UW–Madison’s Jeremy Stoddard recently shared his insights on civics education in an article in Madison’s Isthmus newspaper. The article highlights a proposed bill in the Wisconsin legislature that would require high school students to take half a credit of civics instruction as part of their three-credit social studies requirement.
There is currently no requirement for civics instruction in Wisconsin’s schools, although students must pass a civics test in order to graduate.
Stoddard, a professor in the School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction, focuses on how political polarization is impacting young people and civic education in K-12 schools. In June he helped organize a research convening to examine this issue.
Stoddard stressed it’s important for teachers to be straightforward in their approach when teaching civics, using the historical record to understand both the past and today’s issues. One challenge, he told Isthmus, is striving to be nonpartisan — but not apolitical.
“A lot of the state standards still focus on an idealistic or textbook version of the roles and processes of government,” Stoddard said. “And when we look at how government actually functions today, that doesn’t help students to really understand what is going on in the world today. It doesn’t look at the role of lobbyists, or the role of organizations writing legislation.”
Ideally, he added, “in a civics or government class we’re engaging students in both helping them make sense of politics and the nature of how things work today — as messy as that is — as well as getting them to imagine how it could be.”
To support that approach, Stoddard co-created a game called PurpleState, designed for middle school students to understand how political media campaigns engage and influence people. He said the game “helps familiarize students with their local and state political environments. They review local news sources to see how the publications reflect the views of people in different parts of the states on issues like gun control. And they take note of how much money is being spent on political advertising.”
“Then,” Stoddard explained, “we have them step back and reflect on that system and, looking at all the money that is being poured in by special interest groups, ask them if there is a better way to engage in issues they care about and, if so, what could that look like.”
To learn more, read the full article in Isthmus.