{"title":"Teaching Political Theory: A Pluralistic Approach","authors":"Edmund Handby","doi":"10.1080/15512169.2023.2192937","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2023.2192937","url":null,"abstract":"A striking feature of Nicholas Tampio’s Teaching Political Theory is both the breadth and narrowness of its focus. At various times, Tampio focuses broadly on the very nature of political theorizing before proceeding to give more targeted advice on syllabus design, lecture writing, and teaching for different audiences. It is, in this respect, an ambitious and comprehensive book. It is also clear how Teaching Political Theory is situated within political theory scholarship, but also Tampio’s own interests, loves, and specialities. While it is indeed crucial for instructors in political theory to engage in central debates, questions, and themes in academic political theory and philosophy, Tampio is right in drawing a connection between Blau’s (2017, 14) view that “[a]cademia works best when we study what we love,” and the need for students to learn from academics with different loves and specialities (Tampio 2022, 16). Tampio’s Teaching Political Theory begins with an examination of the nature of political theory, its relationship with disciplines like political science, and the kinds of lessons and concepts political theory instructors ought to teach. Whether or not we agree with any of Tampio’s characterizations of the nature of political theory—as a sub-discipline of political science, for example—is beside the point. This broader examination of the nature of political theory should be a call for all instructors to think seriously about their own views on these topics, as they have the potential to meaningfully shape the courses and lessons we design. My own teaching, for example, is shaped by my interests in areas that Tampio does not share: “positive political theory, rational choice theory, or “wacky” thought experiments that clarify our normative principles” (Tampio 2022, 16). Unlike Tampio, I find that teaching central ideas and figures in analytic political theory is crucial to delivering on the reasons we teach political theory, such as the need to “think intelligently about government” (Shklar in Tampio, 2022, 4). Despite this point of disagreement, Tampio’s lack of focus on fields like analytic political theory does not detract from the book’s overall value. Tampio endorses a pluralistic approach to political theory, encompassing European, American, Chinese, and Indian perspectives. These perspectives have been excluded for so long from the canon of the history of political thought, so their inclusion over, say, analytic political theory, encourages instructors in political theory to think of how different perspectives shape our understanding of politics. Tampio (2022, 15) phrases this commitment to pluralism in terms of his own interest in “the question of how different traditions can help us","PeriodicalId":46033,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Political Science Education","volume":"19 1","pages":"526 - 529"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45079658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Let the Students Speak: Using Podcasts to Promote Student Voice and Engagement in an International Studies Classroom in China","authors":"A. Che","doi":"10.1080/15512169.2023.2189122","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2023.2189122","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Active teaching and learning support pedagogies typically require student vocal participation in the classroom. However, very little is known about strategies used to promote student voice especially in teacher-dominated classroom cultures in many parts of the developing world. This paper reports action research that explored student responses and challenges to the use of student-produced audio podcasts in teaching a module focusing on Africa in a transnational university in China. Mixed methods involving a written questionnaire and mechanical reviews of student essays vindicate student podcasts as perceived valuable tools not only for promoting student voice but also for enhancing learning motivation and teaching-back misconceptions about Africa. Variation in accent, pace, audibility, and clarity of student podcasts posed a major challenge to comprehension of some podcasts and participation in podcast-based discussions. Based on students’ feedback, this study prescribes use of visual aids alongside audio podcasts to optimize the benefits of podcasting pedagogy in transnational education contexts.","PeriodicalId":46033,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Political Science Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43591073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Decision for War (DfW) Game: The Role of Information in War Onset","authors":"Michael O’Hara, Phil Haun","doi":"10.1080/15512169.2023.2168549","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2023.2168549","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The Decision for War (DfW) game provides an opportunity to explore how information affects the occurrence of war—in theory and in practice. Gameplay, and the subsequent discussion it facilitates, provides the opportunity to explore topics such as differences in risk taking, strategic choice as a function of other’s expected actions, differing perceptions of loss or gain, and updating prior assumptions through experience, along with various psychological and cognitive biases that may preclude individuals and states reaching negotiating agreements that avoid violence. In an academic classroom setting, these questions of information and risk could complement lessons in International Relations, History, Conflict Resolution, Psychology, and Strategic Studies.","PeriodicalId":46033,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Political Science Education","volume":"19 1","pages":"511 - 525"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41779741","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Diversity