As state capitals and city halls influence our daily lives, how can students become active participants in the affairs of their communities (Saffell and Basehart 2009)? For students to explore this question and local policy making in general, I developed a city council simulation for a state and local government course. This article describes the…

Traditional writing assignments often fall short in addressing problems in college students' writing as too often these assignments fail to help students develop critical thinking skills and comprehension of course content. This article reports the use of a two-part (staged) writing assignment with postscript as a strategy for improving critical…

This article examines the effectiveness of a collaborative group learning project for teaching a core competency in comparative politics: constitutional structures. We use a quasi-experimental design and propensity score matching to assess the value of a constitutional writing group project and presentation. The results provide strong evidence…

The challenges of teaching introductory-level U.S. politics to reluctant audiences are well known and widely lamented. This article investigates the pedagogical potential of political satire, specifically "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", in engaging students in this tough-to-teach course. Based on a review of available literature and…

Despite nearly universal concern about America's rapidly rising national debt, the United States government was $12.5 trillion in debt by the spring of 2010. Yet, few people--including college and university students--understand why we are in debt, what the many effects and dangers could be, the difficult steps necessary to reduce our deficits and…

How can philosophical instruction inform practical analysis and decision making among college students in a way that demonstrably benefits them as individual members of our polity and economy? I pose this question because each year, I introduce classic political theory to first- and second-year college students who simultaneously confront a fiscal…

This article illustrates the profound learning that occurs--for students and instructor alike--when a class on third-world development attempts to undertake foreign aid. With undergraduate, graduate, and departmental money, I purchased bulls and carts for farmers, and goats for widows, in two West African villages. Such experiential learning…

"I don't think I am good enough" was more than one student's response when invited to participate in civic engagement activities or to articulate their own original scholarly ideas. The insecurities underlying comments like this one are probably much more complex when put into the context of a student's academic life and its normal expectations.…

This study employs the Solomon Four-Group Design to measure student knowledge of the United States government and student knowledge of current events at the beginning of a U.S. government course and at the end. In both areas, knowledge improves significantly. Regarding knowledge of the U.S. government, both males and females improve at similar…

As the nation witnesses a distinct decline in civic engagement among young adults, political science instructors across the nation face the formidable task of engaging students in lower-level, general education courses outside students' primary domain of interest. The research presented here seeks to understand if visually enhanced lecture…

Discusses the theoretical context for service learning and the differences between service learning and community service. Examines research on effective service learning that emphasizes connections to political science content, are of a longer duration, and provide opportunities for reflection. States that the research on service learning raises…

Argues forcefully for increasing and improving citizenship education and civics in the public schools. Maintains that many individuals' disparaging of the political process rises from a lack of experience with assessing an argument on behalf of a political position. Fully documents young people's lack of political participation. (MJP)