The Harvard CIVICS Program

The civics program at Harvard University is an initiative of the Harvard Institute of Politics and the Phillips Brooks House Association that aims to teach civics and the structure of government to elementary and high-school students in the Boston Public School system. The program relies on the service of volunteer teachers who are Harvard College undergraduate students. Dividing the class in two sections, the program teacher usually starts in the fall term teaching about the branches of government and the election system and role of the media, using current events as a springboard for discussion. In the spring term, the main focus is on the United States’ citizenry’s basic rights and responsibilities and ways in which they can exercise these rights through engagement in their communities. Throughout the two semesters, the Civics program’s curriculum is directly related to our course “From Voice to Influence: Citizenship in a Digital Age” as it covers the fundamentals of participatory politics in the rise of new media (fall term) as well as the changing role of citizenship and responsibility in a community (spring term).

Why Does it Matter to Us?

Analyzing the civics program at Harvard University matters to us in many different ways. The main reason is that we regard teaching civics in the early stages of adolescent development as an important contribution to prepare children and young people for their life in a changing society. On the one hand, the changing media landscape opens a lot of possibilities to make participation in society easier. On the other hand, as to the increasing quantity of participation in the digital age, it is more important to get an idea of how one can overcome the stage of pure participation and make it have an actual impact. To illustrate this point, it matters to us that children start understanding how to go “From Voice to Influence” while facing the challenges of the digital age.

CIVICS Program [Student Paper]

A. Explanation of the Civics Program

B. “Why does it matter to us?”

C. “How much should I share?”

Considering the risk of irrevocability in the digital age this also draws the line to certain contents related to the opinion of political parties. The main aim of the civics program is to deliver a neutral civics education that enables and encourages young people to actively participate in society. Teaching convictions of a certain political direction endangers an independent formation of opinion, which could - at least in the long run - lead to an undesired shift in public opinion. In terms of “how much should I share” it is very important to stick to concepts of a general civics education without sharing any specific political ideas. Furthermore, it is crucial to explain to the students how important it is for them to take part in the changing media landscape, while also helping them realize that their participation is subject to scrutiny, which in turn means that they have to limit their online appearances to the extent to which they want to be regarded in public. As it is nearly impossible to completely delete something once content is posted, young people have to think thoroughly about what they want to disclose online.

D. Main issues to explore in the case study

In the course of our case study, we would like to explore the main reasons for which civics teachers join the program. In addition, we would like to analyze the contribution of civics classes, for instance, whether motivating students to participate and become more interested in a certain subject is a main incentive for Civics teachers. Moreover, we would like to determine whether the education in class is the only civics education students receive. For instance, is the education provided by the Civics Program supplemental to what they learn at home or elsewhere? If it is not supplemental, the Civics teachers would actually take a leading role in students’ civic education and we could explore, whether this kind of social responsibility is also a key motivation factor for the Civics teachers. Finally, our main objective is to understand the motivation of Civics teachers joining the educational program in today’s digital age and how they feel that their experiences have matched with their expectations and motivations coming into the program.

A. Equity

The YPP Action Frame places a particular emphasis on questions of equity and seeks to ingrain the idea that in order to achieve ideas of political friendship, notions of acquiescence and dominance need to be discarded. Allen describes how in order for political friendships to flourish, self-interest seeking must be managed in a way that is beneficial to both parties.¹ In other words, no single party’s decision should harm or jeopardize the wellbeing of another party. This behavior in turn creates trust and respect among parties subject to a political friendship. Thereupon we notice how political friendships are reliant on ideas of equity. Allen notices how in our current day and age, liberty has become a priority, and ideas of equity have been neglected. The former has led to growing socioeconomic inequality.

While she argues that liberty and equity are not mutually exclusive or competing, she notes how the neglecting issues of equity lead to detrimental effects in liberty, a value that was deeply espoused by American founding fathers. A civics education, which focuses on educating students about citizenship, government, and democratic values, is crucial to values of equity. When students are taught about their rights and responsibilities, they are in a much better position to become engaged in their democracy. US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, has recently made note of how Americans are increasingly unaware of the US’s basic history or how the government functions.² He cited recent NAEP scores, which highlighted how less than one-third of American grade school students are proficient in civics. Furthermore, there are studies that show how there exists a “civic achievement gap” between white students and minority students. With this in mind, one asks how this has come to be and what the effects of this decline in knowledge mean.

