A Pedagogy of Civic Engagement for the Undergraduate Political Science Classroom

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article provides an overview of a classroom project, titled the Priorities Project, which is designed to promote responsible and informed civic engagement on the part of students in upper level political science courses at Drake University. It provides an overview of the Priorities Project, a brief summary highlighting the process and results of this project, and preliminary assessment data. The article discusses this classroom assignment in the context of more general pedagogical debates regarding the relative advantages of service-learning in comparison to traditional models of teaching and learning focused on knowledge acquisition. The Priorities Project demonstrates a pedagogy of civic engagement grounded in a participatory conception of citizenship that represents a “third way”—between a traditional, lecture-based classroom focused on the development of personally responsible citizens and a service-learning model emphasizing a justice-oriented conception of citizenship—of balancing the priorities of knowledge acquisition and civic responsibility in the undergraduate classroom.