Getting Prepared to Teach Civic Engagement in 2020 and Beyond

Session Submission Type: TLC Workshop

Session Description

A thriving and peaceful democracy requires an informed and engaged citizenry, and such citizenship must be learned. The current political climate has accelerated attention to teaching civic engagement, and the 2020 election and its aftermath will only heighten the importance of fostering democratic citizenship in the classroom and campus-wide. Informed by the scholarship and best practices contained in the APSA publications Teaching Civic Engagement: From Student to Active Citizen and Teaching Civic Engagement Across the Disciplines, workshop participants will share evidence-based methods and tools by which political scientists can play an active and leading role on their campuses in engaging students in the 2020 election and its aftermath.

Workshop participants will cover offer insights and share resources and tools on:
• How to engage students in the final weeks of the campaign (in such ways as hosting debate watches or preparing voter guides)
• The most effective approaches for mobilizing students on Election Day and how to go about organizing such efforts
• How to moderate vibrant but productive discussions about the election in classrooms of all disciplines
• The importance of leading reflections on the election returns and their ramifications

Recommendations offered will be rooted in research and attentive to the meaningful inclusion of the diversity of student bodies (diversity in orientation, ethnicity, ideology, etc.). Resources and tools will be shared at the workshop and via a shared google folder. Educators across the country, even around the globe, are faced with teaching politics in an era in which populist values are on the rise and core democratic tenets are being questioned and undermined. As campuses prepare for the 2020 election and beyond, it’s more important than ever that the discipline fulfill its mission to prepare our students to be informed and engaged democratic citizens. This workshop will play a valuable role in preparing teacher-scholars to just that.

Sub Unit

• TLC at APSA

Chairs

• Elizabeth C. Matto Rutgers University, New Brunswick

• Tanya Brooke Schwarz Pi Sigma Alpha

• Bennett Grubbs APSA

Presenters

• Alison Rios Millett McCartney Towson University

• Elizabeth A. Bennion Indiana University South Bend

• Dick Simpson University of Illinois, Chicago