The global push to reorient social sciences in an increasingly technical direction might have a clear labour-market justification, but the efforts face headwinds from both faculty and students. This research is concerned with the fear that students would resist such a reorientation. Much of the pedagogic social-science research seeks ways to…

How does shared identity between researcher and the researched influence trust-building for data generation and knowledge production? We reflect on this question based on two separate studies conducted by African-based researchers in sociology and political science in Nigeria. We advanced two interrelated positions. The first underscores the…

Analyzing gender inequalities when teaching political science can be an opportunity. Making inequalities visible in the classroom using students' personal experiences can help teachers generate co-responsible practices which are necessary in a context where group work is increasingly important. Moreover, revealing gender inequalities through the…

Reading is critical to success in college. Faculty members often decry students who come to class without reading, and unprepared for the lessons of the day. Yet, relatively little empirical research assesses how to best stimulate collegiate reading and what types of reading assessments provide the best student learning outcomes. This paper…

While critical methods have gained popularity in recent times, analysis of documents remains an under-explored area for developing methods of elevating the perspectives of oppressed populations. This is important given the agentic role documents play in systemic and institutionalized oppression. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to use a…

How much should student effort matter in their course grades? How much does student effort actually matter? What is the link between student effort and student performance, especially when the effort is not specifically focused on a specific performance metric? This paper examines these questions normatively as well as by analyzing student data…

This paper makes the case for why anti-racism pedagogy should be included and identified as anti-racism in political science courses and provides and evaluates an example of anti-racism pedagogy in an American Political Thought course. In addition, I address critics of anti-racism and ways of addressing those critics in the classroom. In…

This article presents a memorable method to introduce new students to the concept of political needs. Using an adaptation of Abraham Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs" to one of "Hierarchy of Political Needs" the instructor presents how needs for "physiological survival," safety, belonging, "recognition," and…

This article explores initiatives to decolonise the curriculum via two specific disciplines, namely Economics and Politics, both of which have tended to marginalise the study of race, empire, and colonialism and whose canonical thinkers are overwhelming white. By providing the first comparative analysis of decolonising initiatives in these…

As the cradle of cultivating talents, universities are facing great opportunities and challenges in their education. Among them, IPE (ideological and political education), as an important foundation for the future growth of university students, is of great significance. This paper discusses the relationship between IPE and psychological fitness…

Teaching excellence in higher education can be defined and studied in different ways, but research efforts to date have often focused on institutional or instructor perspectives. This article uses a data set of over 500 open-ended comments submitted by Political Science undergraduates as part of a teaching award process to identify themes that…

This article assesses the effectiveness of two active learning formats -- a fully flipped and a semi-traditional one -- for students' soft skills, such as critical thinking, teamwork, self-efficacy, and learning perception, and for students' achievement measured in terms of grades. To measure the impact on the soft skills, it uses a Wilcoxon test,…

Democratic governance has been a central tenant of leadership development in U.S. political science departments. The discipline of political science focuses on the development of engaged citizens and responsible leaders who can have a positive impact in their communities at all levels.

This reflection focuses on my experiences teaching political science through a black worldview suggested by Dr. Mack H. Jones. In 1971, Dr. Mack H. Jones challenged black political scientists to subvert the efforts of white political scientists by creating an alternative frame of reference that focused on African American and African communities…

Data visualization is an important tool for communicating research results. This manuscript discusses a method that instructors can use to introduce political science students to visualizations and discusses strategies that instructors can share with students about how to create high-quality visualizations. These strategies can help students make…