Duncan suggests that in order to motivate students to learn about civics, “instruction needs to be more engaging and interactive,” he stresses that “it’s time to revitalize and update civic education for the twenty-first century.” This is where the Civics Program seems to be an alternative worth studying and potentially replicating. The program, which sends Harvard college students to public schools in the Boston area, incorporates methods that are more appealing to students. Teachers leverage online resources to update their lesson plans, and thus appears to be more applicable to twenty- first century students that are so well-versed in the digital sphere.

B. Self-Protection

Self-protection in the context of civics instruction is relevant for both actors involved in the transaction of information. The teachers, whose main goal is to educate the students, need to take into consideration the character of the information they are sharing, while the students who participate in the classroom-setting must also be weary of the information they share, as they are revealing aspects of their identity by participating in classroom discussions with their teachers and their classmates. Thus, both parties involved in civics instruction (the teachers and the students) have an equal interest in the implications of self-protection. Moreover, in invoking the value of self-protection, teachers need to be sensitive to their young students’ diverse backgrounds, and be sensitive to the need for transmitting objective information. If the teacher’s goal is to educate a student on issues related to government and civic duties, he or she must know to take his or her personal beliefs regarding politics out of the equation.

Furthermore, the teacher must act on the information that a student shares so as to gage the classroom’s previous knowledge, if any, on the subject at hand. The teacher must know that her students are part of the “crowds” described the the YPP action frame, and thus must be dealt with carefully in order to be able to teach successfully. Another factor to take into consideration is that the students being taught are part of a generation that has been constantly stimulated by online information and media content. As such, teachers must navigate through sensitive topics for which, in some cases, these students may have already been exposed to because of their involvement in social media or their use of online sources. Along the same lines, the teacher must be sensitive to the diversity of opinion and expression of his or her students so that they in turn are open to learning the material and participating in the class discussions. Thus, the way in which the Civics teacher communicates, and the content and breadth of what he or she communicates is key to the success of the program and directly tied to concepts of self-protection.

C. Efficacy

The case for teaching civics is also pertinent to the value of efficacy, in that it deals with actors that are trying to change a particular behavior (knowledge of civics and participation in democracy) and are doing so through a particular channel-- classroom instruction. Efficacy issues are targeted in the Civics program with the progression of lessons and the structure of the curriculum. To this end, technology has changed the way teachers organize their lesson plans, share materials, and communicate about experiences in the classroom and best practices. Furthermore, the Civics program constantly relies on feedback from the volunteer teachers and the participating schools. This aforementioned information is gathered online and stored in databases for use by the program leadership, which will then evaluate the feedback and adjust the program accordingly. Seeing as one of the purposes of the program is to expand an informed and active citizenry, the program’s leadership team and the participating volunteer teachers both need to concern themselves with the questions of how to make it easy and engaging for others to join in.

For instance, the leadership wants more Boston public schools to get adopt the program and the teachers want their students to be fully engaged and participate during lessons. The Civics Program must also ask itself constantly what its role is in executing change. While the program is focused on teaching students, its main goal is to get these students to actually retain the information and put it to good use. The ultimate purpose of a civics education is to create informed citizens that are willing and able to take part in their democracy, and as such Civics teachers must ask themselves whether or not their lessons are leading to this change. In order to do achieve the program goals, Civics teachers employ a variety of instructional practices and use different tools, many of which have changed and advanced in the digital age. This case study will thus observe the extent to which the Civics program has adhered to the values of equity, self-protection, and efficacy and evaluate the findings in order to see whether the program has succeeded in its mission and if it is creating the change it seeks.

1 Allen, Danielle. Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship Since Brown V. Board of Education, The University of Chicago Press, 2006.
2 Duncan, Arne. “The Next Generation of Civics Education.” U.S Department of Education, 29 March 2011, http://www.ed.gov/news/speeches/next-generation-civics-education.

A. “Who do we want to talk to?”

On the one hand, we will primary talk to the civics program teachers, who are invited by the schools to complement the classroom teacher’s classes. In this particular case, it will be interesting to analyze their descriptions of students’ development throughout the duration of the program’s weekly sessions and also their motivations for volunteering to teach with the program. On the other hand, we would like to interview the regular classroom school teachers at participating civics schools, in order to obtain a second perspective on the influence of having civics education at school and why said schools choose to participate in the Civics Program.

