In this article, I discuss how the context of children's classroom activities and the quality of their participation and agency are key to learning around values. These pedagogical approaches lie in a socio-cultural theoretical framework which I use to show how "empowered" participation in classrooms and in enquiry activities in…

This study examined the impact of constructivist-based activities in the classroom on students' perception of their teachers' authoritarian-based behaviors measured by their uncivil behaviors. It was postulated that teachers who use nonconstructivist activities in their classrooms might also demonstrate uncivil authoritarian-based behaviors. Data…

In usual understandings of learning, youths' development in classrooms is portrayed as a move from being a novice to an expert. However, findings of the present anthropologically framed study support us to argue that learning, rather, can be characterized as youths' simultaneous occupation of novice and expert roles. We refer to this simultaneous…

While there may be no definitive answers for navigating questions of school authority and teacher independence, the author outlines in this article some useful guideposts. These guideposts are not prescriptive; rather, they are important food for thought. They do not guarantee easy solutions. However, social studies teachers are preparing young…

Fourth grade students at a public elementary school in Houston, Texas, participated in a one-week exercise intended to mimic the process of creating a public good through a democratic process. The exercise involved students in four separate classes designing a class party with different characteristics (theme, music, and food) through a voluntary…

This paper developed a Democratic Classroom Survey to measure students' perceived democratic environment of the classroom. Perceived democratic environment is one of the most important variables for understanding classroom activity and indeed any type of group activity, but actually measuring perceptions in an objective manner has been…

Contends that the key questions in civic education are How should people be treated? and How should disputes between people be resolved? Argues that a moral system is necessary for a civil society and that schools have a responsibility to encourage common-sense notions of ethical behavior. Includes classroom activities to illustrate this approach.…

If a liberal arts education should prepare our students to participate in a meaningful way in democracy, what does that mean for how we design our courses across disciplines? In this paper, I first address the question: who should teach democratic skills? Using an upper-level course in Canadian politics, I then illustrate how to explicitly…

If you're serious about providing a level playing field for all, it is time to do more than identify and lament the reasons for educational disparities and why they persist. John Robert Browne II shows how Culturally Courageous Leadership by all school community stakeholders can help you achieve equitable learning opportunities and outcomes for…

Noting that one way to break boundaries that separate one person from another is to use the writing experience to identify and analyze values, this paper presents guidelines for defining values, discussing values, and teaching about values. Teaching and discussion aids are provided to enhance the examination of narratives and biographies, which…

South Africa and Namibia, two countries building young democracies, face the task of transforming their public education systems to support the values articulated in their new constitutions. This article describes a project designed to incorporate these values into schools. A group of 50 Namibian teachers, who were enrolled in the author's…

Summarizes the "Free to Learn, Free to Teach" program which draws linkages between considerate and compassionate behavior relevant to young children, and democratic values. Various charts and activities illuminating class, school, and safety rules also instruct the students in such democratic concepts as compromise and consensus. (MJP)

Provides a schema of U.S. political values with accompanying definitions and quotations, meant to serve as a supplement in teaching U.S. political values and citizenship. Includes suggestions for using the schema in the classroom. (LS)

Delineates five elements of global education curriculum for planning and implementing the elementary social studies curriculum. Provides a sample lesson from the Democratic Classroom Interaction Model that uses art activities and allows students to practice social interaction skills. States that the lesson illustrates a way to integrate global…

Democracy within the school without participation of the students in planning and carrying out the program is just as lacking as it is within a state where the people who are governed are denied the privilege of determining the scope and processes of the government. There is no one who is more directly concerned with and affected by the…