David Redding
Raising Efficacy through Civic Education
What fosters civic engagement? It depends on how you define civic engagement and civics in particular. Through my research on this project I have expanded my definition of civics to include all social interactions within a community. Under this definition it can be argued that everyone engages civically on a daily basis, whether it be driving on the road or surfing the internet. Based on participant observation of two state-sponsored civic education seminars, an extensive review of current civic education research, analysis of civic education texts, and interviews with local civic educators, I have concluded that much of what is taught in civics today focuses primarily on the particular branch of civics involving government (i.e. law and politics). I believe that if the content of civic education is expanded to include daily civic interactions, students will become more aware of how they engage in these actions and will be able to improve the quality of their civic participation. This will hopefully generate more positive feelings toward quality civic interaction, which can foster civic engagement.
Faculty Mentor: Kevin den Dulk
Page last modified July 14, 2009