B. “What do we particularly observe?”

Our main observations will focus on the civics teachers’ experience and their motivations for participating in the program. We will observe general driving factors in the teaching experience and look at how the program leadership’s vision actually translates (or fails to translate) into the experience of the civics teachers. As a secondary source, we will be interviewing the classroom teachers of civics participating schools. Interviewing these teachers will give us an insight as to why these schools choose to participate in the program in the first place and whether or not they think the program has been successful and provoked any perceptible change in their students’ behavior.

C. “What existing data do we want to explore?”

Our case study would mostly be a qualitative analysis of the motivations and impact of the Civics Program. Therefore, we would explore existing literature on the history of civics education and any trends and changes in civics instruction. Another data point that we could also explore would consist in researching similar initiatives elsewhere; this would allow us to have a source of comparison for our findings relating to the Civics Program at Harvard.

When conducting our interviews with the people responsible for running the Civics program, we focused primarily on the Harvard Civics Teachers. In addition, we interviewed the program leadership, who are also working actively as Harvard Civics Teachers, to get a broader insight on the motivations and aspirations of the Harvard Civics Teachers.

A. Making a change

One of the most important motivational factors for the Harvard Civics Teachers is that they feel that they have the ability to have make a difference by teaching their weekly sessions. Lexi Smith, one of the leaders of the civics program stated in one of our interviews that during her time in class “You feel like you are actually doing something important for the future generation”. She likes that the civics program does not mainly consist of administrative issues as many other initiatives do. Even if her time commitment for organizational issues is comparably high as a program leader, she emphasizes that the main focus is on preparing the class material in a way that the children can benefit most from.

Pointing at other countries where it is not easy to teach civic education or even influence the political landscape, most interviewees agree on the point that they are motivated by the opportunities to make a change in the time of the digital age, because it has never been so easy. For Nicholas Ackert, the second program leader, it is of utmost importance to make a change in country where he is able to do so. During his last years as a high-school student, he lived in Taipei, Taiwan and graduated there from the American School. Throughout his youth and the time as a young adolescent, politics and the ability to influence the political system took a central role in his life and discussions with friends. As there are hardly any possibilities to influence the political landscape in Taipei through similar program or in any other way, he is driven to make a change through his position as the leader of the civics program.

B. Interacting with children and the youth

Another key motivation factor for most of the Harvard Civics Teachers is the age group they teach. Harvard Civics Teachers love to work with children and to help them develop skills, which are indispensable if they want to become active citizens. When asked the question of whether they were involved in any civics-related activities before joining the civics program, a majority of the Harvard Civics Teachers said that to a certain extent they had been involved in similar activities. In fact, most of the Harvard Civics Teachers reported that they were involved in some kind of mentoring or tutoring activities either in high school or in their first years of college. What makes working with children for Harvard Civics Teachers a unique experience is that they get a chance to get into close connection with the children and their way of thinking about certain (not only political) issues.

They realize that children think in completely different ways about actual events and that they can benefit from their points of view in order to expand their own horizons. Lexi realizes that is very important to her to think about how to best simplify complicated issues for children and that it is “inspiring to see that children are already involved in a certain topics.” Most of the Harvard Civics Teachers started participating in the program during their Freshman or Sophomore year. The great experiences they’ve shared in their weekly work with children is what ties them to the program and in most cases they remain volunteering as Harvard Civics Teachers until the end of their undergraduate studies.

C. Bearing social responsibility

Another key motivational aspiration for all of the Harvard Civics Teachers we interviewed, is carrying their responsibility as a teacher. To illustrate that point, according to Nicholas Ackert the aim of the program is “to provide the students with a framework on how they think about certain issues weighing the pros and cons rather than what they think”. He emphasizes that the content Harvard Civics Teachers teach is not a mathematical one, where a true or false answer is required. It is about motivating students to grow more comfortable speaking about political issues with a good foundation of knowledge. The responsibility here is especially to provide neutral frameworks (We already discussed that point in “How much should I share”).

Nicholas was a chair member of the Model United Nations (MUN) before joining the civics program. He served as a mentor for high school students during the discussion there and this was what actually fascinated him more than the political discussions. His responsibility was it to keep distance to political opinions in the council and to stay open-minded towards different opinions and so his responsibility is in the civics program as well. In the classroom, he realizes his social responsibility most, when there are many strong views on a specific topic and he has to absolutely exclude his ones as well. As a Harvard Civics Teacher he is aware of the fact that his statements have a material impact on what children think.

