Preparing for Civic Life in a Digital Age: Supporting Teachers to Teach Digital Civic Inquiries

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Saturday 8:00 am Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Beliefs, Practices, and Preparation for Civic Learning (Table 8)

Abstract

Digital technologies have transformed our civic lives in ways that education systems may not always account for; in response, we designed a curriculum and professional development project to support teachers and students to engage in Digital Civic Inquiries (DCIs), in which they learn about a policy issue online, deliberate, and plan for action. In this study, we investigated teacher learning after teachers participated in a summer institute that was designed to support teachers to learn, analyze, and practice new content knowledge and pedagogies for teaching DCIs. We analyzed data collected from three surveys and found significant improvement in teachers’ confidence in evaluating online information and in teaching DCI-related skills to students, as well as their ability to evaluate online information.

Authors

• Shujin Zhong, University of North Florida

• Sarah McGrew, University of Maryland

• Scot A. Wilson, Indiana University

• Madison Kantzer, Office of the State Superintendent of Education