Research demonstrates that classroom dynamics benefit from a culture of mutuality and respect, especially in seminar courses that thrive on student discussion and classroom participation. But cultivating such a culture can be challenging, especially because students come from various cultural backgrounds and bring different life experiences with…

This paper posits that the foundations of the teaching of political theory at Makerere University College obtain from British and American hegemony. The hegemonic tendencies are exemplified by the content of what was taught as political theory, the nature of the teaching staff in the Department of Political Science -- the country of origin, the…

Our current political situation and the demographic realities of our country require Political Science educators to be more intentional about integrating Asian Pacific American (APA) histories and experiences in the Political Science curriculum. By including the multifaceted ways in which APAs have and continue to participate in American civil…

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…

Efforts to teach civic engagement address not only students' political knowledge but also their skills and dispositions. Although the scholarship of teaching and learning has explored the role of political discussion in the pre-college classroom extensively, attention to the topic at the college-level has been limited. Given the challenges…

This article shows how a gallery walk exercise can be used to encourage broad participation and higher-level thinking among undergraduate students of political science. Asked to visualize the future of different political ideologies, the students work together in groups to create posters that they then present for each other during a…

When new graduates begin employment in industries such as government, consultancies, or the nongovernmental sector they are expected to have the skills needed to write politically-informed reports accurately. Teaching how to write briefing notes provides students with an important skill, but also provides an effective instrument for examining…

Advanced high-school courses, such as Advanced Placement (AP) courses in the United States, present a content selection conundrum of major proportions. Judicious content selection is necessary if students are to learn subject matter meaningfully, but the sheer breadth of tested material in these courses promotes nearly the opposite:…

The author created and has been teaching a first-year seminar (FYS) called "Food for Thought: Rhetoric of the Edible" for the past three years. Sustainability and ethics in the production and consumption of food have been tangential topics that have arisen in the course. While her academic background is composition and rhetoric, food has…

Traditional writing assignments often fall short in addressing problems in college students' writing as too often these assignments fail to help students develop critical thinking skills and comprehension of course content. This article reports the use of a two-part (staged) writing assignment with postscript as a strategy for improving critical…

Information literacy is becoming an integral component of the higher education curriculum. Following a brief explanation of information literacy, highlighting links to the teaching of Politics at the tertiary level, this article shares lessons learned during a pilot study involving embedding information literacy on a third year Politics course at…

This paper presents an innovative way to teach Introduction to Political Science by breaking with the convention of teaching a survey course of all political science subfields. Each student is invited to be a participant-observer and apply political science perspectives to the data collected from his/her personal polity. Readings, research, and…

A general overview of political science education in Canadian public schools, with an emphasis on secondary education, is provided. The level, content, and objectives of political science courses offered by schools in the various provinces of Canada are discussed. (RM)

Discusses how theory and science are integrated into "Introduction to International Relations" and "International Relations Theory", two undergraduate courses at Pennsylvania State University (University Park). Highlights five issues that are used in the author's approach to teaching theory and science. (CMK)

Examines the impact of adding interactive video technology in an experimental course, "Congress and the Policy Process", in which the students held conversations with participants in Washington politics who acted as video seminar speakers. Reports that interaction with politicians improved the student learning experiences and grasp of the course…