Developing students’ understandings of citizenship and advocacy through action civics

Abstract

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.

Sorting through citizenship: A case study on using cognitive scaffolding to unpack adolescent civic identity formation

“…During the action civics cycle, teachers and students explore the principles of collective action, youth agency, and reflection (Andolina & Conklin, 2020). We have researched Youth Act for the past seven years with a focus on how an action civics pedagogy implemented at a weeklong summer civics camp contributed to youth participants' beliefs about themselves as citizens Blevins et al, 2018;Blevins et al, 2016;LeCompte et al, 2020). This study was a component of our larger research project on action civics.…”

“…Following each iteration of the camp, the research team gathers to analyze the camp model and provide suggestions for future experiences. Prior iterations of the camp, where we used Westheimer and Kahne's (2004) typology as an analytical frame, demonstrated modest, if any, movement by students away from a personally responsible conception of citizenship after participating in an action civics cycle Blevins et al, 2018;Blevins et al, 2016;LeCompte et al, 2020). In planning for our 2018 camp, we considered what it might look like to directly introduce students to Westheimer and Kahne's framework and what impact the teaching of this citizenship typology might have on students' civic understandings.…”

Does a queen belong in a democracy? Departures and possibilities in civics and economics education

“…Community action and activism are crucial components of active, engaged citizenship (Blevins et al, 2016, 2018). However, civics does not always recognize some forms of work or action as activism (Bair, 2009; Preston-Grimes, 2007; Sabzalian, 2019b; Salinas et al, 2016; Vickery, 2016).…”

“I Really Want to Do Something”: How Civic Education Activities Promote Thinking Toward Civic Purpose Among Early Adolescents

“…iEngage is a free, week-long, nonresidential, summer civics institute for local fifth to ninth graders on two private university campuses in Texas. iEngage began in 2013 and is an out-of-school action civics program that seeks to develop young people's civic and political competence and strengthen their community and political engagement through inquiry-based civics projects in which they research and act upon local community issues (Blevins et al, 2016(Blevins et al, , 2018.…”