulthood, which is contrary to expectations from the resource model of participation. After subjecting the civic effects that persist after accounting for controls to additional scrutiny by using family fixed-effects models that account for all observed and unobserved influences shared by siblings in the same family (for example, socialization, predispositions, etc.), the evidence suggests that there is a null relationship between civic education and turnout; the best-case scenario is that any civic education effects that do exist are likely very small. The idea that additional civics training will help to substantially elevate voter turnout appears to be overly optimistic.

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