Furthermore, in naming social responsibility a key motivation for Harvard Civics Teachers, they enjoy the fact that there are possibilities in our society to shape the political landscape of the future. It is their equitable self-interest to prepare future generations for their role as active citizens being able to improve the democratic structures. The Harvard Civics Teachers agree on that one can only improve democratic structures, when starting to work within them in early stages of development. They regard offering young students civics education as their responsibility to give them the possibility to “exploit the strengths of our current democratic structures and improve its weaknesses in the future” (Nicholas Ackert).

D. Working within an up-to-date curriculum using new media

Finally, why are these college students motivated to join the civics program and not to work as an assistant teacher or in a similar position at school? In our interviews, we discovered that being able to influence and design the curriculum takes a major part in their motivation. For the Harvard Civics Teachers their long-term impact is more important than any short-term teaching experience could ever be. Motivating young high school students to find discussion about topics of public interest exciting and to enjoy being taught civics is of utmost importance to them. The program leadership as well as the Harvard Civics Teachers ask themselves how they can make the content best accessible every year. Firstly, they endeavor to revise the curriculum every year adding current discussions and designing the content in order to aim at the most important questions for students. Secondly, they try to approach different types of learners and discovered from the teaching experience of former years that many young students are particularly attracted by the use of audio-visual elements to supplement lessons, which in turn leads teachers to make use of new media.

However, some of the Harvard Civics Teachers note that they have experienced unpleasant encounters when the school principal demands to approve every video clip they want to show in class beforehand. This is of course a limitation of their freedom in designing their classes, but fortunately most of the schools leave the whole decisions up to the Harvard Civics Teachers. Last but not least, Nicholas Ackert calls attention to the fact that simply using the features of new media is not enough and that comprehension checks in “offline” group discussion are still an important medium to use. The Harvard Civics Teachers main motivational aspirations here is that they have the freedom to tie the curriculum to current issues making use of “any media necessary” by choosing the optimal combination of online and offline resources.

3 Jenkins, Henry. “Youth Voice, Media, and Political Engagement.” By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism, NYU Press, 2016.

A. Engaging in meaningful discussion

Sawyer*, a Harvard Civics teacher who has volunteered for the program for the past 3 years, recognizes that the program has changed since he first joined as a freshman. Now in his senior year, Sawyer notes that the main changes have been in curriculum activities, and the incorporation of video resources to explain certain lessons. He also notes how the leadership has improved the presentation and depth of the curriculum. The Civics curriculum, he argues, “has changed from merely defining terms on a whiteboard, to engaging students in discussions about their surroundings and current events.” Sawyer teaches a 5th grade Civics class at Peabody School in North Cambridge and expressed how he is marveled at the students’ willingness to participate when he presents engaging activities in the classroom.

The Civics curriculum for the fall is divided into eight units and each unit is covered in a single class session. The curriculum provided to teachers is structured so that main objectives of each lesson are designed and so that by the end of the lesson students are able to answer specific questions and be able to define particular terms. For instance, in the 6th unit of the fall term, Sawyer had to teach about campaigns and elections. His unit objectives were thus to “facilitate a clear understanding of the American electoral process” and “encourage involvement in electoral politics”. By the end of his lesson, the curriculum asked that students be able to define the terms “candidate”, “campaign”, “citizen”, “direct democracy”, “electoral college”, “general election”, “nominating convention”, “primary election” and “voter”.

However, the activities prepared made it so that students were not just regurgitating information fed to them, but so that they actually absorbed the information and were able to explain these concepts in their own words. Inthis particular unit, Sawyer describes how he started his lesson briefly describing the concepts through a brainstorming session, wherein he asked his students questions about the electoral process so that he could gage what they already knew. In this way, he was able to relay information, while keeping the students engaged in class dialogue. This section of the lesson was followed by a brief lecture, where terms were explained to the students. However, the lesson culminated in a mock election, where basically the students put into practice the concepts the had learned. In this case, students were divided into teams of 4-5 and each team was asked to come up with a candidate to represent their “party”, devise a platform where they came together on “planks” or issues that they were concerned with, and then they had to inform the rest of the students (who were acting as “voters”) about why they needed their vote. Students were given material to prepare campaign posters and were asked to come up with slogans. After each team presented their party platform, the class was asked to vote for a candidate.

