Civic engagement is pivotal to the health of communities. Through engagement in civic activities, people from diverse backgrounds come together to address community problems. Recent studies report declining rates of civic engagement among Americans. In particular, young Americans engage less frequently in activities central to democracy, such as…

This study tests, and finds support, for the hypotheses that a student who majors in political science will have stronger feelings of political competence and will be more willing to engage in hypothetical political actions than two peer groups: (a) those who major in other fields and (b) those who show an interest in politics but have not studied…

This study examines the general question of how classroom characteristics are linked with differences among students in civic competence, which is seen to be an important basis for political inequality. A resource-mobilisation account of youth civic competence is presented, and this is tested using hierarchical linear modelling and International…

In concert with policy trends, theory and research on the ways in which school context affects student outcomes have focused almost exclusively on academic achievement in recent years. Given the fundamental role that schools should play in civic education, and the potential for schools to affect civic equality, more empirical and theoretical…

Civic participation in the United States is highly unequal, resulting in a "civic engagement gap" between socioeconomic, racial, and gender groups. Variation in civic participation and the civic engagement gap remain contested, primarily as a result of inconsistent definitions and measurement issues in previous work. Using consistent…

The opinions about what characterises a good citizen are diverse, yet survey research usually employs variable-centred analytical strategies to examine people's concepts of good citizenship. The present study builds on a person-centred approach towards good citizenship and validates previously identified types of good citizenship among Australian…

It is increasingly important for students to develop practiced and applied knowledge, teamwork skills, and civic engagement in addition to core curriculum knowledge in order to be prepared for the demands of the 21st century workforce. We propose that service-learning, or learning through an applied community service project, can uniquely address…

This study examined the impact of literacy on vocational skill acquisition with the aim of making the young people self- reliant, thereby helping them to be more involved in community participation and participate more in community issues. In this study, vocational skill acquisition is used synonymously with apprenticeship scheme. Two local…

This article examines the impact of problem-solving and creativity exercises on student interest in public policy making and behavior related to civic engagement. Researchers have long described policy making as a function of problem solving. Creativity has also been identified as an important component of the process. While these skills are…

This dissertation investigated citizen science, a tool that connects the public to the scientific community through research-based projects and education campaigns. Benefits include volunteers adding data to long-term data sets and improved scientific literacy among the public. Oftentimes, there is trepidation among scientists, managers, and…

By utilizing the data from 2009 International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS), this dissertation examines the extent to which countries vary in the pattern and magnitude of the discrepancy in civic outcomes among adolescents from differing family backgrounds. Among the many family background characteristics that may shape adolescents'…

Although the determinants of trust in governments have received significant attention in the literature on political trust, there has been no attention paid to whether environmental concerns affect governmental trust. Yet, if individuals are worried about local and global environmental degradation, they may think that the government has failed in…

It is generally assumed that civic education efforts will have a positive effect on the political attitudes and behaviors of adolescents and young adults. In the present study, we distinguish among formal civic education, an open classroom climate, and active learning strategies, and we explore their relation with political interest, efficacy,…

Tests hypotheses from lineage socialization and generation unit perspectives on Korean student protest participation using 360 self-administered questionnaires collected at 3 Korean universities. Results indicate that these hypotheses are not mutually exclusive but support the generation unit model. (SLD)

In January of 2004, we took 35 college students to Manchester, New Hampshire, where they were immersed in the crucial final weeks of the Democratic Presidential Primary as part of a course on the presidential election. This course required students to work on the campaign of their choice in the weeks leading up to the state's primary as well as…