Civic Learning Opportunities

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).