Sawyer noted that the mock election was the activity that really helped the students grasp the terms he had explained earlier. This was probably because this activity made it easy and engaging for the students to comprehend the political process seeing as they were acting it out on their own terms and basically seeing it come to life in a small scale. This sort of activity is beyond what traditional civics courses would call for, but Sawyer notes how the program has transformed and taken into consideration that the kids need to be stimulated with activities that allow them to participate and engage in dialogue with their peers. During these classroom simulations, Sawyer says that “students really come together and you see them argue with each other in constructive ways,” this sort of dialogue he claims “is what really goes on in our government, so exposing them to these discussions really helps them relate to the political process and really understand how it works.”

The incorporation of activities where students can participate and not just sit and listen are what really sets the civics program apart from traditional civics instruction. In a post titled “Teaching Civics in a Digital Age”, Adam Strom argues that “civic education can foster character and empathy in adolescents who are at the right time in life to reflect their developing views and actions.”⁴ The emphasis on character and empathy can be seen in the Harvard Civics curriculum, seeing as it provides for opportunities for students from different backgrounds, races, and creeds to engage in meaningful and respectful conversation. The program is intended to go beyond just a presentation of facts, it is geared so that the students can develop the skills and habits that are required for participating in their communities.

B. Using digital tools

James*, another interviewee in his senior year at Harvard, teaches Civics at the Baldwin Early Learning Pilot School in Brighton. James has taught civics since his sophomore year and during his interview, expressed how he thinks that the program has made use of digital tools, but there is potential for further immersion into the digital sphere. James for instance, says that the classrooms that he has taught in are mostly equipped with smart boards and projectors that he can use to display videos and show sites. When probed about the sorts of videos that he shows to his students, he claimed that he used them for a variety of purposes. For the unit on political parties for instance, he used videos of political candidates giving speeches so that his students could identify what the candidates’ stances on particular issues were. He also used videos to explain how bills are made into laws when he had to teach a unit on the legislative branch. Audio-visual content is useful to his classroom because there are dearths of online resources that can better explain hard concepts to students. James noted “if I can show students a music video that explains how bills can become laws, the students will be more entertained and more likely to retain the information that if I were to just stand before them and lecture them on the subject.”

Students themselves are already well versed in using technology, James claimed. Although the civics program teaches 4th, 5th and 6th graders for the most part, at this age they have already been in contact with social media platforms and the web. These are individuals who watch television on their computers, access textbooks online and complete math modules in web programs, they Skype with relatives and friends using webcams. Therefore, adapting the civics curriculum to incorporate the digital tools that these kids are already familiar with is crucial. The MacArthur Foundation found that what we consider traditional forms of civic engagement, such as organizing and debating, are currently moving online.⁵ For this reason, the civics program also has a responsibility to help its students navigate these resources and learn about the proper ways to conduct themselves responsibly while online. Joseph Kahne advances the above in his article “Redesigning Civic Education for the Digital Age: Participatory Politics and the Pursuit of Democratic Engagement.” He claims “core practices of civic and political engagement, such as investigation, dialogue, circulation, production, and mobilization, must be taught differently because they are now frequently enacted differently and in different contexts.”⁶

* Pse* Pseudonym
4 Strom, Adam. “Teaching Civics In A Digital Age.” LinkedIn. 28 Feb 2016.
5 Bennett, W. Lance. “Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth.” The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, MIT Press, 2008.
6 Kahne. Joseph. “Redesigning Civic Education for the Digital Age: Participatory Politics and the Pursuit of Democratic Engagement.” Theory and Research in Social Education, Vol. 44, Iss.1, 2016.udonym
4 Strom, Adam. “Teaching Civics In A Digital Age.” LinkedIn. 28 Feb 2016.
5 Bennett, W. Lance. “Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth.” The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning, MIT Press, 2008.
6 Kahne. Joseph. “Redesigning Civic Education for the Digital Age: Participatory Politics and the Pursuit of Democratic Engagement.” Theory and Research in Social Education, Vol. 44, Iss.1, 2016.

