Civic Education and Democratic Capacity: How Do Teachers Teach and What Works?
Saved in:
| Title: | Civic Education and Democratic Capacity: How Do Teachers Teach and What Works? |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Martens, Allison M., Gainous, Jason |
| Source: | Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell). Dec2013, Vol. 94 Issue 5, p956-976. 21p. 3 Charts. |
| Subjects: | Civics education, Democracy, Social sciences education in secondary schools, Teaching methods, Teacher attitudes |
| Geographic Terms: | United States |
| Abstract: | Objectives In recent years, political scientists have found that civic education improves the democratic capacity of students, yet little research has been done to date on how and why civic education works when it does. In this study, we go inside the classroom to explore how teachers teach civics to find out what works best at preparing young people for responsible, democratic citizenship. Methods Using a survey of American students, principals, and teachers, we examine the varied instructional methods being employed by social studies teachers in ninth-grade classrooms across the country to determine which methods and which combinations of methods do the best job of enhancing students' democratic capacity defined as their political knowledge, political efficacy, and intent to vote. Results Our results suggest that there are four broad teaching approaches employed by social studies teachers: traditional teaching, active learning, video teaching, and maintenance of an open classroom climate. Teachers may employ some combination of these approaches. The analysis indicates that approaches that foster an open classroom climate (encouraging student input) in combination with the others tend to be the most fruitful across the board. While any combination including an open classroom climate maximizes benefit, traditional teaching (i.e., use of methods including textbook reading, worksheets, memorization, and so forth) combined with an open classroom climate seems to do the best. Also, the results suggest that the combinations that work best for stimulating internal efficacy vary greatly from those stimulating the other citizenship outcomes. Conclusions Taken together, our results suggest that fostering an open classroom climate when teaching civics is the surest way to improve the democratic capacity of America's youth. Further, teachers should be attentive to the instructional tradeoffs necessary to creating student capacities for both active and informed citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell) is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
| FullText | Links: – Type: pdflink Text: Availability: 0 |
|---|---|
| Header | DbId: pbh DbLabel: Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection An: 92005204 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
| IllustrationInfo | |
| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: Civic Education and Democratic Capacity: How Do Teachers Teach and What Works? – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Martens%2C+Allison+M%2E%22">Martens, Allison M.</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Gainous%2C+Jason%22">Gainous, Jason</searchLink> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Social+Science+Quarterly+%28Wiley-Blackwell%29%22">Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell)</searchLink>. Dec2013, Vol. 94 Issue 5, p956-976. 21p. 3 Charts. – Name: Subject Label: Subjects Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Civics+education%22">Civics education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Democracy%22">Democracy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+sciences+education+in+secondary+schools%22">Social sciences education in secondary schools</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teaching+methods%22">Teaching methods</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Teacher+attitudes%22">Teacher attitudes</searchLink> – Name: SubjectGeographic Label: Geographic Terms Group: Su Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22United+States%22">United States</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Objectives In recent years, political scientists have found that civic education improves the democratic capacity of students, yet little research has been done to date on how and why civic education works when it does. In this study, we go inside the classroom to explore how teachers teach civics to find out what works best at preparing young people for responsible, democratic citizenship. Methods Using a survey of American students, principals, and teachers, we examine the varied instructional methods being employed by social studies teachers in ninth-grade classrooms across the country to determine which methods and which combinations of methods do the best job of enhancing students' democratic capacity defined as their political knowledge, political efficacy, and intent to vote. Results Our results suggest that there are four broad teaching approaches employed by social studies teachers: traditional teaching, active learning, video teaching, and maintenance of an open classroom climate. Teachers may employ some combination of these approaches. The analysis indicates that approaches that foster an open classroom climate (encouraging student input) in combination with the others tend to be the most fruitful across the board. While any combination including an open classroom climate maximizes benefit, traditional teaching (i.e., use of methods including textbook reading, worksheets, memorization, and so forth) combined with an open classroom climate seems to do the best. Also, the results suggest that the combinations that work best for stimulating internal efficacy vary greatly from those stimulating the other citizenship outcomes. Conclusions Taken together, our results suggest that fostering an open classroom climate when teaching civics is the surest way to improve the democratic capacity of America's youth. Further, teachers should be attentive to the instructional tradeoffs necessary to creating student capacities for both active and informed citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell) is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
| PLink | https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=pbh&AN=92005204 |
| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2012.00864.x Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 21 StartPage: 956 Subjects: – SubjectFull: Civics education Type: general – SubjectFull: Democracy Type: general – SubjectFull: Social sciences education in secondary schools Type: general – SubjectFull: Teaching methods Type: general – SubjectFull: Teacher attitudes Type: general – SubjectFull: United States Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: Civic Education and Democratic Capacity: How Do Teachers Teach and What Works? Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Martens, Allison M. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Gainous, Jason IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 12 Text: Dec2013 Type: published Y: 2013 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 00384941 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 94 – Type: issue Value: 5 Titles: – TitleFull: Social Science Quarterly (Wiley-Blackwell) Type: main |
| ResultId | 1 |
