Toward a more empathic, connected, and humanizing democracy: A civics curriculum centering listening and storytelling
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Hilary G. Conklin [1] ; Molly W. Andolina [1]
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[1] DePaul University
DePaul University
City of Chicago, Estados Unidos
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- Localización: Theory and research in social education, ISSN 0093-3104, Vol. 53, Vol. 4, 2025, págs. 504-537
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
Drawing on surveys, classroom observations, student work, focus groups, and teacher interviews, this case study explores features and impacts of a novel civics curriculum centering empathic listening and storytelling. Using a design-based approach, we worked with two high school civics teachers to develop and implement the curriculum. Results indicate that students began to see civic issues with greater complexity, better understood the values and experiences that inform people’s beliefs, and learned to appreciate the skill of listening actively and empathically. The curriculum fostered greater community, connection, and trust among the student participants. These outcomes were facilitated by teachers who actively modeled key skills, along with curricular features that centered the human impact of public policies via listening, storytelling, and reciprocity, among others. Our data suggest that the unique emphases of this curriculum helped students humanize others in the context of civic issues, a necessary antidote to the division and disconnection currently dominating society.
