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“We’Re Off To Replace The Wizard”: Lessons From A Collaborative Group Project Assignment, Miguel Centellas, Gregory J. Love Jul 2012

“We’Re Off To Replace The Wizard”: Lessons From A Collaborative Group Project Assignment, Miguel Centellas, Gregory J. Love

Miguel Centellas

This article examines the effectiveness of a collaborative group learning project for teaching a core competency in comparative politics: constitutional structures. We use a quasi-experimental design and propensity score matching to assess the value of a consti- tutional writing group project and presentation. The results provide strong evidence that these learning tools are highly valuable for teaching abstract concepts. Students who par- ticipated in the project scored significantly higher on a short series of questions in final exams given several weeks after the completion of the group project. Somewhat paradox- ically, the project increased competency but did not affect student …


Political Efficacy And Introductory Political Science Course: Findings From A Survey Of A Large Public University, Miguel Centellas, Cy Rosenblatt Feb 2012

Political Efficacy And Introductory Political Science Course: Findings From A Survey Of A Large Public University, Miguel Centellas, Cy Rosenblatt

Miguel Centellas

We conducted a survey of the student population enrolled in undergraduate introductory- level courses in political science at a large public university. We were interested to test whether completing undergraduate introductory-level courses in political science had any effects on political efficacy, using some standard indicators (drawn from the ANES battery), at the individual level. Our findings suggest that earning a high grade (when controlling for various other factors) does seem to positively affect internal political efficacy at the individual level, but that the most important factor affecting external political efficacy is the number of courses completed. However, we found no …