Building Meaningful Connections in the Classroom with Journalistic Learning
What’s the secret sauce of Journalistic Learning, the transformative approach developed by researchers of the University of Oregon that’s benefitted over 2,600 students across 17 states in the last four years? Is it the project-based approach? Its focus on student voice and agency? The publication process? Actually, it very well might be how it connects.
Connecting Students with Subject
The first connection made in a journalistic project is the most important: connecting students with topics they’re passionate about. Allowing students to choose a local issue to research and ultimately publish a report on, connects their intrinsic interests with their educational experience. The effects of which are powerful.
Engagement is a prerequisite to learning and increasing student engagement is especially crucial today as average attention spans are shrinking, making it harder for students to pay attention in class. Dr. Gloria Mark, a psychologist and the Chancellor’s Professor of Informatics at the University of California Irvine has been tracking attention spans for 20 years. Her research confirms that our average attention spans have shrunk from two-and-a-half minutes in 2004, to around 47 seconds today.
By tapping into their authentic interests, students feel intrinsically motivated to explore and discover, and become the drivers of their own learning (or engage in what’s called self-directed learning). Everything builds off of this connection, and teachers report increased student engagement as a result.
Compared to past writing assignments, teachers observed more motivation, sustained engagement, and persistence through challenges and multiple revisions from students conducting journalistic writing. (Madison, Anderson, Bousselot, Wantz, Guldin, 2023).
Even students can feel a difference in the classroom. Take Oregon high schooler Rene for instance. Rene chose the generational impact of drug use as the topic of his journalistic project.
“I chose it because I see it in this community, and it affects a lot of people that I know and who mean a lot to me,” he said. When reflecting on Journalistic Learning, Rene explained, “It’s new. It’s definitely different. It gives you more free will. It gives you something to think about and to put your heart into.”
Connecting Classroom with Communities
Another vital connection this approach helps to build is between classrooms and communities. Communities are essential, especially for young people, because they provide belonging, support, and identity. Despite the internet making virtual communities more accessible than ever, our sense of community is strikingly low compared to the rest of the world.
A 2024 Pew Research poll of 24 countries found that “fewer Americans feel close to people in their local community: 54% feel a connection to others near them, compared with a median of 78% of adults across all 24 countries.” If that doesn’t sound significant, the report adds, "South Korea is the only country with a lower share of adults who feel connected with others in their community (50%).”
Further solidifying the issue is the epidemic of loneliness in America, US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy raised the alarm of the nation’s pervasive loneliness in his 2023 Advisory, noting the array of physical and mental health risks associated with isolation. One U.S.-based study Dr. Vivek noted found that using social media for more than two hours a day had about double the odds of reporting increased perceptions of social isolation compared to those who used social media for less than 30 minutes per day.
While adults and teens alike are spending more time in these virtual communities than ever before, we are feeling increasingly alone. There may be no better place to start building a sense of community than in our own town, city, and county. In fact, of Dr. Vivek’s Six Pillars to Advance Social Connection, “Strengthen[ing] Social Infrastructure in Local Communities” is number one. On this note, the US Surgeon General writes:
[C]ommunity programs, such as those that connect us to our neighbors, those that help students establish social skills in schools, and those that generate opportunities for high-risk populations to create community, also have a powerful role in building relationships.
Enter Journalistic Learning. At every step of the journalistic journey, students connect with their communities in meaningful ways. They choose issues unfolding in their local state, county, or town. They interview community experts, such as local leaders, community service members, and scholars. And finally, they publish their work for their community to see and reflect on how their voices are making an impact.
As we’ve noted, centering student interests in the classroom has a powerful, intrinsically motivating effect. Also significant is that students reflect on how the issue is impacting their community in a journalistic unit. For example, Eli, a middle schooler in Eugene, OR, chose hate crimes as his research topic.
“My topic is anti-semitism and hate crimes in Eugene,” Eli began. “I’m focusing mainly on Temple Beth Israel, which is the local synagogue here since anti-Semetic fliers have been showing up recently. I want to know how they feel about it, what kind of support they’ve been offered, and how to help.”
Even before conducting in-class interviews, students have to familiarize themselves with the academic, regulatory, and service sectors of their community to find a suitable interviewee. This involves asking themselves questions like: Who makes and oversees the rules around this issue? Who researches and teaches about this issue? and Who provides assistance to those affected by this issue?
Depending on their grade level, students engaged in Journalistic Learning are involved in the outreach process, wherein they learn how to establish communication with community leaders. Students gain invaluable real-world skills from this process, like how to write a professional email, handle rejection, and persevere when things don’t pan out the way they had expected — all of which gives them experience with community outreach and increases their confidence in navigating that terrain.
By conducting in-class interviews, students get a chance to speak directly with local leaders and community experts. As part of his journalistic project, Eli says he “got a lot of information” by interviewing the synagogue’s Rabbi. Ten years from now, students may have forgotten what Hamlet was about, but they will never forget when they got to interview their mayor, or local homeless shelter director, or the manager of their favorite pizza shop.
“A lot of my quieter students have come alive in these interviews,” says 6th-grade Teacher Jennifer Khalenberg in IL, “and it’s interesting seeing them go from a normal 6th-grader who likes to be silly who likes to have fun to this more professional evolved student.” Students as young as 6th grade feel empowered when they get to have the floor in front of a community expert and ask the questions that matter to them.
Several groups leading interviews in a unit means that students will get to hear from multiple community experts, not just the one their group is interviewing. The value of this opportunity to connect the classroom with the community, to bring local leaders in front of curious, caring students can’t be understated.
As the interview phase of a journalistic project gives students a chance to hear from their community, the publication portion, most importantly, gives students a chance to be heard by their community — speaking directly to them. By publishing their findings for an authentic audience, they get to see and reflect on how their voices can make a difference in their community. This is especially crucial for students from minority groups because, as the research states:
Journalistic Learning empowers students to push back against narratives that may be negatively affecting their lives and communities and raises their critical awareness about social justice issues (Guldin, Madison, & Anderson, 2021).
Journalistic Learning connects students with subjects, empowering them to engage in self-directed learning, and connects classrooms with communities which, as research indicates, has a lasting impact. Young people walk away from these experiences exhibiting high levels of civic engagement and intentionality in civic media literacy, meaning they not only recognize the value of their community but realize their potential to contribute and bring their brightest visions of the future to light in it (Madison, Anderson, Bousselot, Wantz, Guldin, 2023).
Learn more at JournalisticLearning.org
Written by Ed Madison and Bo Brusco.