and Disconnection: Does an Online Setting Affect Student’s Understanding of Privilege, Oppression, and White Guilt?","authors":"S. McQueen","doi":"10.1080/15512169.2023.2176314","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2023.2176314","url":null,"abstract":"Should educators teach diversity courses in online formats? Courses covering sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, or homophobia are increasingly part of the curriculum requirements for college students. This study compares student surveys from six sections of the author’s introductory Diversity in Politics course; three of these sections are taught asynchronously online, and three are taught in a face-to-face setting. Results reveal no difference between online and face-to-face students’ understandings of privilege and oppression, sense of belonging, or white guilt. However, although all Republican students increased their understanding of privilege and oppression from this course, Republican students uniquely entered the course with less knowledge of oppression and experienced increased growth compared to their online counterparts. The importance of partisanship suggests a more student-centered approach can be valuable in determining the transmissibility of online diversity courses and provides evidence for a successful model for political science diversity courses in online and in-person spaces.","PeriodicalId":46033,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Political Science Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44426758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Implementing Anti-Racism Activities in U.S. Political Science Courses","authors":"Janet L. Donavan","doi":"10.1080/15512169.2023.2188452","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2023.2188452","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This paper makes the case for why anti-racism pedagogy should be included and identified as anti-racism in political science courses and provides and evaluates an example of anti-racism pedagogy in an American Political Thought course. In addition, I address critics of anti-racism and ways of addressing those critics in the classroom. In evaluating anti-racism pedagogy, work from higher education research is integrated with political-science specific teaching and learning work. I detail multiple ways anti-racism has been included in the example course, student evaluation of an active learning anti-racism activity and evaluate the learning outcomes for students who completed the original and enhanced active learning versions of anti-racism in the course. I find that although students are able to partially meet the learning goals, additional anti-racism content is necessary to fully achieve the learning goals of identifying and countering racist ideas, actions, or outcomes.","PeriodicalId":46033,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Political Science Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49243407","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Giving It the Old College Try: Academic Departments and Undergraduate Curriculum Change in Political Science, 2009–2019","authors":"E. McClellan, Kyle C. Kopko, A. Hafler","doi":"10.1080/15512169.2023.2186240","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2023.2186240","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Thirty years after the last APSA-sponsored recommendations on the structure of the undergraduate political science major, new efforts at curriculum reform are under way. As a prelude to how the profession might respond, this article examines how political science departments made undergraduate curriculum changes during the 2010s. Based on a survey of department chairs in 2019–2020 (prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S.), one-half of political science programs changed major requirements in the previous five years and 70% made revisions during the decade. Most changes involved adding courses or tracks and modifying course sequences within the prevailing model of subfield distribution. Assuming departments are rational actors seeking to improve student learning and respond effectively to the educational marketplace, various explanations of curriculum change were tested. Structural variables (institutional type and departmental factors) had no significant effects. Nevertheless, the survey revealed learning-based (acquiring disciplinary knowledge, developing intellectual skills) and market-based (concern about enrollments) motivations for change, as well as institutional constraints. Among curricular alternatives to the distribution model, evidence indicated greater support for promoting liberal learning outcomes. Moreover, the civic engagement movement influenced departmental decision-making. However, few programs made curriculum changes related to diversity, equity, or social justice, notable concerns among students and within the discipline.","PeriodicalId":46033,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Political Science Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45297030","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Antiracist Pedagogy in Direct Advocacy Courses","authors":"Kathleen Cole","doi":"10.1080/15512169.2023.2186239","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2023.2186239","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Even though the need is great, there are too few resources available to political science faculty who seek to integrate antiracist pedagogy into their courses and curriculum. To date, there are no publications that focus on the special considerations that must be taken into account when teaching political science courses in an antiracist way due to the relationship between our discipline and the political actors and institutions we study. In this article, I discuss some of the foundational principles in antiracist pedagogy and consider how they can be implemented in political science courses that involve direct advocacy. Following hooks, Kandaswamy, and Kishimoto, I argue that that