Using the framework of the ten questions developed by Allen and Nam regarding how to go from voice to influence, this case study was performed to uncover the driving motivations of the Harvard Civics Program and its volunteer teachers and participating schools. In her discussion about participatory politics, Nam discusses how the tradition is quintessential to the American social fabric, and how participatory politics manifests itself in “a variety of strands—though they are not necessarily related to one another—embrace the same spirit of grassroots participation.”7 We set out to examine the Civics Program under the lenses of participatory politics, considering from the outset that the program was in and of itself one of the many “strands” of participatory politics. We garnered that through the lifecycle of the Civics program or the units of its curriculum and how said curriculum is constantly being changed and updated, is essentially an embodiment of the five activities that Nam describes as constituting participatory politics, namely, “investigation, dialogue and feedback, circulation, production, and mobilization.” For the first cluster, investigation, we uncover through our interviews that the formation of the civics curriculum is itself a product of investigation. Program leaders described how they constantly gathered a myriad of sources to gain adequate information to teach their students, and how through the process they had to weed out the valuable from the invaluable and misleading pieces of information. For the second cluster, dialogue and feedback, we gather from interviews that the creation of the curriculum is also a product of dialogue and discussion from the teachers who have taught previous iterations of the course and are able to provide an input regarding the students’ reception of particular concepts taught in the classroom. The
curriculum is thus formulated based on the feedback of veteran teachers who have used their past experiences to suggest improvements for the program.

Regarding the third cluster, circulation, we interpret the actions of the Civics program to be a “circulation” of information to the youths. Hence, the program seeks to educate school-aged children about the American government and the rights afforded to them by the constitution. Thus, it can be understood that the Civics teachers are the civic actors who disseminate the information to the students in a classroom setting. The purpose of circulating said information and as such, the purpose of the Civics program, is made clear to be that of educating the youths so that they can use their political knowledge and understanding of the constitution to effect positive changes in their community.

The fourth cluster described by Nam in her article, production, is again another action fully put forth by the Civics program in that the civic actors or teachers in this case, act as both facilitators and producers of information. The carefully constructed curriculum has been curated to include activities produced by the teachers that allow for students to absorb knowledge about the intended subjects through fun and interactive means. The production of these classroom activities thus goes beyond mere reciting of information, but seeks to have students learn concepts and develop informed opinions and perspectives about the issues discussed in class. The fifth cluster, mobilization, can be said to be that which the civics program aspires to provoke in the students. The interviewees described the purpose of the program to not only be that of educating students about civics, but also instilling in them a sense of duty to act on behalf of their community about issues they care about.

Having understood why we considered the Civics Program to be a strand of participatory politics, it is worth discussing how we evaluated the program according to the ten questions that make up the participatory politics framework that Allen and Nam developed and then discussing whether or not its adherence/ or lack there of adherence to the principles had any effect in the four desired outcomes of “Engagement, Quality and Equity, Effectiveness, and Security.”⁸ The interviewees were all asked why they got involved with the Civics program and given the fact that all interviewees had taught for more than a semester, they were also asked why they continued participating in the program. All the interviewees coincided in that they thought that the subject they were teaching, civics, was of utmost importance given the political landscape that exists in present-day America. It mattered to them that future generations were informed about the structure of the US government and the Constitution, because the children they taught were deemed to be future leaders and future voters. The teachers noticed that by participating in the program and volunteering to teach, they were making it about more than themselves, in that they were helping educate others and reducing the so-called civic achievement gap and the place they started was in elementary schools around the Boston and Cambridge area, going into classrooms and teaching 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students civics.

During the interviews, the volunteer teachers described how they disseminated information and how they decided what information they wanted to share and the extent to which they lectured about particular subjects. The teachers described classroom discussions with students as productive but they noted how they had to be careful to control the tone and nature of the debates in order to ensure that students respected each other and felt comfortable sharing their thoughts and asking questions. The aforementioned can be taken as an instance of how the program gathers wisdom from the crowds and how it handles the downside of crowds. Teachers noted how the students’ previous exposure to the internet and social media could at times shape the discussions they held in class, but also how they interpreted their teaching roles as being that of referees at times. They had to stop and correct students when they either disseminated false information or when they disrespected other students.

Yet, beyond classroom discussions and serving as mediators between different points of views, we sought to uncover how exactly the teachers went about making their lessons fun and accessible to all of the students, so that they were all able to profit from the lessons. Briefly, we sought to uncover how they made it easy and engaging for their students. Their testimonies showed how they teachers used interactive activities such as skits, role-playing, and debates, and incorporated new media, such as YouTube clips featuring political figures giving speeches about relevant issues, or online resources that provided audiovisual content to explain tricky subjects. The interviewees expressed the aforementioned activities and tools allowed them to engage their students and keep them focused and interested in the topics at hand.

