Diminishing civic vitality has been reported in numerous societies, irrespective of democratic maturity. Mandatory community service initiatives in schools have garnered attention as a strategy for fostering long-term civic engagement. However, methodological challenges such as selection bias and observation timing have led to inconsistent…

Background: Social responsibility and democratic citizenship are essential outcomes of a college education. Yet limited research has examined how college experiences may relate to students' moral and prosocial development, qualities that ground responsibility and citizenship. Purpose: This research sought to identify the college experiences,…

This paper shares a participatory action research study conducted by a team of researchers at a university laboratory school in collaboration with three classroom teachers and 60 preschoolers. The team engaged in this research in order to examine the ways in which school personnel could generate more authentic community service experiences with,…

This article explores the intercultural and citizenship dimensions of foreign language teaching and discusses, in particular, the implications for foreign language teaching and teacher education. The work (1) extends the fundamental concepts that were developed by Byram and Wagner (2018) in this journal--that foreign language education has…

Creating educated and informed citizens for our diverse democracy has long been one of the objectives of the U.S. educational system. Traditionally, service-learning has been the primary tool for colleges and universities to promote civic outcomes; however, other practices, particularly those requiring substantial student investments of time and…

Since its inception in 2004, Siena Italian Studies (SIS) has worked to offer students a challenging and engaging intercultural experience thanks to the implementation of the service-learning pedagogy and the practice of reflection combined with language acquisition. Over the years, SIS courses have been aligned with European policies and…

Using a mixed methods design, the researchers investigated understandings and practices of democracy across Round Square, a worldwide network of 180 schools committed to shared values. An extensive questionnaire received 4020 student and 863 teacher returns; additionally, leaders, students, and parents from five case study schools on different…

Service to others plays a key role in the development of one's worldview. To study this key role, authors examined a sample of 38 student narratives in three phases: before, during, and 45 days after they served at an alternative break site around the United States. Students kept a prompt-based journal inspired by the tenets of the social change…

Preparing students to be engaged participants in our democratic society has long been an important college outcome. Over the past few decades, postsecondary institutions have primarily attempted to improve civic outcomes by integrating service activities into their curricula. While research on the effects of service-learning are plentiful,…

With the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD), nations' engagement with sustainability has differed considerably on the basis of their socio-political priorities. Since reviewing research trends is one way of getting a broad understanding about the value attached to an internationally prioritized issue, such as Education for…

The aim of this action-research project was to evaluate the impact of high school students' involvement in community-oriented, art-based work in the social studies. In Detroit, high school students engaged in persuasive writing and design while exploring community issues. The project culminated in the installation of student artwork on a billboard…

Research suggests that teachers play a role in the type of citizenship education implemented in schools. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how two high school teachers understood and enacted their civic identities as a dimension of their teacher identities. Findings suggest that factors contributing to an individual's civic…

This study investigates the claim that a community-based learning experience of short duration in a first-year general education seminar can result in valid and measurable civic learning outcomes. Through the use of a mixed methods design, this study probes two essential outcomes of civic learning advanced by Saltmarsh (2005), the acquisition of…

This study considered the impact of the SERVE Program upon participating college students' belief in the American Dream. The SERVE Program is a community service learning program sponsored by the philosophy and theology departments at Ignatius University. Using a mixed methods approach, the authors found that participating students demonstrated…

Describes Collin County Community College's (CCCC) (Texas) attempt to address the issue of civic disengagement by pairing scholarship with service-learning programs. Institutional research data reflect increased student retention and success in these classes, a climate of increased communication and objectivity, practical experience in community…