Experiential Civic Education

Experiential Civic Education: Encouraging Student Engagement Using the Field Immersion Framework articulates a practical, flexible teaching-and-learning pedagogy that engages students and instructors in opportunities to successfully explore complex civic issues in the classroom. This volume marries place-based experiential learning with civic engagement to promote important transformative learning outcomes. The Field Immersion Framework (FIF) pedagogy prepares students and faculty with the tools to navigate participatory democracy in local, state, national, and global communities. The FIF uses four stages - Foregrounding, Immersion, Reflection, and Civic Agency - to position learners as explorers and researchers in communities grappling with important societal issues. In this volume, Foregrounding chapters prime the reader with the theoretical support to explore the content; Immersion chapters situate the reader in case studies of FIF courses; Reflection chapters showcase the voices of students, faculty members, student affairs professionals, and others who have participated in these courses; and, finally, Civic Agency chapters explore the implications of the FIF. This book will be important reading for those developing courses relating to civic engagement, social justice education, and community-based teaching and learning. It also supports educators in exploring place-based civic issues with their students, working to encourage understanding of diverse voices and perspectives, and supporting students' lifelong navigation of our complex world.

Alix D. Dowling Fink is the Associate Provost for Research and Academic Initiatives and a Professor of Biology at Longwood University, USA. JoEllen Pederson is a Professor of Sociology at Longwood University, USA. Heather G. Lettner-Rust is the Director of Civitae Core Curriculum and a Professor of Rhetoric and Composition at Longwood University, USA.

Foreword: Experiential Civic Education Introduction: Educating for Democracy I. Foregrounding: Building a Foundation 1. Transformative learning: An introduction to the scholarship 2. Reconstructing Civic Education: Addressing Power, Place, and Politics in High Education 3. Finding our way to transformative learning: A critical introduction to place-based pedagogy 4. The Field Immersion Framework II. Immersion: Steeped in the Civic Context 5. Yellowstone National Park 6. Chesapeake Bay 7. Borderlines 8. Colorado River 9. Alaska 10. In our own backyard III. Reflection: The metacognitive engine 11. In their own words: Student experiences 12. Retheorizing what we see: Teachers in the field 13. Navigating Shadows: Student Affairs Professionals Co-Facilitating Experiential Learning 14. Librarians as Partners in Field-based Education: Fostering Information Literacy and Civic Awareness 15. Administrator Support in the Field: Shoulder-to-shoulder with Faculty 16. The Role of National Organizations in Civic Experiential Education IV. Civic Agency: The End is the Beginning 17. Voices from the field: Community partners in immersion learning experiences 18. Leaving a trace: Program alumni and the lasting impressions of transformative learning experiences Conclusion