Another key finding that corresponded to the principles espoused by the participatory politics framework is how the interviewees considered the schools and communities to be their allies, and how they saw their support as essential to the success of their program. Since the program is considered supplementary to the social studies lessons already taught in the schools, it is not mandatory. Thus, schools opt to have the Civics teachers come in and teach in their classrooms and their satisfaction with the program is what prompted them to support the program and allowed it to continue in as part of their curriculums year after year.

The final two principles of the framework have more to do with how the program views its functions and what its intended goals are. The questions of “does raising our voices count as political action?” and “how do we get from voice to change?” both beg the program participants to ask themselves what they intent to get out of the program and whether or not they consider it to be successful. The teachers described their concern about the existing civic achievement gap and how they were motivated by their desire to have school-aged children be well-versed on the inner-workings of the American government so that they could make more informed decisions and become active members in their communities. But by virtue of going to out and volunteering their time to teach these students, we see how their voices are turned into political action. Although there has not been a way to measure whether or not these children have retained the information, because it is not tested, and we don’t know whether they have become more active citizens, the program participants argued that they believe their students have gained knowledge as they can see how they become more confident in their political knowledge throughout the progression of the lessons and how they become more eager to engage in classroom discussions. Whether or not their classroom participation translates to political change in the long run is a question that remains to be answered.

⁷ Nam, Chaebong. “What is Participatory Politics?” The YPP Action Frame, 23 June 2016.
⁸ Nam, Chaebong and Danielle Allen. “Why The YPP Action Frame?” The YPP Action Frame, 2016.

Engagement, Quality and Equity, Effectiveness, and Security

Throughout our case study, we sought to evaluate the Harvard Civics Program as an example of a movement that went from voice to influence. We used the ten principles of the youth participatory politics framework to evaluate the curriculum used by program participants and we saw how the program tried to uphold the values of equity, efficacy, and self-protection. By conducting an in-depth investigation of the materials used by the Civics teachers and interviewing program participants (4 Harvard Civics teachers, 2 of whom were part of the leadership team) we were able to take note of what drives the program participants and how they use new media and digital tools to achieve their goals. Furthermore, we were able to see the program, which constitutes an extracurricular activity for Harvard undergraduates, as a vehicle for political action.

Program participants were motivated by a desire to make a change, specifically regarding the widening civic achievement gap in the United States. Working with children in elementary schools and teaching them about how the government works and what rights are guaranteed to them by the constitution made is their political action. They are not merely talking about the problem of lack of civic instruction in K-12 schooling and how it affects participation in communities, but they are doing something about it. The program takes the teachers to the school—it acts upon a perceived issue and intends to remedy it through education. Furthermore, it uses digital tools and new media to supplement its curriculum and make lessons more engaging and appealing to students. Yet more importantly, it seeks to include all students in diverse communities in conversations about political issues that directly involve them. Although we noted that the success of the civics program has not been quantitatively measured outside of the classroom setting, the teachers we interviewed were eager in their assertions that the students grew more confident and comfortable with sharing their opinions and speaking up as the program continued. Thus, the Civics program can be seen as having incorporated the key principles provided by the participatory politics framework, in that its motivations and actions align with what the framework espouses. However, the program, as its leadership noted in the interview we conducted, is constantly evolving and improving itself as its considers the feedback and experiences of its volunteers and participants.

Recapitulating the time of conducting our case study, I especially enjoyed discovering the motivational aspirations of our interview partners. During the interviews it was very interesting to observe how great our interview partners guided the direction of our case study as we intended not to put their answers into a specific scheme, but rather used them to ask even more precise questions and get a deep knowledge of the things that intrinsically drive them. I am very happy and thankful to be a part of a great team and that I was able to learn a lot about empirical research and how to stay on the right track even if difficulties occur. In the end, I am satisfied how everything fits together also referring to the YPP Action Frame and that we were able to get a comprehensive understanding for motivational aspirations of becoming active in the digital age exemplified by the Harvard Civics Program of the Institute of Politics hat Harvard University.

