The field of citizen science is one of the fastest growing sectors in informal education, specifically because of the new opportunities that are now available within today's digitized and networked world. This paper describes a unique co-created citizen science project, WeatherBlur, which brought fishermen, elementary students, and teachers from…

Technological developments, social networking and the emergence of sensory micro-computation platforms have facilitated the recent growth of citizen science-public participation in scientific research. Citizen science provides lay audiences platforms for data collection and classification alongside access to large scientific databases. Although…

How does community-based learning (CBL) influence student attitudes toward civic participation? One of CBL's primary aims is to improve college student civic participation. As yet, however, little is known about the educational effects of CBL classes on student community and political participation. Using a quasi pre--post experiment with…

This paper examines a case study comparing students in civic engagement-enhanced journalism classes with those in which civic engagement was not emphasized in a medium-sized MidAtlantic university. Students completed surveys at the conclusion of the spring 2017 semester assessing their attitudes toward professional journalism roles. Students in…

Designed for middle school grades, the National Geographic Geo-Inquiry Process engages students in geographic inquiry that begins with formulating a question that addresses an issue in the local community and ends with taking informed action to advocate for a specific, concrete solution. This research employs a pretest and post-test in classrooms…

While active citizenship education programs are assumed to have positive benefits for the active citizenship practice of participants (UNESCO, 2009, p. 4), there is actually little evidence that programs do (de Weerd, Gemmeke, Rigter & van Riji, 2005, p. vii). This paper discusses a research project that aimed to determine and increase the…

Building up the personal identity is a lifelong process, as identity can change, according with the groups of belonging, with new knowledge and changes of beliefs and contexts. There are more stable components of identity, like the values and attitudes, but there are contexts and experiences that sharpen different aspects of the identity. The…

This study examined the Community Super Investigators Club, through which we aimed to apply mathematics and literacy skills by using project-based learning (PBL) to investigate elementary students' interest in learning how to improve the environment for animals. PBL is a teaching method used to improve critical thinking skills around a project…

Public engagement is recognised as having an increasingly important role in the changing landscape of higher education in the United Kingdom (UK), and is promoted as a 'pathway to impact' by many higher education funding bodies. However, there is limited evidence to support the outreach and impact gained by higher education institutes that…

This study explores how often faculty members encourage students to engage with campus, local, state, national, and global issues. Using data from the 2013 administration of the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE), the results show that faculty members are more likely to encourage students to engage in state, national, or global issues…

In recent years, Teach for America (TFA) has invested in developing corps members as leaders. Although TFA asks corps members for a two-year commitment, TFA celebrates the achievements of alumni who have gone on to careers in politics, public policy, and advocacy. Thus, many community leaders see the arrival of TFA corps members as having a…

This paper examines the development of multicultural curriculum in Hong Kong and Taiwan over the last two few decades. Though both societies are broadly Chinese cultural contexts, differences in their political histories, cultures, and demographics nonetheless reflect disparate approaches to the development of multiculturalism in curriculum…

There is no better site for political or democratic action than the school itself and the students' own community, according to educational philosopher John Dewey (1859-1952). Learning about local government provides students with authentic examples of democratic processes and institutions that shape their daily lives. Getting involved in local…

Student participation in real-world problems promotes "a sense of their own agency andcollective capacity to alter their neighbourhoods or communities for the better" (Smith, 2007).This paper describes student engagement in a two-week summer workshop conducted in June2016, where they used geospatial technologies and community mapping to…

This dissertation is an ethnographic study of a New York City-based third-sector organization focused on what it calls "food justice." This study concentrates on how this organization, that I call Food Rights, has built a broad multi-sector network made up of a varied set of constituents and collaborators aiming to develop and promote an…