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Full-Text Articles in Education
Developing Political Thinking And Discussion Skills In Civics Classrooms. A Book Review Of Teaching Politics In Secondary Education: Engaging With Contentious Issues, Patricia G. Avery
Developing Political Thinking And Discussion Skills In Civics Classrooms. A Book Review Of Teaching Politics In Secondary Education: Engaging With Contentious Issues, Patricia G. Avery
Democracy and Education
In Teaching Politics in Secondary Education: Engaging with Contentious Issues, Wayne Journell displays his passion for politics, teaching, and research. He provides secondary social studies teachers and teacher educators with practical ideas for reorienting civics and government instruction toward the political sphere as it is, not the idealized politics often portrayed in textbooks. Drawing heavily from his research on civics classes during the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, Journell focused on two primary instructional goals: developing students' skills in political (or policy) thinking and discussions of controversial political issues. This accessible, informative, and inspiring book offers teachers a good first …
Talking Back To Corporate Reform. A Book Review Of "You Can't Fire The Bad Ones!" And 18 Other Myths About Teachers, Teachers’ Unions, And Public Education, Alisun Thompson
Democracy and Education
A review of the book “You Can’t Fire the Bad Ones!” And 18 Other Myths About Teachers, Teachers’ Unions, and Public Education, by William Ayers, Crystal Laura, and Rick Ayers (Beacon Press, 2018).
Actualizing The Rights Of The Learner: The Role Of Pedagogical Listening, Allison Hintz, Kersti Tyson, Andrea R. English
Actualizing The Rights Of The Learner: The Role Of Pedagogical Listening, Allison Hintz, Kersti Tyson, Andrea R. English
Democracy and Education
This response to Crystal Kalinec-Craig’s article on the Rights of the Learner (RotL) aims to take up and build on the author’s ideas about how the RotL framework can promote equitable mathematics teaching and learning. Specifically, this response examines how listening is implied in the work of teachers who support young mathematicians as they exercise their rights to be confused, claim mistakes, and say and write what makes sense. In doing so, we seek to highlight some of the opportunities and challenges that can emerge for teachers attempting to support all learners to actualize these rights.
Considering The Rights Of Learners In Classrooms: The Importance Of Mistakes And Growth Assessment Practices, Jo Boaler, Robin Anderson
Considering The Rights Of Learners In Classrooms: The Importance Of Mistakes And Growth Assessment Practices, Jo Boaler, Robin Anderson
Democracy and Education
In this response, we consider the Rights of Learners, in particular considering the ways "assessment for learners" policies and practices may be woven into the rights. We also consider findings from neuroscience on the positive role played by mistakes and suggest adding such findings to the messages given in classrooms.
The Demands Of The Rights Of The Learner, Elham Kazemi
The Demands Of The Rights Of The Learner, Elham Kazemi
Democracy and Education
In this response to Kalenic-Craig’s (2017) article, “The Rights of the Learner: A Framework For Promoting Equity through Dynamic Formative Assessment,” I consider what implications the RotL framework has for the work that teachers and students must do in learning environments where these rights flourish. The RoTL emphasizes student sensemaking and communication in the classroom. Given the realities of classrooms as racialized, gendered, and classed spaces, this emphasis on communication demands critical consciousness for both teachers and students.
