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This paper describes student outcomes from participating in a week-long out-of-school action civics program designed to increase students’ civic and political competence and engagement. Using analysis from four years of survey data, this paper presents findings related to changes in students’ civic competence as a result of participating in the program, including findings related to both first time and repeat campers. Data revealed that participants experienced gains in half of the civic competence construct variables, with first-time campers experiencing significant gains in five of the civic competence construct variables. Data analysis suggests that iEngage, an action civics summer experience, was effective in increasing elements of students’ civic competence, including their ability to get people to care about a problem, organize and run a meeting, write an opinion letter or contact a media outlet to express their views, and contact an elected official or community leader to address an issue.

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After years of neglect, civics education is gaining the attention of educators, political scientists, and politicians in the United States. As recent national citizenship reports have suggested, the level of civic knowledge in the U.S. has remained unchanged or even declined over the past century ( NCES, 2011 ). New technological innovations are, however, providing promising hope for restoring civic education in the United States. This study explores the impact of one of these innovative technologies, iCivics.org, an online civics education gaming program. This study examined the impact of structured game engagement in 13 classrooms (grades 4, 5, 6, 8, 12) with over 250 children. To explore the effectiveness of this program on students’ civic knowledge, this article presents a three-dimensional analysis of the results, including both quantitative and qualitative data. Initial results of this study suggest that iCivics provides positive gains in students’ content knowledge. Moreover, findings highlight the important role teachers play in implementing iCivics and the need for more research on civics education through gaming formats.

Research has shown that youth and their communities benefit from civics education, with its aim to prepare citizens for democracy. However, civics education for adolescents in the United States is not equitable, and determining how to best measure aspects of civic development in younger adolescents is a challenge. In this qualitative study, we explored how the constructs of action civics and civic purpose might inform teachers, other practitioners, and researchers who are interested in understanding the kinds of educational opportunities that promote civic development in young adolescents. Specifically, we examined how activities characteristic of an action civics approach to civic education in the context of a week-long summer civics camp would influence young adolescents’ thinking across the dimensions of civic purpose. We conducted focus groups with 49 young adolescents (entering 5th-9th grades) as they participated in the civics camp, and we analyzed transcripts using qualitative content analysis. Our findings reveal four key considerations for promoting civic purpose development in young adolescents: the importance of adult guides, the significance of developmentally matched activities, opportunities for growth in educating diverse and marginalized youth in the civics camp setting, and action civics as a curricular mechanism for promoting civic purpose.

The purpose of this study was to examine how participation in small-group inquiry projects at a summer civics camp contributed to middle schoolers’ beliefs about themselves as citizens and influenced their general and individual conceptions of citizenship. Using an action civics model for their projects, participants worked in small groups to identify an issue in their community, study its root causes and propose solutions. This study utilized a convergent mixed-methods approach involving the collection of both pre- and post-surveys and qualitative data (exit tickets, advocacy projects and semi-structured interviews) to investigate the research questions. Participants for this study included 108 middle schoolers (entering fifth to ninth grade) who attended a free, week-long summer civics camp hosted at two private universities in the United States. Utilizing Westheimer and Kahne’s citizenship typology to analyze the data, three primary findings emerged. Firstly, some students’ conceptions of citizenship did shift slightly towards more participatory and justice-oriented notions of citizenship, although their predominant orientations towards democratic citizenship remain personally responsible. Secondly, students began to appropriate the citizenship frameworks used during the camp to nuance and expand their understandings citizenship and advocacy. Finally, students began to see ways they could use their voice to advocate for change in their communities. This research showcases how inquiry might enhance democratic citizenship education in a global world through interaction with others, responding to one’s community, developing civic knowledge, critically investigating issues and allowing for multiple solutions.

Purpose In the wake of the 2016 US presidential election and the political turmoil that has ensued since, the need to prepare youth as active, well-informed citizens is self-evident. Middle and high school students have the potential to shape public and political opinion and encourage others to engage in collective, grassroots civic efforts to enact positive change in their communities through social media and face-to-face communication (CIRCLE Staff, 2018). Action civics has emerged as a promising civic education practice for preparing young people for active and informed civic participation. By providing students with the opportunity to “engage in a cycle of research, action, and reflection about problems they care about personally while learning about deeper principles of effective civic and especially political action” (Levinson, 2012, p. 224). The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This interpretive qualitative case study utilized Westheimer and Kahne’s (2004) citizen typology to examine 30 fifth through ninth graders’ conceptions of citizenship, civic action and advocacy as a result of their participation in an action civics inquiry project that took place during summer civics camps. Findings Findings show that overall, students’ conceptions of citizenship remained relatively unchanged after participating in the summer civics camps; however, students did develop increased understanding of advocacy and were more readily able to identify the “root causes” of community issues. Originality/value Implications of this study add to a small but growing body of literature on the outcomes of action civics programs and may inform the design and implementation of these kinds of programs.

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