Classroom
Civic Learning Opportunities
American
Educational Research Journal September 2008, Vol. 45, No. 3, pp.
738-766
Joseph
E. Kahne-Mills College and Susan
E. Sporte-University of Chicago
As
noted earlier, scholars find strong associations between curricular
approaches such as the provision of an open classroom climate,
engagement in service learning, and the use of simulations on the one
hand and students’ civic commitments and capacities on the other
(for example, Campbell, 2005; Hart et al., 2007; Torney-Purta,
Lehmann, Oswald, & Schulz, 2001; see Gibson & Levine, 2003
for a review).
In
understanding why these opportunities may foster civic outcomes, our
work has been heavily influenced by Youniss and Yates’ (1997)
conceptualization of factors that promote the development of a civic
identity. They identify three kinds of opportunities that can spur
such development: opportunities for agency and industry, for social
relatedness, and for the development of political-moral
understandings (also see Watts, Armstrong, Cartman, & Geussous) .
Their study of youth doing work in soup kitchens as part of a course
shows how integrating community service and, by extension, other
civic learning opportunities into the curriculum can provide
opportunities for Agency (as students respond to social problems),
Social Relatedness (as students join with others to respond to a
societal need) and Political-Moral Understanding (as students reflect
on and discuss the relationship between what is and what should be).
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