by Marilyn Chambliss, Wendy Richardson, Judith Torney-Purta, and Britt Wilkenfeld

April 2007

“In this paper we describe a recent study in which tenth graders who had parent permission were randomly assigned to read one of three types of passages about direct and representative democracy. After reading, all students responded to the same tasks to measure their understanding and their motivation to engage in civic-related activities. Students came from regular classes in two middle class high schools, one from a West Coast state and the other from a state in the Mid- Atlantic region. We chose to collect data on two sides of the country, believing that often, research conducted in one location has been generalized too widely.”

Download Working Paper 54: Improving Textbooks as a Way to Foster Civic Understanding and Engagement.

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