2. WHAT IS ACTIVE CITIZENSHIP?
• Character education: values/promotes caring, respect, empathy
• Choosing an issue that is important to the group (democracy in the room)
• Visioning, researching, acting, and reflecting
• Not a linear experience
• Research into root causes, multiple perspectives,
and stakeholders
• Meaningful engagement
• Promoting students to think locally and globally
3. WHY DO IT?
• Experiential (cater to different learning styles)
• Authentic, relevant , meaningful opportunities and for taking responsibility
• Can creates relationship between the people in the school and the wider
community
• Increases likelihood that students will
engage in future action projects
• Values cultural diversity
4. WHY DO IT?
• Can be multi-disciplinary although it is often embedded within social studies
• Follows a problem-based approach (you identify a problem and actively seek a
realistic solution)
• Covers the three broad areas of curriculum: life-long learning, social responsibility,
and engaged citizenship
• Promotes metacognitive thinking
skills and has been correlated with
increased cognitive achievement
5. CATEGORIES OF CITIZENSHIP
1. Justice-oriented:
• Seeks out and addresses areas of injustice (gets involved in social movements)
2. Participatory:
• Organizes community efforts
to care for those in need
3. Personally Responsible:
• Volunteers, recycles
6. STEPS FOR TAKING MEANINGFUL
1.
ACTION
Describe a good citizen:
• What does it look, feel, sound like?
2. Raise awareness:
• Have students document issues they see around them (internet, the news, school)
• Generate a list in the classroom
3. Class will choose an issue:
• Class will democratically choose the issue from the generated list and state the problem to
addressed
4. Build Motivation:
• Research, create an individual written/visual response to the question “Why care?”
7. STEPS FOR TAKING MEANINGFUL
ACTION
5. Form the group:
• Groups will be decided based on using the categories of citizenship OR based on similar interests
6. Investigate:
• 5Ws/how, information needs (resources), categorizing causes, explore options for possible
solutions and potential consequences of those solutions
7. Make a plan:
• Define parameters (develop timelines, deciding and defining roles and responsibilities of the group,
revise as necessary)
8. Define Success:
• Choose a goal for success that is realistic, constructive, appropriate, and motivating
8. STEPS FOR TAKING MEANINGFUL
ACTION
9. Identify Barriers:
• Identify barriers and then devise methods to deal with them
10. Teach Skills:
• Decide what skills and knowledge students need to complete the project, which you may have to
teach them explicitly
11. DO IT!!!:
• Check in with your action plan and continue to revise
• Have students write reflections (i.e. Why do you think you are an effective group member? What
do you think you could do differently?)
9. TIPS
1.Take only Positive Positions:
• Saying what you are for not against
2. Listen to all Peoples’ Views:
• Facilitate deliberative dialogue amongst
students (listen to all views/alternatives)
3. Avoid Stereotyping:
• Do not lump individuals into a category
4. Accept Responsibility:
• Make sure students know that there will be no blaming the others if there is a lack of
success
10. 5. Be Persistent:
TIPS
• Remind students that complex
issues take time.
6. Act:
• Micro-movements are better than
no movements
7. Assessment
• Ongoing
8. Celebrate
• Celebrate milestones along the way to maintain motivation
11. EXAMPLES OF ACTION
Direct Action:
• Supplying schools around the world
(project love)
• Building awareness in the school
• Adopting a salmon stream
Indirect Action:
• Fundraising to help build a school
(www.freethechildren.com)
• Helping to reduce blindness in Nepal
• Writing for the local newspaper
12. ACTIVITY
1. Turn and Talk:
At your tables, you have 1 minute to discuss with your colleagues
the pros and cons to implement this model of learning?
2. Turn and Talk:
Do you think this is a more progressive or more orthodox
approach to teaching?
13. FINAL ACTIVITY
10 x 10 Challenge
(www.freethechildren.com)
14. REFERENCES
Burgess, T., (2003). Engaging students in sustainable action projects: workshop
participant guide.
Case, R., Falk, C., Smith, N., Werner., (2004). Active citizenship: Student action projects.
Vancouver: The Critical Thinking Consortium
Ponder, J., Lewis-Ferrel, G. (2009). The butterfly effect: The impact of citizenship education.
California: Heldref
15. CHALLENGES OF ACTIVE
•
CITIZENSHIP
Lack of control
• Not enough clarity or guidelines on how to implement active citizenship
• Not enough teacher training
• Classroom organization
• Physical organization of schools—lack of systematic support
• Meeting curricular policies
• Effective time management for the teacher and student (hard to complete in 50 minutes)
• Conflict with teacher pedagogy and beliefs on teaching
• Learners having difficulty generating questions of inquiry
• Learners having difficulty with transforming data
16. CHALLENGES OF ACTIVE
CITIZENSHIP
• Learners having difficulty constructing a logical argument
• Learners struggling with sustaining their motivation with the inquiry
• Not enough accessibility to technology
• Increase of political pressure to meet learning outcomes
• Can only cover depth not breadth of the curriculum
• Teachers not showing their full expertise
• A fear of fundamental concepts would be left out
• Students restrict the different teaching styles--if students are given power in the learning environment then they may
put the pressure for the teacher to control them again
• Assessment— difficult in knowing/testing students factual knowledge
