As immigrants account for an increasing proportion of American youth, understanding how these young people experience change in their citizenship status is an important, yet rarely examined area for research. There is a plethora of evidence that opportunities to participate in American society are stratified according to class, race and ethnicity.…

Research has shown that youth and their communities benefit from civics education, with its aim to prepare citizens for democracy. However, civics education for adolescents in the United States is not equitable, and determining how to best measure aspects of civic development in younger adolescents is a challenge. In this qualitative study, we…

"Papel y lápiz" (Paper and pencil) is the result of a qualitative research project carried out using the Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a model. "Papel y lapiz" seeks to teach young people and children, who are identified as being at high social risk, in 35 different public educational institutions (PEIs) from Cartagena…

I set out to understand the teaching and learning of immigration in social studies classrooms through a comparative case study of four veteran public school teachers and their students in a single district located in a post-industrial city in the upper Midwest. I hoped to better to understand the content that teachers addressed, the pedagogy and…

Background: Civic participation is a fundamental element of democracy; therefore, upholding and supporting civic participation, especially among the upcoming generation, is important. Political efficacy -- an individual's understanding of their capacity to participate in civic life -- has been found to exert an important influence on the expected…

While civic participation is a crucial component of healthy and sustainable democracies, young adolescents may perceive or experience barriers that limit their civic action. This study draws from focus groups and surveys during a week-long summer civics camp to explore ways in which 47 young adolescents entering Grades 6-9 described barriers they…

The aim of this article is to explore the worth of a materialist/posthumanist approach to ethics, specifically affirmative ethics (Braidotti, 2018, 2019a), within the field of education. I work empirical material that 'does' this ethics in classrooms and draw on Deleuze's (1988) ethically guided materialism as taken up by Braidotti (2019b), to…

Studies show that adolescents who follow a higher educational track have more positive experiences than those of lower levels with aspects of democracy, such as decision-making or discussions. This study focuses on how adolescents from different educational tracks evaluate the various possibilities to experience democracy in daily life, and…

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a survey mandated by the U.S. Congress to collect and report information about student achievement in various academic subjects, such as mathematics, science, reading, writing, history, geography, and civics. The National Assessment Governing Board sets policy and the overall dimensions for…

Young people today are immersed in digital culture: often considered savvy navigators of online ecosystems and adept at using everyday technologies to share, create and express. These technologies are often seen as social and personal tools instead of spaces for meaningful participation. This paper shares the results of an investigation in young…

Studies show adults' attitudes towards citizenship to be related to their educational level. It has been claimed that higher educated people more often possess 'good' citizenship values. However, only limited insight exists into how differences in citizenship attitudes between adolescents from various educational tracks develop over time. In this…

Education in the United States has a foundational public purpose: to prepare students for effective citizenship. The idea that an educated and engaged citizenry is essential to the health of a democracy motivated the creation of government-run "common schools" in the early decades of the nation and remains an important value in modern…

The purpose of this study was to use the US naturalization test as a springboard to gauge the citizenship knowledge and notions of young adolescent students in Ohio and Georgia. The participants' citizenship knowledge was partially measured by administering questions from the US naturalization test in two case studies. Students from a range of…

The purpose of geography education is to foster the development of citizens who will actively seek and systematically apply the knowledge and skills of geography in life situations. Geography education must be responsive to the abilities and needs of students and to the societal and workplace requirements of the community, the nation, and the…

Using data from Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, this study examined the longitudinal effects of cumulative risk of immigrant parents on immigrant youth's health and educational achievement in young adulthood. The mediating effects of intra- (i.e., family cohesion) and inter-familial (i.e., parental school involvement) social capital…