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“We’Re Off To Replace The Wizard”: Lessons From A Collaborative Group Project Assignment, Miguel Centellas, Gregory J. Love
“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 …
Preaching What We Practice: Bringing Scope And Methods “Back In”, Miguel Centellas
Preaching What We Practice: Bringing Scope And Methods “Back In”, Miguel Centellas
Miguel Centellas
Recent discussions of teaching research methods have focused on understand- ing the relationship between methods courses and the broader discipline, including the need to integrate qualitative methods and other approaches beyond the traditional statis- tical approaches still common in the majority of undergraduate research methods courses. This article contributes to this conversation by arguing that the basic elements of research design and qualitative techniques should be integrated into substantive (or “non-methods”) courses across the discipline. To accomplish this aim, I offer a brief outline of methodolog- ical benchmark skills—drawn from the pool of skills necessary for a successful thesis—that can …
Pop Culture In The Classroom: American Idol, Karl Marx, And Alexis De Tocqueville, Miguel Centellas
Pop Culture In The Classroom: American Idol, Karl Marx, And Alexis De Tocqueville, Miguel Centellas
Miguel Centellas
This article discusses the use of pop culture in the classroom as a means to teach foundational political science authors and concepts. I focus on my experience using Amer- ican Idol as a point of reference to discuss Marx and Engel’s The Communist Manifesto and Tocqueville’s Democracy in America in undergraduate comparative politics courses. Stu- dents are asked to construct a written argument projecting Marx or Tocqueville’s percep- tions of American Idol, based on their readings. My experiences demonstrate that asking students to reflect on their own contemporary experience through the prism of these two works helps them in three …