Meaningful participation and engagement in Civics and Citizenship classes

Strengthening democracy and addressing declining civic knowledge.

How can we best equip students to be engaged by and meaningfully participate in our democracy?  In this webinar recording, Professor Murray Print explored what we know about experiential civic education for students, what we need to know, and how we can support existing offerings for students.

Find out more about this topic by watching the webinar and/or exploring the associated resources on this page.

Experiential civic education

Beyond the classroom: experiential Civic Education in Australia (opens external website in a new window) defines experiential civic education using four core criteria:

• It is offered in a relevant site, such as a parliamentary building, as a form of situated learning.
• It places learners in realistic or active engagement conditions, such as a courtroom setting.
• It uses realistic or simulated formats that actively involve participants, such as voting in a mock election.
• It integrates experience with explicit learning of civic knowledge, skills and values.

Questions for discussion

• The National Assessment Program – Civics and Citizenship (opens external website in a new window) (NAP–CC) is an online assessment of levels of achievement in civics and citizenship literacy among a sample of Year 6 and Year 10 students across Australia. Participating schools receive a basic report about the performance of their students.
  Do you have any data that you can use to gauge students’ progress in Civics and Citizenship?
• What are the opportunities in your community for an experiential activity for your students? What would be appropriate for different age-groups?
  Use this list of potential excursions and activities to plan some experiential activities.
• What kinds of pre- and post- excursion activities do you use to ensure the learning is most effective?

Further resources

Potential experiential Civics and Citizenship excursions and activities.
Find an annotated list of potential experiential civics and citizenship activities in your state or territory and beyond.

Teaching civics and citizenship: a classroom guide (opens external website in a new window)
Explore democratic ideas and political processes through role-play, negotiation and problem-solving with these activities. Each can be modified for different year levels.

9 dynamic, hands-on activities that immerse students in civics (opens external website in a new window)
This Edutopia article provides strategies from the American classroom context designed to engage students more deeply in civics education.