Introductory American Government Course Research Articles

Promoting Information Literacy and Visual Literacy Skills in Undergraduate Students Using Infographics

ABSTRACTBecause research and communication proficiency is ubiquitous in the academic and professional world, teaching students the necessary information literacy (IL) and visual literacy (VL) skills has become increasingly important. Integrating IL and VL pedagogy into substantive coursework can enhance students’ comprehension of the material and teach them to make a meaningful contribution to public awareness and understanding of political science. Yet, faculty often find it challenging to include instruction in these skills with necessary coverage of substantive course material. This article discusses the use of an infographic assignment in an introductory American government course as a tool to teach literacy skills and to reinforce substantive course concepts. Encouraging students to distill academic research into an infographic requires them to understand the process of information creation, the role of visuals in communication, and how scholarship acts as a conversation—all key components of literacy in higher education.

Finding no Asian Americans? Incorporating Asian Americans into introductory American government courses using supplementary materials

Finding no Asian Americans? Incorporating Asian Americans into introductory American government courses using supplementary materials

Service Guarantees Citizenship: Portfolio Work, Populism, and Scaffolding in Introductory American Government Classrooms

Challenges to the value of active civic engagement are an increasingly common phenomenon in introductory American government courses as there is a rise in populist sentiment and a lethargic democratic public. Traditional methods of civic participation and ideal citizenship are difficult to model and teach against this backdrop. Here, we offer instructors a curricular approach that teaches the fundamentals of American government while recognizing students’ roles in a politically dynamic and contentious environment. This semester-long portfolio project, called iCitizen, incorporates exercises in practical political communication, comparisons to historical and fictional systems of citizenship, and personal reflections on ideology and political participation designed to cultivate students’ civic skills and conceptual understanding. Assignments are progressive and experiential in nature, requiring students to actively engage in common civic and political experiences and pathways. In this way, the portfolio exposes students to fundamental questions of politics and citizenship, which can challenge populism’s core charge that “the people” are ignored in favor of elites. In this article, we provide a description of the portfolio, logistical and practical considerations for instructors, and preliminary thoughts on the portfolio’s effectiveness.

Reaching Students with Low Interest: Subject Matter Interest and Perceptions of Open Educational Resources in an Introductory American Government Course

Much of the research on Open Educational Resources (OER) focuses on student perceptions of materials and their impact on student learning outcomes. However, in the case of large, general education courses, student interaction with course material may be predicated on their interest in the subject matter, a factor unaccounted for in the current scholarship. This research addresses the gap by exploring how student perceptions of OER vary compared to traditional, commercial textbooks as a function of subject-matter interest. A survey of two introductory American Government courses at Bowling Green State University suggests students with low interest in American government report greater interaction and engagement with the free, online text than their colleagues using a traditional commercial text. In contrast, students reporting a high interest in the American government engage with a traditional text at a greater rate than an open text. Results suggest OER may provide a way to reach students reporting a lower interest in American Government.

“History Has Its Eyes on You”: Hamilton and the Introductory American Government Course

ABSTRACTThis article explores how the musical Hamilton can be used as a way to bring students to a new understanding of American government at the introductory level. As a recent pop-culture smash, Hamilton has brought to the fore the possibility of a new civic conversation about our political beginnings. With many citizens lacking a sufficient understanding of American political culture at this fraught time, the introductory American government course is the ideal place to enhance civic understanding. This article discusses how music from the Hamilton cast album, as well as videos about the show, were used during two semesters of the introductory American government course at a regional public university. Doing so encouraged discussion and active learning about key concepts and critical moments in American history that have shaped politics through the present day.

Virtual Integration in U.S. Senate Campaigns: An Active Learning Tool for Teaching American Government

The learning objectives of the introductory American Government course, one of the most common entry-level political science classes in American universities, span both content knowledge and civic education. Much research has shown the pedagogical value of integrated learning—taking part in active and authentic experiences with democracy at the local, state, and national level—which links content to real-world experiences and solidifies these learning objectives. But what if it is difficult or impossible (due to resources, logistics, or location) to immerse a college classroom in a political process? In this article, I present a classroom exercise that brings content to life through a virtual integration in real-life American politics. Built around the biennial U.S. election cycle, this exercise assigns each student a candidate for a Senate race to follow throughout the course of the semester. This virtual integration engages the students in active learning by involving them in a real-time investigation of democracy in action, bringing classroom concepts to life and emphasizing the institutionalized uncertainty of electoral outcomes.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Adopting Open Educational Resources in an Introductory American Government Course

ABSTRACTIn this article, we present findings from a grant-funded initiative to replace traditional, proprietary textbooks with an open content textbook under a Creative Commons license in the introductory American government course (POLS 1101) at Middle Georgia State University. We find that the use of an open content textbook led to somewhat negative effects on student learning outcomes and student course satisfaction, although the associated lower textbook cost increased textbook accessibility to students. We conclude with some suggestions to those adopting textbooks in this course and to the wider discipline regarding measures that may lead to more unequivocally positive outcomes than those experienced in this study.