Reenvisioning Education For Civic Engagement In The Social Media Century, Ryan T. Knowles
Reenvisioning Education For Civic Engagement In The Social Media Century, Ryan T. Knowles
Democracy and Education
The reviewed article, “The Impact of Student Political Identity Over the Course of an Online Controversial Issue Discussion,” represents a timely response to the eye-opening influences of social media in modern political climates. Particularly, the project provides a useful model and relevant findings for future teachers and teacher educators to incorporate online political discussions. The study clearly demonstrates the value of online discussions, especially in mixed partisan groups. Based on the findings, three additional considerations were identified and elaborated on within this response. These include a renewed consideration of quantitative analysis, a focus of identity in civic education, and a …
Political Simulations: An Opportunity For Meaningful Democratic Participation In Schools, Isolde De Groot
Political Simulations: An Opportunity For Meaningful Democratic Participation In Schools, Isolde De Groot
Democracy and Education
Political simulations are considered promising tools to instigate democratic learning in schools. This article reports a qualitative inquiry into student involvement in the organization of the 2012 mock elections—the shadow elections that schools can organize in conjunction with the official elections—in eight high schools in the Netherlands. The objective of this inquiry is twofold: to evaluate student involvement in mock elections in these schools and to lay the theoretical groundwork for further quantitative inquiries into student participation in political events. For the deductive analysis of student roles in organizing the mock election, I adapted Fielding and Moss’s (2012) “patterns of …
Last Year's Choice Is This Year's Voice: Valuing Democratic Practices In The Classroom Through Student-Selected Literature, Michael D. Boatright, Amelia Allman
Last Year's Choice Is This Year's Voice: Valuing Democratic Practices In The Classroom Through Student-Selected Literature, Michael D. Boatright, Amelia Allman
Democracy and Education
The authors of this article explore democratic practices in the classroom by using student-selected literature. After multiple class sets of student-selected young adult novels were purchased using grant money, the authors set out to see what happens in a classroom when student choice is at the forefront of pedagogical decision-making and how students resonated with and voiced their experiences reading about those chosen novels. Because canonical texts are often used to help students understand allusions in contemporary texts, one adolescent novel and one canonical novel became the focal points for this project. With democratic practices undergirding this project, the authors …
The Impact Of Student Political Identity Over The Course Of An Online Controversial Issue Discussion, Christopher H. Clark
The Impact Of Student Political Identity Over The Course Of An Online Controversial Issue Discussion, Christopher H. Clark
Democracy and Education
As civic educators become increasingly concerned about polarized political environments, researchers have begun explore the ramifications of contentious political discourse on young people. Through a quantitative analysis of data gathered from two rural, Midwestern schools, this study provides evidence that the degree to which a student socially identifies with a political party is influential over the course of an online discussion. Strength of identification was associated with students’ relative amount of knowledge for and against their position on a controversial issue and with the types of contributions students made to the online forum.
Deliberating Public Policy Issues With Adolescents: Classroom Dynamics And Sociocultural Considerations, Margaret S. Crocco, Avner Segall, Anne-Lise S. Halvorsen, Rebecca J. Jacobsen
Deliberating Public Policy Issues With Adolescents: Classroom Dynamics And Sociocultural Considerations, Margaret S. Crocco, Avner Segall, Anne-Lise S. Halvorsen, Rebecca J. Jacobsen
Democracy and Education
Classroom discussion and deliberation have been widely touted in the research literature as a centerpiece of high quality civic education. Empirical studies, however, of such processes are relatively few. In a public policy deliberation on immigration conducted in three Midwestern high schools during the academic year 2015–16, the authors found that analysis of a set of deliberations on the subject of immigration policy in the United States reveals the ways in which sociocultural identity aspects of the settings and participants influenced the processes and dynamics of these classroom events. Reflecting upon this analysis suggests a set of factors that reveal …
Education For Deliberative Democracy And The Aim Of Consensus, Martin Samuelsson
Education For Deliberative Democracy And The Aim Of Consensus, Martin Samuelsson
Democracy and Education
The aim of consensus is essential to deliberative democracy. However, this aim has also been frequently criticized. In this article, I present two different forms of criticism against consensus in democratic education. The first, articulated by scholars of education for democracy, claims that the aim of consensus fails to account for the conflictual nature of democracy and thereby disallows disagreement and dissensus. The second, formulated by classroom practitioners, argues that it disrupts the pattern of communication in classroom discussions. I nevertheless attempt to defend consensus on both accounts by arguing that it is a multifaceted concept that allows for different …