Reinventing the High School Government Course: Political Simulations, Literacy Development, and District Context

• In Event: Roundtable Session 34
  In Roundtable Session: Democratic Citizenship in Education SIG Paper Discussion Session 2

Abstract

The high school Government and Politics course is the main site of formal civic education in the U.S. today. Since 2007, a multidisciplinary research team has conducted design-based implementation research on this course in three public school systems. Our goal is a better course, especially for underserved students, one that is rigorous, authentic, and lively. We report here both quantitative and qualitative results from the final year of research and development. Quantitative data report achievement results, and qualitative data address lacunae in the literature on progressive pedagogy: learning from the typically-available textbook rather than specially-constructed texts; authentic political simulations as ways to “experience” government and political conflict; and school district context as a decisive factor in scaling an innovation.

Authors

• Walter Parker, University of Washington - Seattle

• Jane C Lo, Florida State University

• Sheila Valencia, University of Washington

• Diem T. Nguyen, University of Washington