I really enjoyed working with the YPP Action frame and building the in class discussion along these ten questions in order to get a well-grounded understanding of participatory politics. During our intense discussions there were numerous topics I was interested in for further analysis, but I would like to emphasize two of them at this point. The first one refers to YPP Principal #2 “How Much Should I Share?” as I regard this principal as especially important due to the rapid and far-reaching changes in the accessibility and protection of (private) information during the digital age. One of my burning questions in this context is what are our possibilities (also beyond the technical ones) in the digital age to effectively protect the privacy of and promote the communication between activists, who are often facing religious or political persecution in authoritarian regimes? The second one is about YPP Principal #8 “Does Raising Voice Count As Political Action?”, because I realized that the lines between what counts as “political” or “political action” become increasingly blurred. In class we had a great discussion about the differences between “political” and “political action” and also realized that predominantly young activists do not want to be regarded as political anymore. My question here is what primarily initiated the change that on the one hand it is more difficult to distinguish political actions from non-political ones and on the other hand that the term “political” is increasingly captured with a negative connotation by young activists?

As an extension of our case study and the fact that I am a Visiting Undergraduate Student from Germany, I would like to bring another perspective into the case by giving a brief glance on the similarities as well as differences of teaching civics education in Germany based on the reflection of my own experiences.
In general, there does not seems to a completely similar program in Germany supplementing the basic High School education with “civics education” in Germany. Probably the main reason therefore is that a course named "Politics" or "Politics and Economics" is a firm component of the German High School curriculum in most of the sixteen federal states. This course is also mandatory until the Q2 phases of the “Abitur” (similar to junior year in the American system). I attended an advanced course (major) in "Politics and Economics" during my time at High School in the state Hessen. The curriculum of the course covers general civics education like the separation of powers and the electoral system at the beginning of High School. Furthermore, in the concentration phase of the course, students also analyze new media on a High School level and emphasize the consequences the digital age has on our modern democracy. Notwithstanding the fact that there are many curriculum-related similarities, the course is different from the civics program as it is a mandatory part of the German High School system taught by regular classroom teachers. The curriculum itself is designed every year by the Hesse Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs. As a result, the classroom teachers hardly have any possibilities to change the curriculum, even though there is a small number of classes available for covering facultative topics at the end of each term.

Our case study was especially fulfilling to me in that it allowed me to reflect on my experiences with the Harvard Civics Program throughout the years and talk to fellow teachers with whom I had not had the privilege of discussing the program with before. I have been involved with the program for the entirety of my Harvard career, seeing as I joined the program when I was just a freshman and am now in my Senior Fall semester. However, conducting this case study allowed me to see the program in a different light, and to consider the motivations behind its existence in a way that I would have otherwise not done. Using the Youth Participatory Politics framework enabled to expand my perspective on the importance of teaching civics. Whereas before, I had seen the program as merely a teaching experience and a way to share my love of American history and politics, after examining it through the political action framework, I was able to see how what we were doing was much more than just teaching, and how we were empowering students to use the political tools afforded to them by our government.

Beyond allowing me to reflect on my experience as a Civics teacher and the experiences of my colleagues, conducting this case study made me reflect on my experience as a student when I learned civics in middle school. I came to see the civics instruction I received was traditional and ineffective, and how I did not really retain the information after I took the exams in the class. The reason my experience was ineffective was because I was taught with lectures and books, rather than with interactive and engaging activities and discussions that allowed me to voice my opinions and listen and respect others’ opinions, as is the case with the curriculum taught by Harvard Civics Teachers.

Furthermore, in comparing my experience with civics as a student years ago with that of a current teacher (what I am now), I notice how the tools available to teachers make a huge difference. By tools, I refer to the audiovisual content available online and the interactive activities that make the experience more accessible and fun for students. I believe that these resources also help the students retain more information while providing them with the skills to participate in meaningful discussions about issues affecting their communities. The differences between my class almost a decade ago and the class I currently teach, is that students engage in conversation, they are unafraid to ask questions, and they are able to develop independent opinions and I think this has a lot to do with how curriculums are structured and what sorts of tools the teachers have at their disposal and take advantage of.

Yet the case study, while highlighting a lot of differences between the sorts of civics instructional methods out there, also uncovered a lot of the difficulties that the teachers currently face, in trying to navigate a digital landscape that is saturated with information that may or may not be credible. Teachers now a day face a unique challenge of having a classroom of students who are exposed to a vast network of sources prior to attending class, so their role has been transformed from just teaching and transmitting information, to needing to serve as a sort of gatekeeper and arbitrator or the information they deem reliable and useful and that which they deem to be the opposite.