Fourth Graders Confront an Injustice: The Anti-Bullying Campaign—A Social Action Inquiry Project

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

“…iEngage offered participants opportunities to engage in critical reflection, weigh political efficacy, and consider engagement in and beyond classrooms (Blevins et al, 2021; Vaughn & Obenchain, 2015) in developmentally appropriate ways. Students were able to engage in catalyzing political events that affect them personally when provided space for action civics inquiry projects, connecting with stakeholders at the community issues fair, and engaging in Expert Pitch presentations (Kennedy et al, 2020).…”

“…Although the civic purpose construct emerged as a way of measuring and describing civic development in adolescents differently from that which has been done through the civic engagement construct, civic purpose and the premises of action civics are both linked to existing research and theory about civic engagement. The civic engagement literature includes a strong focus on socialization processes and contexts, connections to identity development, the importance of personally relevant work in teaching civics, and the role of reflection in experiential civic learning (Atkins & Hart, 2003; Ginwright & Cammarota, 2007; Kahne & Sporte, 2008; Vaughn & Obenchain, 2015; Yates & Youniss, 1998; Youniss, 2011). Action civics, as later discussed, builds on this lineage.…”

Critically Civic Teacher Perception, Posture and Pedagogy: Negating Civic Archetypes

“…Inquiry also supports student efforts to deeply understand their social decision-making and therefore, critical inquiry is foundational for the critically civic agency needed to engage in social-justice-based projects (Campbell, 2007;Mirra & Morrell, 2011;Vander Veldt & Ponder, 2010). Social research projects may also represent a potential transformative civic experience to reveal opportunities for collective social action (Levinson, 2005;Tyson & Park, 2008;Vaughn & Obenchain, 2015).…”

“…A critical approach suggests a more active and transformative form of civic pedagogy informed by a teacher's ideological and political clarity (Freire, 2000 and1973;Salinas, Vickery & Franquiz, 2016). From this perspective, scholars have investigated lessons designed to increase civic participation, authentic engagement, and meaningful social transformation, which to some degree begin to center the actual transformative work of civic praxis (e.g., Blevins & LeCompte, 2015;Flanagan & Levine, 2010;Vaughn & Obenchain, 2015;White & Hunt, 2000). The work reveals the need for experiences centering student agency and symbolic inclusiveness (civic identity) centering the fluidity of citizenship (Atkins & Hart, 2003;Cohen & Chaffee, 2013;Hogan, 2009).…”

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

“…While this research has moved the conversation on civics education forward, it is often theoretical and less empirical. There has been an increase in empirical research on inquiry-based approaches to civics education (e.g., action civics and youth participatory action research; Vaughn & Obenchain, 2015), but much of this research is survey driven resulting in little knowledge “about the processes by which action civics programs create their positive outcomes and the specific aspects of program implementation that may shape differential outcomes across varied contexts” (Andolina & Conklin, 2020, p. 4). Therefore, one of our goals for this project was to extend the research by studying an activity we utilized within a summer civic institute designed to scaffold participants’ understandings of the intersection of citizenship and power and the value of working in solidarity to address the root causes of community issues.…”