Interest in improving civic education is growing, but there's no clear definition of what civic education should be. To understand what kinds of skills civics education should promote in students, Jack Schneider, Eric Soto-Shed, and Karalyn McGovern surveyed 100 experts and 500 ordinary citizens, asking them to name the tasks that skilled citizens…

Recognition of young children as citizens is relatively new in sociology, with translation emerging into education. Discourses of children and childhood shape ideas of young children as citizens and national discourses of citizenship frame what civic participation can be. The authors analysed national early childhood education curricula frameworks…

Providing opportunities for elementary students to engage with enduring social issues, such as houselessness, is essential in preparing informed, engaged, and social justice-oriented citizens. This article draws from the following standards: (1) C3 Framework for Social Studies Standards that center inquiry; (2) Learning for Justice's Social…

This article aims to explore two assumptions that have underpinned most research on teachers' perceptions of citizenship education (CE). These are, firstly, that teachers' perceptions of CE are relatively coherent, conscious and classifiable into citizenship models and, secondly, that these perceptions are strongly connected to their political…

For a pre-kindergarten (preK) class, designing a 3-D map of a newly constructed playground offered authentic opportunities to participate, deliberate, and solve an authentic problem. Responding to the compelling question--"How do we build community spaces that are welcoming to, representative of, and sustaining for all community…

Formal civic education that seeks to develop young people's appreciation and competence for active participation in their communities is critically important, and we should continue to advocate for its inclusion. Learning to live together--in community with diverse others--has always required far more than formal civic education curriculum has…

With renewed emphasis on civic education in K-12 schools, educators and politicians call for young people to engage in civic action. Worth considering are the kinds of ideas taken up, the performances deemed "critical" enough, and actions recognized in schools as civic engagement. Drawing from a case study of second graders in New York…

Public school spaces play a large role in developing people's understandings of civic knowledge and responsibility. Teachers, administrators, and policy-makers design school curriculum to reflect the types of citizens they believe a society needs, and thus, determines approaches to teaching and curriculum development (Labaree, 1997). This action…

This manuscript explores the power of using inquiry in a second-grade classroom to make students' understanding of citizenship more complex. It describes an inquiry unit in which students studied primary sources, engaged with fiction and nonfiction children's literature, and participated in interdisciplinary learning to further understand the…

Additional research is needed on ways in which urban youth report their civic engagement. Existing research indicates that federal legislation has resulted in reduced instructional time and resources in social studies and civic education in many states, which has led to a civic education opportunity gap that resonates through many urban…

In this review, we present an argument for the need to support young adult's civic engagement and we explore the role of online games in supporting such engagement. In doing so, in the first section of the paper, we offer a definition for civic education and citizenship alongside a discussion for the pedagogical frameworks that better support…

Many scholars and practitioners have asserted the value of opportunities for young children to participate in projects that inspire positive civic engagement. A National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Position statement stresses civic engagement as an important focus for powerful and purposeful learning in elementary social studies. The…

Understandings of young children as active and capable citizens, while evident in discourses of early childhood education and research, are not widely reflected in the policy for the early years of schooling in Australia. This paper makes an analysis of the gaps and tensions between discourses of young children as active citizens and policy for…

In October 2005, Keep Scotland Beautiful commissioned the SCRE Centre at the University of Glasgow to undertake an evaluation of the Eco Schools Programme in Scotland. Eco Schools is a programme for environmental management, certification and sustainable development education. It is an international programme that was developed in 1994 in response…