Learning Politics By Doing Politics

• In Event: TLC at APSA: Civic Engagement: Learning by Doing

Abstract

Engaging undergraduates--especially those who are not political science majors--in the theories and methods of our discipline can be a challenge. This paper discusses a successful pedagogical experiment in having students "do politics" on the local level of the campus as one way of introducing them to political science. This experiment was implemented in the Fall Semesters of 2017 and 2018, in one section of an introductory Politics course, with two-thirds of the students being primarily upperclass science and math majors and the other one-third first-year political science majors. The “Doing Politics Project,” a core component of the course, involved students in attempting to make change on the issues they most cared about on campus. Beginning with a deliberative process and then moving toward a systematic approach to take directed action on that issue, students used the tools, processes, and methods of political science to achieve their desired policy and political outcomes. After presenting the details of the course experiment, its fit with the introductory course syllabus and goals, and an assessment of course learning outcomes, the author will engage session participants in a conversation about the implications for our teaching practices in political science.

Author

• Richard M. Battistoni, Providence College