Research on college student political engagement remains limited, often focused on classroom interventions and studied quantitatively (Bardwell, 2011; Beaumont et al., 2006; Mann et al., 2018). Students' lived experience of their political engagement, however, is "situational, emergent, and co-creative" (Hildreth, 2003, p8). During the…

As a postsecondary educator with most of my experience teaching in colleges, but with some also in undergraduate and postgraduate studies both in Canada and the United States, I have been teaching politics and government for close to fifty years. That time has been spent not only undertaking empirical analyses of political behaviour and the…

Postsecondary teacher, Howard Doughty, has been teaching politics and government for close to fifty years. That time has been spent not only working with the empirical analysis of political behaviour and the normative analysis of political theory, but also in the practical activity of promoting understanding of what is frequently called civic…

The principal aim of this study is to highlight how students in 8th grade of middle school perceive the principal concepts present in Citizenship Education (lessons), namely the values of: citizenship, (personal) rights, responsibility, the state, the law, military service, the right to education, the right to vote and participate in the political…

The 2012 elections are the perfect opportunity to help students make sense of and visualize their role in the democratic society. In this article, the authors examine the benefits of building a class museum centered on the theme: "Government of the People, for the People, and by the People." They provide steps and examples to show how to build a…

In a democracy, agents of political socialization, such as schools and parents, generally emphasize the importance of voting. While college students may be exposed briefly to voter registration as a barrier to participation, there is little evidence that the topic is given serious attention in the classroom. This research addresses how classroom…

This chapter examines the following central question: How do direct democratic ballot initiatives affect the public good? A second, related question is this: When voters collectively make policy decisions, what responsibilities do researchers have to contribute to informing public deliberation about the relevant issues? In an attempt to answer…

A paramount duty of education is to prepare young people for their role as citizens in a democratic society. Voting is one of the important responsibilities of a citizen but statistics indicate that young people often don't vote and don't believe they have a stake in the outcome of the presidential election. Storypath is a teaching strategy that…

This quinmester course of study for grades seven through nine provides a framework for analyzing election processes in a democracy by investigating democratic societies of the past, and contrasting democracies with totalitarian types of government. Major emphasis is upon analyzing the system of institutionalized political parties, the…

Discussing the interrelationship of universal adult suffrage and adult education, this national seminar in India sought to identify the basic values, requirements, and problems of parliamentary democracy, together with consequences of adult suffrage and the potential contribution of adult education to improving the quality of the democratic…

Asserts that majority rule in a democratic society follows a cyclical pattern. Discusses the paradox between the concept of majority rule and protection of the rights of voting minorities. Compares the difficulty of achieving democracy to that of achieving justice through jury trials. (CFR)

This article describes several websites that can be used to encourage students to vote. These include "The Democracy Project: Inside the Voting Booth" sponsored by PBS. This site addresses three elementary topics: how one vote has made a difference in U.S. history, how the right to vote has gradually been expanded to include minorities (African…

Thirty lessons, including 60 illustrations of maps and charts, provide a study framework for candidates preparing for their naturalization examinations as applicants for U. S. citizenship. Representative government is described in terms of group associations, comparing family, community, church, school, city, state, and national organization. The…

This paper analyses the data obtained from the findings on Hong Kong, as a part of the IEA second civic study. Because the survey was conducted two years after Hong Kong's return to China, the findings reflect concepts and attitudes toward citizenship among Hong Kong students shortly after the change of sovereignty. The study shows that Hong Kong…