Amid rapid technological advancements, it is increasingly crucial for educational technology research to move beyond a narrow focus on tools and gadgets, addressing instead the broader social and ethical challenges these technologies bring to education and human performance. Translational research, with roots in the biomedical sciences, is…

While the project of consolidating democracy into a durable and highly esteemed value in American culture has always been difficult to sustain, especially within the public schools, the struggle now assumes the character of a grave and inescapable need. Given the authoritarian and fascist resurgence across the globe, democracy and its accompanying…

Students often have limited opportunities in school to grapple with the ramifications of the increasing influence technology companies exert over their lives. Digital citizenship curricula could be the exception, but they typically emphasize personal safety and respectful behavior online, ignoring more participatory or justice-oriented notions of…

This article describes a civic learning and leadership development program aimed at cultivating civic mindedness and preparing students for social change roles in community settings. Participating students tackle social issues as viewed through a systemic change lens; they explore the root causes of specific social issues and then work…

In 2020, Rick Hess and Pedro Noguera engaged in a long-running correspondence that tackled many of the biggest questions in education -- including topics like school choice, equity and diversity, testing, privatization, the achievement gap, social and emotional learning, and civics. They sought to unpack their disagreements, better understand one…

Issues in society such as immigration and racial inequality threaten to derail classroom discussions. Likewise, issues in higher education such as general education (GE) reform threaten to obstruct faculty committee discussions. We want students to engage in classroom discussions through a comprehensive exploration of issues, ideas, and events…

Change comes when individuals transform themselves first and then move outward into the world. The C3 Framework lays out a vision for civic action within Dimension 4 of the Inquiry Arc in a section titled "Taking Informed Action." The Framework emphasizes that "It is important to note that taking informed action … should be grounded…

This is the executive summary for the report, "Educating for Civic Reasoning and Discourse." This report aims to better prepare students to examine and discuss complex civic, political, and social issues by ensuring that the curriculum, pedagogy, and learning environments that they experience are informed by the best available evidence…

The study of current events can take several forms, and the right current event to study as a class depends on the educational purposes, the curricular standards the authors want to address, and the resources they have available to meet them, and what the needs and abilities are of the students present in the class. In this article, they focus on…

The current political climate has created urgency around civic education. The authors argue that educators can best seize the moment by infusing authentic activities and experiences in content studies. They provide an example of one such hybrid instructional model from Democracy Prep Public Schools.

Recent surveys have indicated a worryingly low level of support for democracy among Australian youth and around the world. For example, in the 2017 Lowy Institute Poll, 36% of Australians indicated that, in some circumstances, a nondemocratic government is preferable. Such concerns, while hardly new, have triggered calls for more civic education…

This chapter discusses how college students can develop democratic dispositions and a civic identity through learning how to engage in deliberative dialogue on public issues.

The recently-released "College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards" proposes an "inquiry arc" organized around developing questions and planning inquiries, applying disciplinary concepts and tools, evaluating sources and using evidence, and communicating conclusions and taking informed…

Contemporary trends in leadership education emphasize paradigms of learning and educational practices associated with developing responsible citizens, furthering higher education's civic mission. Yet, few introductory leadership courses include an explicit civic component (Johnson & Woodard, 2014). Service-learning is a high-impact practice…

Can reading a book about a boy and a hen in Ghana make a difference to fifth graders in their Michigan community? Indeed, it can, and in myriad ways. At a suburban elementary school in Michigan, the authors introduced fifth graders to economic concepts in a project-based learning (PBL) unit. They began by reading aloud and discussing the picture…