Education Commons^™

Can Education Reduce Political Polarization?: Fostering Open-Minded Political Engagement During The Legislative Semester, Brett L.M. Levy, Annaly Babb-Guerra, Wolf Owczarek, Lena M. Batt

Educational Theory and Practice Faculty Scholarship

Background: In the United States, elected leaders and the general public have become more politically polarized during the past several decades, making bipartisan compromise difficult. Political scientists and educational scholars have argued that generating productive political cooperation requires preparing members of democratic societies to productively negotiate their political disagreements. Numerous prior studies on civic learning have focused on fostering youth political engagement, but little research has examined how educators can support both political engagement and political open-mindedness.

Purpose: The study described in this paper explores how students’ experiences in a unique high school government course may help to foster their …