F. Klaus Koopmann

F. Klaus Koopmann

EFFECTIVE CIVIC LEARNING BY REFLECTIVE CIVIC DOING

Theory and Practice of Experiential Civic Education

Faculty 08 / Dept. of Political Science

(1) Introduction

• We should do better preparing our students sustainably for their roles as

enlightened and autonomous citizens

• Making the case for

experiential civic learning

John Dewey:

overcoming traditional dualisms of mind and body mind and world individual and public community knowledge and experience

(2) The Rationale of Experiential Civic Learning

David Kolb:

learning: an active, self-directed process

knowledge: through transformation of experience

experiential learning: concrete experience

reflective observation

abstract conceptualisation

active experimentation

(2) The Rationale of Experiential Civic Learning

3.1 Sustainability of Early Civic Participation

Early public engagement fosters ...

social and political participation

(3) The Increasing Need for Experiential Civic Learning


• fostering youth volunteerism but• gradually ‘politicizing’ social activities

Youth volunteerism rates are high –

it is focused on

apolitical social services

3.2 Youth Attitudes on Society and Politics

Civic education consequences:


Phenomena: Society at risk Individualization

Globalization / De-nationalization of politics

‘Thin‘ democracy Symbolization of politics

3.3 De-civilization – Re-civilization


Effects:

People become objects Impeding democratization

De-civilization



Social answer:

Reclaiming citizens as subjects Citizens should experience their ability to

act as citizens



Civic education answer:

Offering young people the possibility

to experience their ability acting as citizens and learn actively the process of policy-making

by developing and organizing learning strategies

being oriented towards the notion of action as experiential learning


(4) Essentials of Experiential Civic Learning

Thesis:

Experience-oriented learning processes, aiming at the sustainable acquisition of competences which are relevant in politics and civil society, will particularly unfold in the course of the (inter)active, reflective dealing of the individual(s) with the authentic public problems and processes that surround and concern them.

.

Core idea of the thesis:

5 essentials of experiential civic learning:

Subject-orientation Action-orientation Problem-orientation Authenticity Policy-orientation.

.


Subject-orientation

Youngsters control

their learning processes themselves ..

..


.

Action-orientation

Youngsters solve

public problems by acting and reflecting.


Problem-orientation

Youngsters’ activities

are focused on

identifying and solving public problems.


Authenticity

The problems to be solved are

not simulated but

real-world problems .


.

.

Policy-orientation

Youngsters do not deal with private but

with public problems

that have to be solved politically.

Doing so, youngsters learn about • political content (policy), • institutional frameworks (polity) and • decision-making processes (politics)

in a functional way.


(5) Experiential Civic Learning in Practice: ‘Projekt: Aktive Bürger‘/ ‚Project Citizen‘

The project’s aim is to help youngsters learning

to identify public problems within their environment

to develop and present problem-solving strategies (gathering and evaluating relevant information included)

to decide which political institutions and which branches of public administration are adequate for the implementation of the problem-solving approach developed by the youngsters

to actively monitor and to influence public policy processes


Projekt: aktive Bürger recommends the following ten steps of reflective action:

Step 4: Examining alternative problem-solving approaches

Step2: Selecting a problem to study

Step 1: Identifying public problems

Step 3: Gathering information about the problem

Step 5: Developing a policy to solve the problem

Step 6: Developing an action plan

Step 7: Preparing a portfolio

Step 8: Presenting the portfolio as an exhibition

Step 9: Getting actively involved in the policy process

Step 10: Reflecting the experiential process

All in all, ‘Projekt: aktive Bürger’ and ‘Project Citizen’ offer

10 steps of reflective action combining core-elements of

experiential civic learning Students are learning by

interacting cooperating and reflecting

in the context of an authentic policy-process dealing with an authentic public problem


Effective civic learning by reflective civic doing[ > experiential civic learning < ]

meets

advantages of early public participation twofold youth attitudes on society and politics the challenges of de-civilization

because this learning strategy offers young people the possibility to reflectively act as citizens and experience their ability to be citizens

(6) Conclusion

(Addition) What Is a Public Problem?

A problem is defined as a gap between the unpleasant

current state of a specific situation and its desired future

state.

The tension between the gap of what you have and what

you want initiates problem-solving motivation.

A problem is defined as a public problem if it is not only concerning individuals within their private environment

but

groups of people as part of the public. Public problems concern the common good.

Public problems are to be solved

by

public policy making.

Public policy strategies and processes include

political institutions.

Some characteristics of public problems:

unpleasant quality of the current situation

public character of the problematic situation

(groups of) people being concerned by the problem

desired future situation

(Addition) What Is a Public Problem?

F. Klaus Koopmann

EFFECTIVE CIVIC LEARNING BY REFLECTIVE CIVIC DOING

Theory and Practice of Experiential Civic Education

Faculty 08 / Dept. of Political Science

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F. Klaus Koopmann