Born Digital: Integrating Media Technology in the Political Science Classroom

ABSTRACTU.S. higher education institutions spend a large amount of time, money, and energy on technology. Educators face a student population that has never been without the Internet—they are “Born Digital.” Students expect that faculty and universities utilize more technology. Higher education is faced with the question whether technology provides students with the experience they need to succeed or whether it hinders development of valuable skills that are achieved through traditional classroom instruction. We must be sensitive to what pedagogical approaches are helping students to gain technology skills that will aid them to engage in civic and political life. Consequently, few studies have shown a connection between increasing use of technology and improved student performance. Does academic performance improve with increased use of technology? This is the question our study attempts to answer. Our experimental design involves a pretest–posttest experiment examining student knowledge of political topics as well as their use of news media and products in introductory American Government courses. Students experienced different levels of exposure to technology to determine any differences in learning outcomes. Two important themes were explored: (1) How information technology promotes and enhances student learning and (2) how qualitative and quantitative research methods can be used to investigate the online learning experience.

Success is an Open Book: Online Diagnostic Tools and Learning Outcomes in Introduction to American Government Courses

ABSTRACTThis project examines the utility of a particular course enhancement, Cengage’s Aplia, and more generally interactive tools designed to facilitate reading in the introductory American government course. Using two control and two treatment sections of the course (one section each for two instructors) during the Fall 2013 term, we measured student performance, engagement, and interest in the subject matter. While there was no statistically significant benefit regarding interest level, use of Aplia resulted in improved performance and engagement in the course. We conclude that, subject to further study, the Aplia diagnostic quizzes offer tangible benefits in teaching the introductory American government course and offer further insights regarding these benefits.

I Like the Way this Feels: Using Classroom Response System Technology to Enhance Tactile Learners’ Introductory American Government Experience

ABSTRACTDo individual-level student learning styles affect appreciation for and benefit from the use of classroom response system technology? This research investigates the benefit of in-class electronic classroom response systems (“classroom clickers”). With these systems, students answer questions posed to them in a PowerPoint presentation through the use of handheld remote control devices. Aggregate results can be immediately displayed and discussed. Although this technology is rapidly gaining use in university classrooms across the nation, most of the published academic research on the use of classroom response systems focuses on the “nuts and bolts” of using the system or on ways that such systems might be useful in particular types of classes. Little research assesses the ways in which individual-level student characteristics might influence the utility of this technology. I utilize original survey data collected from four introductory American Government courses (Fall 2009 and Fall 2010) to investigate whether students exhibiting a preference for tactile learning value the use of the classroom response system more than less tactile learners. Findings confirm the expectation that tactile learners will appreciate using the system more and consequently have improved evaluations of the class and instructor.

Is Class Appreciation Just a Click Away?: Using Student Response System Technology to Enhance Shy Students' Introductory American Government Experience

Do individual-level student characteristics affect appreciation for, and benefit from, the use of student response system technology? We investigate the usefulness of in-class electronic student response systems (“classroom clickers”) to understand if it benefits some college students more than others. Specifically, we investigate whether shyer students benefit more from the use of the student response system, with the expectation that shyer students will appreciate using the system more and consequently make more positive gains in attitudes about the class, knowledge of politics, and political engagement. Utilizing original survey data collected from Fall 2009 and Fall 2010 introductory American Government courses, we find that shyer students show greater attitude improvement over the course of the semester, exhibit more knowledge about politics and engage in more outside-of-class political discussions than less shy students when electronic student response systems are utilized, but no such difference emerges when more traditional in-class feedback methods are used. Overall, the findings presented here suggest that, at least marginally, the use of in-class electronic response systems can improve the educational experience of students who are typically isolated by traditional classroom teaching methods.

Examining the Importance of Pre-Instruction Political Knowledge Assessments in Introductory American Government Courses

Question: How do we connect to students who are admittedly not interested in politics or government, and only sit before you because of some state or college requirement? Answer: Tailor the class to who the students are.

Challenging the Constitution: Convening a Mock Constitutional Convention for American Government Students

AbstractSimulations are useful tools in the classroom for an assortment of pedagogical reasons. I have devised a mock constitutional convention for use in introductory American government courses to better engage students and spur critical thinking about the U.S. Constitution. This article details the particulars of the simulation and its outcomes.

Simulations and Student Learning

ABSTRACT While many political scientists advocate simulations as an effective teaching tool to facilitate student learning, we have very little systematic evidence that this is true. In this research note I provide experimental evidence showing that six of eight measures of student learning were significantly higher in introductory American Government courses that included a simulation of the United States Senate. These results provide quantitative support for the widespread anecdotal evidence about the teaching effectiveness of simulations.

