Civic education in undergraduate institutions is of vital importance to the civic health of society, but faculty often find it difficult to incorporate civic components into existing courses and lack the resources to incorporate civic outreach into their curriculum. As a result, research has shown that time spend on civic engagement is limited.…

Events of recent years both in the United States and around the globe have highlighted the fragility of democracy. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia has prompted educators to seek evidence-based civic engagement methods for helping students understand the invasion and its implications. This paper offers a set of recommendations on how to teach the…

Colleges and universities serve as vital bridges between the state and citizens, providing fertile ground for nurturing democratic participation among students through the cultivation of civic knowledge, skills, and attitudes collectively known as electoral engagement. However, faculty members, responsible for implementing such initiatives, may…

Mock elections are an increasingly popular form of active learning, adopted in many European countries and the United States. However, we have limited knowledge regarding the extent to which they enhance students' civic competence. This article analyzes data from over 9,000 students aged 13-19 who participated in a 2022 mock election in Sweden.…

In political science and academia more broadly, it is well understood that widespread civic engagement is a bedrock for a robust democracy. This premise drives disciplinary and institutional efforts to foster experiential learning settings that empower students to take up the responsibilities of active citizenship and the cultivation of student…

Decades of scholarship on teaching and learning affirm the benefits of public service internships on student learning outcomes. Studies emphasize how hands-on fieldwork can increase students' substantive knowledge, political efficacy, trust in government, and civic participation, among other factors. However, most articles treat internships…

The Town Hall Meeting (THM) program at California State University, Fullerton has been annually incorporated into several Introduction to American Politics course sections since 2011, to improve academic performance and promote civic engagement among enrolled students. This article provides a detailed analysis of results from a 2017…

Challenges to the value of active civic engagement are an increasingly common phenomenon in introductory American government courses as there is a rise in populist sentiment and a lethargic democratic public. Traditional methods of civic participation and ideal citizenship are difficult to model and teach against this backdrop. Here, we offer…

The scholarship supports the effectiveness of high-impact practices (HIPs) to advance undergraduates' political knowledge and engagement. A line of inquiry asks which type of HIPs is the most effective, especially for core (required) courses with students from a variety of degree programs. In 2022, many students are from Generation Z, born between…

Teaching the social contract tradition to students can be frustrating. Works by Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau may seem arcane, abstract, or irrelevant to students. Yet, it is important for students to think about what processes or mechanisms would make consent and dissent legitimate. To address this problem, this paper explains how to use a short…

This study presents the results of a quasi-experiment (N = 254) conducted over the course of ten weeks in Spring 2016 to assess the effectiveness of a game platform designed to facilitate political engagement, attention, efficacy, knowledge, and participation among college students. Results indicate positive effects of game play on several key…

While voter turnout is often seen as one definitive aspect of civic engagement, this paper argues that there are more nuanced ways to reflect on the impact of service-learning experiences on students' environmental awareness and environmentally responsible behavior changes. Using course evaluation qualitative comments in environmental…

Experiential learning has been shown to help cultivate habits of effective democratic citizens, but it is often seen as infeasible for large classes. This need not be the case. In this paper, we describe a group project designed to introduce students in a 70-person Introduction to Politics course to the basic political processes of local…

In presidential election years such as 2016, colleges and universities across the country devote substantial time and resources to student debate watch events in hopes of engaging students in the election and of generally enhancing political engagement. Few studies examine the effectiveness or potential role of such events for college students'…

The Common Ground for Action (CGA) online deliberation platform is a dynamic tool designed to encourage diverse group members to identify collective responses to deeply controversial or "wicked" public problems that have no simple solution. The program promotes authentic deliberation, while minimizing the tactics of horse-trading and…