The National Council for the Social Studies Position Statement on Media Literacy argues that media literacy can facilitate participatory democracy if students' interest in media is harnessed. The statement conceives of media technology as neutral and under-conceptualizes socializing aspects of media technologies that foster atomized individualism.…

Traditional approaches to civic engagement have been marginalized and have had little impact on the core curriculum. "Critical civic literacy" is an alternative curricular approach to civic engagement that explicitly moves departments, disciplines, and degree programs to examine issues of social responsibility and social justice from the…

For over a decade, museum educators have discussed the need for civic or community engagement, where according to the American Alliance of Museums, a museum becomes "a center where people gather to meet and converse and an active, visible player in civic life, a safe haven, and a trusted incubator of change." What are the obstacles to…

Purpose: This article analyses how an initiative on farm mechanisation by a local government in Kerala in South India evolved into a formal organisation that provides sustainable livelihood options to women and small and marginal farmers and revived the rice production system. Design/methodology/approach: The study followed the case analysis…

In 1965, President Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities Act, giving birth to the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts. The act declared, "Democracy demands wisdom and vision in its citizens. It must therefore foster and support a form of education, and access to the arts…

In this article, the author illustrates the blurring lines of youth cultural production and participatory politics from the perspective of new media literacies. Drawing on design-based action research, the author discusses pedagogical considerations in the conceptualization of new media literacies in a semester-long course that culminated in…

Starting from a political socialization perspective, this study examined the development of political participation during adolescence and early adulthood. We explore the effect of parents, peers, school media, and voluntary associations on political participation. Self-reported data were collected from 3,025 Belgian adolescents at three points in…

Preparing young people to be active citizens has to be a core value of schools and higher education institutions. Thus, education for citizenship is important because every society needs people who can contribute effectively to the future health of their communities locally, nationally and globally. The field of citizenship education is one that…

We present findings from the first wave of a longitudinal study of civic and political engagement among undergraduate students at a mid-sized university in the Midwestern United States. We find that high school experiences of civic learning are a significant predictor of three of our four measures of civic and political engagement, namely, the…

Interest in civic engagement focused on the natural environment has grown dramatically, as has the population of older adults. Our article explores the potential for increased environmental volunteerism among older adults to enrich the lives of volunteers while benefitting the community and environmental quality. Curiously, this convergence has…

When taught in an engaging manner, civic education can help stimulate and motivate students to excel in other academic areas, while simultaneously preparing them to be active citizens in the democracy. As an initial attempt to more systematically analyze civic education practice, this article presents four case studies of projects in one action…

Effective knowledge translation processes are critical for the development of evidence-based public health policy and practice. This paper reports on the design and implementation of an innovative approach to knowledge translation within a mixed methods study on lay involvement in public health programme delivery. The study design drew on…

This study examines the utility of service-learning pedagogy in the general education basic communication course to meet service-learning outcomes, with an emphasis on civic engagement. Results of the data suggest that students in both a one-time service site and multiple-site condition indicated that the service experience enhanced three of the…

For high school community service programs to have a positive impact on subsequent civic engagement, students must volunteer in a sustained manner and must evaluate their volunteering experiences positively. Using a survey with 1,293 respondents and 100 semistructured interviews with past participants of the mandatory community service program…

This study explored the civic engagement of adults holding an associate's degree compared to those holding a bachelor's degree. Most prior research has focused on individuals who hold 4-year degrees; the present study, however, sought to understand differences between holders of 2-year degrees and 4-year degrees. Descriptive statistics…