Engagement or Regurgitation? Teaching American Government without a Textbook

A great deal of debate exists regarding the pedagogical utility of using a standard textbook in the introductory American government course. We used a quasi-experimental research design to test empirically the assertion that teaching American politics without using a textbook will foster superior learning by students and greater satisfaction with the course. Two sections of the course were taught using a standard textbook, and two sections were taught using a series of short, critical books on American politics. Student performance was evaluated through the use of a pretest and posttest, midterm and final examinations, and a questionnaire. Contrary to our expectations, we found evidence that students learn more and perform better on exams when a standard textbook is used Based on these findings, we suggest that instructors carefully consider the decision toforego using a textbook in the introductory American government course.

Brief Field Experiences: An Instructional Tool For Undergraduate Political Science Classes

For introductory American government courses, I require students to attend a public forum, community meeting, or legislative session. In reaction papers, students are urged to consider any pre-meeting publicity, public accessibility of the meeting sites and times, and participant interaction, as well as the opportunity for community members to air their opinions. After the event, class members must appraise the quality, quantity, and emphasis of the media coverage. Students often question whether they and the reporters had attended the same meeting and these students thus learn to evaluate

Thoughts on the AP: A Teacher Responds

Professors Rosati, Schlozman and Conradt offered some interesting views on the United States Government and Politics advanced placement examination in the Fall issue of The Political Science Teacher. I would like to add a few comments to the discussion. My remarks are based on my experience teaching 144 Kingswood-Oxford AP government seniors over the three years of the test, as well as my contact with other AP teachers. I have led the U.S. Government and Politics workshop at the 1988 and 1989 Northeast Regional Conference on the Social Studies, where I have had a chance to talk with many teachers who are offering AP courses.First, Professor Rosati identifies the inadequate background of some high school AP Government and Politics teachers as a significant problem. While all the teachers I have encountered seem well qualified, I concede that inadequately prepared staff may be a problem. Undoubtedly, the most concerned are the teachers themselves: no teacher enjoys groping his or her way through unfamiliar material for a semester, with the added pressure of awaiting AP results which may reveal clearly the gaps in the course. Professor Schlozman suggests a remedy which I feel should be underscored. Workshops and institutes are helpful, although not all can attend and they are over in a few days or weeks. More useful is an on-going reliable relationship between a high school AP teacher and a college professor who is familiar with the introductory American government course.

Teaching the International Dimension of American National Government

Despite enormous changes in the global circumstances that impinge on American government and despite a growing recognition that the undergraduate curriculum must be internationalized, relatively little has been done to incorporate a global perspective in the one place where political science teachers can reach very large numbers of undergraduate students—the introductory American national government course. The internationalization of the American economy, the developing interdependence between the United States and other countries, the growth of local-international links—these phenomena have scarcely touched the bedrock political science course.Textbooks for the introductory American government course reflect this neglect of the international dimension. They typically allude to the international factor briefly in the context of the president's powers in conducting foreign relations and discuss it more extensively in a chapter on “Foreign Policy” or “Foreign and Defense Policy.” As a practical matter, however, this chapter is usually near or at the very end of the book, which many teachers and students probably never reach. A perusal of various current textbooks confirms the conclusion made by a 1981 survey of 50 leading textbooks that very few of the books recognize the interdependence phenomenon or the importance of global circumstances. Apart from textbooks, learning packages designed for the American government course on such topics are rare.To expose students to the international dimension of American national government, the writer conducted a special project in two sections of his American national government course during the spring 1988 semester. The following instruction sheet was given to the students.

Students’ Support for Civil Liberties

Ed. Note: The questionnaire and tables described in this essay are available from the editor upon request.After a number of years of relative neglect, scholarly attention is once again being paid to the teaching of political science, particularly the introductory American government course. In many states such courses are required of virtually every college student, usually on the grounds that better citizens will somehow result. The underlying assumption is that learning about the structure and function of government and the rules of democratic procedure will produce citizens more committed to democratic ideals.Most studies of students’ democratic values have focused on the effect of the college experience as a whole rather than on the specific effect of exposure to political science courses.

Students’ Support for Civil Liberties

Ed. Note: The questionnaire and tables described in this essay are available from the editor upon request.After a number of years of relative neglect, scholarly attention is once again being paid to the teaching of political science, particularly the introductory American government course. In many states such courses are required of virtually every college student, usually on the grounds that better citizens will somehow result. The underlying assumption is that learning about the structure and function of government and the rules of democratic procedure will produce citizens more committed to democratic ideals.Most studies of students’ democratic values have focused on the effect of the college experience as a whole rather than on the specific effect of exposure to political science courses.