The ability to critically read peer-reviewed journal articles is a skill that is developed with practice. And while this skill is essential for graduate students who are budding members of the community, it appears overlooked at the undergraduate level and especially in the community college setting. By not introducing the analysis of journal articles to this student population, we may be limiting their future success. Therefore, how can we introduce the analysis of journal articles to community college students and what effect does this have on their skills and interests? Utilizing a pre-test/post-test research design across five political science courses in a single semester at a community college, I examine how a Journal Article Analysis module, which is a collection of assignments and assessments, effects students’ ability to analyze political science journal articles and their interest in the discipline.

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Gender, race, and intersectionality are increasingly relevant in our diversifying country. Political science courses centered on these concepts are emerging throughout the United States, but not yet ubiquitous. Integrative political science courses merge lectures, journal articles analysis teams, public policy project teams, and simulations in a single course to facilitate a multi-faceted learning experience with students and between students. Utilizing a Technology-Enabled Active Learning classroom, approximately 90 students enrolled in a race and gender course organize into journal article analysis, public policy project, and simulation teams. How do students benefit from the integration of science, practice, and simulation in learning about race, gender, and intersectionality?

Faculty are becoming increasingly interested in the science of teaching and learning (SoTL) and working to explore whether specific interventions are associated with a substantive change in learning outcomes (Whitman and Richlin 2007). In this article we lay out different ways faculty might deepen their approach to SoTL through their courses, provide examples for and explanations of these designs, discuss different means of assessing outcomes depending on the types and regularity of courses faculty teach, and provide specific tools for assessment in the context of a Political Science methods course.

Oversight is a function commonly associated with the legislative branch of government at the federal and state level. To a lesser extent, the concept is extended to the judicial branch in the form of court cases clarifying the powers between the legislative-executive-judicial branches. However, at the local level, the judicial branch may not be limited to oversight of co-equal branches through court cases alone. In the state of California, there exists county-level civil grand juries which are housed in the judicial branch. Civil grand juries, which have endured since the state's founding constitution of 1850, have complete discretion to investigate the operations of local government officials, departments, and agencies. These civil grand juries represent quasi-judicial oversight of local legislative and executive branches of government. How responsive are local legislative and executive branches of governments to such oversight? To answer this question, I explore the relationship between local quasi-judicial oversight, local government responsiveness, and local public opinion using a case study approach.