Key Takeaway: Immersing students in civic and political issues can create notable boosts in civic participation. Employ strategies like service learning projects, open discussions on controversial subjects, and exposure to civic role models to foster engagement, especially among lower income students and students of color. This study also serves as a valuable guide for educators looking to diminish disparity in civic participation.
Criteria: Influence & Extensiveness of Study. One of the most influential pieces on civic education and engagement for students, with over 800 citations on Google scholar. Extensiveness: Methodology consists of surveying 4,057 students from 52 high schools in Chicago.
Title: Developing Citizens: The Impact of Civic Learning Opportunities on Students’ Commitments to Civic Participation
Author(s): Joseph E. Kahne
https://profiles.ucr.edu/app/home/profile/jkahne
https://mitpress.mit.edu/author/joseph-kahne-13731/
Author(s): Susan E. Sports
https://consortium.uchicago.edu/about/staff/Sue-Sporte
Year: 2008, 2009
Summation and Insights:
Schools can foster notable improvements in students’ commitments to civic participation. This study examined the specific role of civic curriculum and instruction and came up with some significant findings. First, student experiences that focus directly on civic and political issues and ways to act have proven to be highly efficacious. These specific experiences include: service learning projects, following current events, discussing problems in the community and ways to respond, providing students with open spaces to discuss both controversial issues and subjects that matter to them, and exposure to civic role models. This particular study also focused upon lower income students and students of color and found that concrete curriculum that focused upon civic participation, issues, and engagement had the ability to offset the impact of neighborhood or home contexts that may be less committed to civic participation. Engaging in some of these concrete civic learning experiences may help to lessen the participatory inequality that exists in our civic life.