This paper, the first in a series of five on the current state of citizen education, focuses on citizen participation in decision making. After a brief introduction to citizen participation, the authors discuss the involvement of citizens in decision making viewed as a problem-solving process. The five problem-solving steps covered are: define the…

The document describes a South Carolina Study Project involving high school students in making decisions relating to their school communities. The project encouraged students to examine and evaluate the ways in which they formed opinions, made value decisions, and checked out the validity of their facts. Students were given training in using…