antiracist teaching requires instructors to engage in critical reflection on their own positionality—both as individuals in a society structured by racial capitalism, and as faculty members in particular departments, within an academic discipline. Further, that the course design process must take into consideration whose perspectives are being centered in the course design process and how students’ emotional needs are reflected in our teaching practices. Finally, that when it comes to antiracist pedagogy how we teach is as much or more important than what we teach.","PeriodicalId":46033,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Political Science Education","volume":"19 1","pages":"458 - 474"},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60019004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Elizaveta Gaufman, Niklas Abel, Esther Andela, Carolien Adema, Imke Kok, Marieke Schuitemaker, Meike Klok, Frieso Turkstra, Johannes K. Bey, Zoe Perea Oltmann
{"title":"Electoral Politics in the Classroom: Reflections on the Sociology of Simulated Characters","authors":"Elizaveta Gaufman, Niklas Abel, Esther Andela, Carolien Adema, Imke Kok, Marieke Schuitemaker, Meike Klok, Frieso Turkstra, Johannes K. Bey, Zoe Perea Oltmann","doi":"10.1080/15512169.2023.2168195","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2023.2168195","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Simulations have become a staple of political science education due to their effectiveness and creative nature that contributes to learning success. In this contribution, we argue that simulations can also offer new insights not only into student engagement and active learning, but also into the sociology of political processes. In this case it is a political communication seminar, that included a simulation of presidential campaigns and an election in a fictionalized setting. This article shows that in a classroom setting the students are prone to reproduce existing electoral leanings and behavior. In the proposed simulation of elections in a fictional country of Genovia, the students naturally aligned around two candidates: a right-wing populist and an environmental activist who ultimately lost the elections. This article offers several insights into an online simulation format and breaks down the sociology of the surprisingly realistic representation of a Euro-American electorate.","PeriodicalId":46033,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Political Science Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45660728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Rom, Jorge Abeledo, R. Ellsworth, N. Martin, L. Zuluaga
{"title":"Engaging Students in American Politics: Effort and Accomplishment","authors":"M. Rom, Jorge Abeledo, R. Ellsworth, N. Martin, L. Zuluaga","doi":"10.1080/15512169.2023.2176313","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2023.2176313","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract How much should student effort matter in their course grades? How much does student effort actually matter? What is the link between student effort and student performance, especially when the effort is not specifically focused on a specific performance metric? This paper examines these questions normatively as well as by analyzing student data generated from an introductory course in US politics. We argue as follows. First, student effort should comprise a substantial share of student grades: otherwise, the grade is likely to reward student resources (“human capital”), which are in large part morally arbitrary. Second, in a course in which effort was appropriately incentivized, weighted, and measured, effort was the principal determinant of final grades through its direct and indirect effects. Finally, although there was intriguing evidence that certain kinds of effort mattered more than other kinds in affecting student performance, we were not able to draw firm conclusions on this point.","PeriodicalId":46033,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Political Science Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47993506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Building a Model for Integrative Computational Social Science Research","authors":"Amber D. Spry","doi":"10.1080/15512169.2023.2177548","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2023.2177548","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Universities are increasingly interested in providing courses that equip students with data science skills and engage experiential learning, particularly in the social sciences. However, these courses can be costly to implement and time-consuming for instructors to develop. This article describes an integrative learning model for teaching computational social science skills to undergraduate students. There are three elements to the model: content delivery through collaborative learning, skill development in an applied lab setting, and student mentorship. I apply this model to an experiential course where undergraduate students learn to create and conduct a national public opinion poll. The model addresses the need for university classes that equip undergraduate students with computational social science skills, and provides a pathway for training student researchers as teaching assistants for future courses. This model builds the research capacity of faculty, graduate assistants, and undergraduates, invests in data science by providing an infrastructure for the collection of large scale data over time, and integrates experiences inside and outside of the classroom. This model is replicable at other institutions and will be of benefit to programs seeking to implement best practices and maximize learning effectiveness through research integration.","PeriodicalId":46033,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Political Science Education","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.1,"publicationDate":"2023-02-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44945095","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}