Encouraging College Students' Democratic Engagement in an Era of Political Polarization

Buch | Hardcover

302 Seiten

2025
Lexington Books (Verlag)
978-1-6669-6566-7 (ISBN)

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This work argues that colleges and universities are important locations for building students’ capacities for civic participation. Grounded in literature and personal experience, the authors advance pedagogical strategies that promote civic responsibility and prepare students to navigate today’s polarized political landscape.

Higher education helps students along a transformative path to citizenship by providing knowledge and experiences that help them become effective and responsible participants in democracy. The pedagogies discussed in this book vary in the student populations they target, the courses to which they are linked, and the nature of the democratic principles to which students are exposed; nevertheless, the authors maintain a unified commitment to preparing students for a life of democratic citizenship. By teaching students citizenship skills, including expressing opinions, working collaboratively, and participating in dialogue and civic reasoning, students prepare to discuss major issues that they face nationally and locally.

The authors’ discussions of scholarly and practical knowledge about pedagogical strategies, such as dialogic and deliberative pedagogies, civility, civic education, and the social contract, position educators to help students learn about democracy through experiences and teach them strategies for engaging in productive disagreement. These steps are essential for active democratic engagement beyond the classroom. This goal animates Encouraging College Students’ Democratic Engagement in an Era of Political Polarization. Each chapter offers insight into how higher education can infuse modern democracy with diverse voices, engaged citizens, and a reframing of political talk.

Angela M. McGowan-Kirsch is associate professor of communication at The State University of New York at Fredonia.

Introduction: Pedagogical Strategies for Educating Emerging Citizens in a Polarized Era
Angela M. McGowan-Kirsch
Chapter 1: Dismantling Polarization through Dialogic and Deliberative Pedagogies
Laura W. Black & Carson S. Kay
Chapter 2: A “Practice Field” for Democracy: Harnessing the Potential of Sports to Promote Democratic Deliberation in the College Classroom
Rebecca A. Alt
Chapter 3: Promoting Democracy: Civic Education in an Era of Anti-Democratic Unrest
Kevin R. Meyer & Stephen K. Hunt
Chapter 4: “The Civil Dialogues Were Dope”: Civil Dialogue® as A Tool for Engaging Students in Difficult Conversations in the Classroom
Katrina N. Hanna, Robert J. Razzante, & Jennifer A. Linde
Chapter 5: An Interdisciplinary Civics Approach: Teaching the Social Contract and Lived Civics
Ben Epstein, Molly W. Andolina, and Kristen Pengelly
Chapter 6: Reframe Political Talk as Discursive Civic Engagement
Pamela Conners, Sara A. Mehltretter Drury, Amanda Nienow, Laura Wysocki, Katherine Knobloch, & Reni Joseph
Chapter 7: Integrating Interpersonal Communication and Rhetorical Studies in a Course Highlighting Deliberative Democracy
Sherry G. Ford & Sally Bennett Hardig
Chapter 8: Public Discourse: Civic Action as Training for Democratic Engagement
Sarah Wolter & Hagar Attia
Chapter 9: Preserving the Liberal Public Sphere through AI Engagement
Heather Walters
Chapter 10: Looking for Difference: Using Declamation and Controversial Images to Frame Civic Engagement
Adam J. Gaffey
Chapter 11: Finding Common Ground: How Two Divergent Colleges Converged Around Conversation
Tim Muehlhoff & Michael Y. Ahn
Chapter 12: How to Have Difficult Conversations: Using Deliberation to Promote Students’ Democratic Decision-Making
James Proszek, Chris Anderson, Brian A. Long, Augustus Isaac, & Corydon Taylor
Chapter 13: Preparing to Have Campus Conversations: Infusing Deliberative Pedagogy with an Ethic of Dialogue
Jennifer L. Borda & Renee Guarriello Heath
Conclusion: Final Thoughts and Future Actions
Angela M. McGowan-Kirsch

Erscheinungsdatum	30.01.2025
Co-Autor	Mike Y. Ahn, Rebecca A. Alt, Chris Anderson, Molly W. Andolina
Zusatzinfo	4 BW Illustrations, 8 Tables
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Themenwelt	Sozialwissenschaften ► Kommunikation / Medien ► Kommunikationswissenschaft
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Pädagogik ► Erwachsenenbildung
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung
ISBN-10	1-6669-6566-9 / 1666965669
ISBN-13	978-1-6669-6566-7 / 9781666965667
Zustand	Neuware