Reimagining America’s Democracy as a Community of Practice: Schools as Venues for Situated Civic Learning

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: The Role of Schools in Promoting Youth Voice and Civic Learning (Table 9)

Abstract

A significant portion of school day efforts to improve civic education focus on classrooms and the formal curriculum. With students spending much of their in-school time in the classroom this is a logical approach for civic education reform. Yet, exploring how students might learn civic skills, dispositions, and practices during the school day but outside of the classroom (e.g., during lunch, free periods, interactions in various student-facing offices, etc.) provides an opportunity for educators, scholars, and policymakers to reimagine American schools. This theoretical article reviews literature in support of reimagining America’s democracy as a community of practice and out of classroom spaces as venues for situated civic learning.

Author

• Keri Davenport, University of Pennsylvania