Cultivating Civic Engagement: Enhancing Citizenship Through Service Learning

• In Event: TLC at APSA: Civic Engagement Track Panel 1: Civic Engagement As a Means to Enhance Citizenship, Leadership, and Engagement

Abstract

Community-based learning, traditionally called service learning, has the potential to impact students’ civic engagement, views about the community and its members, and perceptions of the obligations of citizens and pubic officials. In this paper, I analyze the impact the implementation of community-based learning in an introductory American government classroom on political interest and engagement, perceptions of the community, and empathy using pre- and post-surveys of students who completed a community-based learning project in comparison to those who completed a traditional research project.

Author

• Andrea Vieux, Johnson County Community College