Allison Rank, Lauren C. Bell, and Carah Ong Whaley are political scientists and co-editors of a new book on civic engagement in today’s polarized environment. They discuss the evolution of civic pedagogies, stressing the need to equip students for active community participation. The conversation also highlights challenges in teaching civic engagement, especially in diverse settings like Hispanic Serving Institutions, and the importance of effective assessment methods. Their insights encourage educators to foster meaningful dialogue and collaboration among students.
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Project Origins
The Civic Pedagogies project began at the 2022 APSA conference in Montreal.
Lauren C. Bell initially accompanied Carah Ong Whaley to a meeting to decline a book proposal, but ended up enthusiastically accepting it.
insights INSIGHT
Civic Engagement Defined
Civic engagement involves developing knowledge, skills, and dispositions through real-world experiences.
The goal is to improve communities, not just passively learn.
insights INSIGHT
Bridging the Divide
Students engaging in real-world civic activities often find less divisiveness than portrayed in media.
Experiential learning helps bridge the gap between perceived and actual political discourse.
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Political Scientists Lauren C. Bell, Allison Rank, and Carah Ong Whaley have a new edited volume, Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics(Palgrave Macmillan, 2024). This book has four separate sections that guide the reader through different dimensions of teaching civic engagement and the many aspects of this important pedagogical capacity that often falls on the shoulders of political science faculty at universities and colleges in the United States. In our discussion we cover the idea of civic engagement itself as an approach that many of us integrate into our courses in a variety of ways. Civic Pedagogies focuses on this complex topic first through a number of chapters that dive into the theory behind civic engagement and how to think about this concept as a dimension of or the entirety of a college course. The next section of the book takes up a variety of different practical approaches to embedding civic learning into courses. The last two sections of the book explore the challenges and benefits of civically engaged pedagogies and, finally, assessment of civically engaged pedagogies.
This is a thorough and thoughtful book with an impressive array of contributing authors all thinking about not only the importance of civically engaged pedagogies, but also the unique dimensions of this kind of pedagogy. The three editors explain, in our conversation, different points of importances that were fleshed out by the many contributors and their thinking about how best to embed this vital component of education within a democracy. Civic Pedagogies: Teaching Civic Engagement in an Era of Divisive Politics has so many different perspectives that it provides a rich array of options for most educators who want or need to integrate civic pedagogies into their classrooms. In our discussion, we also explore the value of being able to engage on public topics and political questions in a civil manner—both in the classroom itself and then, as students move into their lives beyond college, as members of their communities.
New Books in Education 