This study investigates teacher participation in a national online youth civic letter writing project through the lens of teacher civic commitments. Drawing on in-depth interviews and survey data from teachers who participated in the Letters to the Next President 2.0 project, civic commitments are articulated through civic beliefs, learning goals,…

Civic engagement that leverages scientific concepts and reasoning is cited as a goal of science education, yet little research has attended to authentic enactments of science-related civic engagement that youth undertake currently. We shed light on this understudied area by investigating youth letters written to the (then unknown) future US…

A complex issue at the intersection of science, emotion, and politics, climate change is on the minds of young people across the globe, as evidenced through worldwide climate strikes. This manuscript presents an analysis of letters written by 350 young people across the US during the 2016 Presidential election season. These letters, submitted…

This article investigates the civic writing practices of more than 11,000 students writing letters to the next president in the lead up to the 2016 U.S. election. We analyze how letter topics are associated with socioeconomic factors and reveal that 43 topics--including ones prevalent among students such as immigration, guns, and school…