The Literature Review

The journey has brought me both forward and back. Through my literature review, I am finding articles that verify what I already do and have learned through my previous studies and experience as a teacher. However, they are demonstrating to me that I must be more explicit in sharing with my students what we are doing. Additionally, I must be more deliberate in my incorporation of these teaching strategies that are both collaborative with my students and also empower them with self-efficacy to make their own choices about civic participation. My hope is to inspire their engagement in the civic process and to plant the seed of lifelong civic action. The literature confirmed the problems I am trying to tackle: a decline in the political engagement of young adults is evident and political participation is necessary for a democratic society.

As discussed in my first post, my research question states: How can I maximize the civic engagement of my 12th-grade government students upon their graduation in time to vote in the 2020 election? I reviewed academic and journal articles that examined pedagogical strategies to increase civic engagement at the high school level. I felt affirmed with many of the practices studied and am also inspired to incorporate some new activities into my classroom, especially as this is my first time to teach government.

These practices include:

• Project-based learning
• Engagement First — students begin project work and role-play before they are presented with lectures and readings. In this model, students ask questions about the topic through their roles, which may help them develop content interest.
• Active learning techniques:
• Role plays
• Political simulations
• Debates about political issues
• Mock elections
• Peer-to-peer discussions
• Provide choice — student involvement in the curricular decision-making process to increase student autonomy
• Open classroom climate — discussion of current events and political issues in a safe environment

Throughout my career (and documented in my dissertation), I have employed student choice as well as learning techniques that are consistently engaging students. Additionally, I work to provide a safe environment for my students whereby they are able to voice their opinions and ask questions as we discuss current events and political issues. Through this student-centered project, I plan to work collaboratively with my students to increase their civic knowledge and engagement based on the strategies listed above. My hypothesis states: Teacher design of class activities along with collaboration from student ideas will create an engaging atmosphere of learning whereby students will continue to actively participate and seek knowledge about the governmental process in the United States.

Continue to join me on my journey on this Medium blog and also on Twitter, hashtags #setlab, #educationscientist, and #changebydesign.