Civic Learning on Campus: Bringing Political Science In Mini-Conference III: Addressing Democratic Backsliding through Innovative Youth Engagement

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Part of Mini-Conference

• Civic Learning on Campus: Bringing Political Science In Mini-Conference III

Session Description

How can K-12 civics education respond to democratic backsliding? Ample literature in political science now documents the American public’s persisting decline in trust in government and over two decades of deep partisan polarization. Beyond the implications for current politics, these trends raise alarming questions about America’s next generation. Are kids being socialized into a society of declining democratic norms? If so, civics education is the one widely accessible practice that can counteract it, but to what extent can a civics model deepen kids’ faith in democracy and empower them to participate in politics? This session brings together papers that offer conceptual models and empirical research designs that collectively explore this question.

Sub Unit

• Theme Panel

Individual Presentations

• Connecting K-12 Classrooms to Congress - Kevin M. Esterling, University of California, Riverside; Michael Neblo, Ohio State University; Jonathan Collins, Teachers College, Columbia University; Joseph Kahne, University of California, Riverside; William Minozzi, Ohio State University

• Participatory Redistribution: A Theory and Test of a Democratic Model of Urban School Reform - Jonathan Collins, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Educating for American Democracy - Joseph Kahne, University of California, Riverside; Benjamin T. Bowyer, University of California-Riverside- Graduate School of Education

Chair

• Jonathan Collins Teachers College, Columbia University