Reading is critical to success in college. Faculty members often decry students who come to class without reading, and unprepared for the lessons of the day. Yet, relatively little empirical research assesses how to best stimulate collegiate reading and what types of reading assessments provide the best student learning outcomes. This paper…

In this article I discuss an approach to teaching about the Russian war in Ukraine that uses the war as a focal point for teaching about topics in comparative politics and international relations. I discuss the pedagogical advantages for political science teaching, including meeting the interests of students, introducing students to theories in…

In the Winter of 2020, my introductory Canadian politics class started to develop its own online, collaboratively-built, open-access, introductory "textbook" on Canadian politics. Drawing on the principles of critical pedagogy, the assignment engages students in group work to generate plain-language primers that can connect with an…

Watson earned his B.A. in religious studies from the College of William and Mary in 1995, his M.A. in international peace studies and conflict resolution from the University of Notre Dame in 2001, and his M.A. and doctorate in political science from the University of New Mexico in 2010 and 2013, respectively. Research interests include the…

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…

How can information literacy (IL) skills be improved during one semester? The proliferation of information disorders - fabricated stories, misleading content, clickbait - requires skills beyond using a fake-news checklist. Students in an introductory political science course were asked to analyze a news story every week as a course objective to…

Given the increasing prevalence of podcast listening, especially among young adults with college education, it is important to consider how student-produced podcasts can impact the student experience in the classroom, contribute to a more participatory course, and help achieve learning objectives. To engage these issues, this article reflects on…

Wikipedia has become one of the most used reference works, by students, educators, academics, and the general public, and there is a growing body of research exploring when and how students use the online encyclopedia. A smaller body of work examines the role of Wikipedia as a pedagogical tool for teaching information literacy and subject-matter…

This article discusses two interview assignments used in a class on political representation. Instructor observations, as well as student-provided survey data, indicate the assignment was a successful learning tool. Students who provided feedback on the assignment reported high levels of enjoyment and learning. Moreover, students reported higher…

A perennial problem for teachers of political thought is to decide what thinkers to include in the required course readings. In many cases, teachers have come to rely on an established Western canon as they seek to build a shared disciplinary identity, impart key theoretical insights and provide common points of reference. Increasingly, however,…

As experiential learning becomes more central to undergraduate education, we must find ways to use it in large classes and to teach students how to learn from experiences. This article uses a 2-year study of student perceptions of learning from short, in-class games and simulations to show that these active learning activities can be used to…

Many of us know the courses within our curriculum that slow student progress toward graduation. Existing research has found that research design courses often serve as barriers, as one of these students arrive on the first day with high anxiety and low motivation. This article reviews how revisions driven by the Quality Matters framework resulted…

This essay discusses the emerging literature on APA religiosity and politics, with a focus on theologically conservative Christians. APAs are both highly religiously diverse, and politically divided between those who identify more as conservative Christians and those who do less. More-educated, conservative Christian APAs experience…

The theories of international relations (IR) are often difficult topics for students to understand: What are these and how are they useful? This is especially true among students who have likely never taken a political science class, are not political science majors, and are attending a rural regional university with limited exposure to the world.…

This article describes public records request assignments in courses in political science and in Asian American Studies. Beyond commonly known activities like voting, volunteering, signing petitions or peacefully protesting, students should gain experience in exercising their rights to an expansive set of government records that fall within the…