Civic Learning Round-Up: January

In this series, Citizens & Scholars compiles the best recent articles, reports, and research from around the civic learning field. Stay up-to-date on the latest news, trends, and developments in efforts to build effective citizens. 

New Report: Can Online Civic Education Induce Democratic Citizenship?

In a recent article in the American Journal of Political Science, researchers sought to explore how democratic values and behaviors could be induced in new democracies. Using Tunisia as a case study, the team explores whether an online environment like Facebook and Instagram can provide a platform for civic education that strengthen democratic societies.

“Our findings indicate that civic education interventions provided through social media platforms can be an effective, and a far-reaching tool, for strengthening people’s commitments to democracy and their rejection of authoritarian rule,” said co-author Ericka Rascón Ramírez, MSc, Ph.D., of Middlesex University, in London.

Read the report

Youth Civic Development 

• Gen Z Has a Passion for Political Activism. Schools Can Nurture It | EdWeek 

• Local leaders are continuing to combat youth violence in Baltimore City | WJZ Baltimore

• Local Youth Program Prepares Next Generation  | Opelika Observer

• Gen Z is eager to help Arizona. All we need are opportunities to lead | The Arizona Republic

• Preparing the next generation of citizens requires bringing back civics | The Hill

• We Need to Start Teaching Kids That Civics Is More Than Just Activism | Op-Ed, TIME

Higher Ed & Campus Life

• Active listening, learning are some of the skills to help democracy thrive, say experts at COLLEGE roundtable event | Stanford Report 

• Mellon Foundation Grants More Than $12 Million to Recipients of Inaugural Higher Learning Open Call for Civic Engagement and Social Justice-Related Research and Projects | Mellon Foundation

• Lessons from MLK: College as a Model of Democracy | C&S Fellow Profile

• How colleges can help turn out the student vote | Higher Ed Dive

K-12 Education 

• Want to restore civics education? Let’s start as we prepare for America’s 250th birthday. | The Philadelphia Inquirer

• Students can test knowledge, win prize in Berks Civics Bee | WFMZ-TV

• Young people chained to social-media ‘news’ need revitalized civic education: Richard M. Perloff | Op-Ed, Cleveland.com

• Why Civic Education is the Starting Line | Deseret News

Civic Learning Field 

• Democracy: The more boring, the better | Essay: George W. Bush Presidential Center

• The Fahey Q&A with Jasmine Hull of Deliberations.US | The Fulcrum

• The state of American democracy and civic engagement |Maine Calling

C&S Fellows in the News

• Revisiting a Composer’s Psychedelic Lewis Carroll Music | David Del Tredici, a 1966 Woodrow Wilson Fellow, in The New York Times

• Newcombe Fellowship Celebrates More Than 40 Years of Impact | C&S Video