For readers who do not read this blog regularly,
it is currently promoting a change in civics education. It argues that today that subject is guided
by a mental construct, the natural rights view, which holds that individuals
have the right to do what they want as long as they respect others having the
same right. This is a highly
individualistic view.
This should change to the adoption of another
construct, that being liberated federalism which is a significant communal view. That is a view in which citizens see each
other as partners under a compact, the US Constitution (at the state level, the
state constitution). But reality being
what it is, this change might be too transformative. So, this blog has suggested, as a midway
step, to first change to a consumer government approach which has students
engage in problem-solving strategies where they address political problems from
a local focus.
The last posting identified that such lessons
can be organized by a decision-making model.
The literature is full of such models, but this posting will utilize one
of the older ones offered by Fred M. Newman and Donald W. Oliver.[1] That posting introduced the approach with the
following:
This model deals with case studies in which
individuals or groups are presented with moral dilemma situations. Students are basically called on to express
their opinions on what should be done in these situations. In the process, students must deal with the
following questions:
1.
Which policies should be adopted or devised –
value questions?
2.
Which facts are pertinent – factor questions?
3.
Which concepts best organize one’s concerns –
definitional distinctions?
4.
Which theories or models best describe or
explain the factors involved – abstracted insights?
These questions are derived from relevant
disciplinary content or perspectives (such as ethical-legal, political,
sociological-anthropological, psychological, historical, economics) and
students go about answering them to make rational, informed decisions as to
what should be done in each problem situation.
That posting indicated that this posting would
outline a classroom strategy that would give readers a more concrete sense of
what is being suggested.
This
presentation is offered as a list of steps a teacher could follow. The list is not presented as an ironclad strategy,
the objective is merely to give readers a sense of how the Newman and Oliver model
could be used. With that in mind, here
are the steps:
1.
A unit of study begins with students presented
with a situation in which a need for governmental action would be reasonably determined
by an individual or group. A la
Newman and Oliver, the situation should have a moral concern.
2.
Depending on the environmental level (e.g.,
neighborhood level or state), students are asked: does the situation present conflict-of-interest
between or among factions (either individuals and/or groups within and/or outside
government)?
3.
If yes, students are asked to consider
appropriate policy-value questions and are given time to answer or research them
and formulate their responses.
4.
If no or after students are given enough time
to accomplish #3, students define key concepts associated with the problem
situation.
5.
Then students are asked: does the case under study demand a simple or
complex process to derive a preferred course of action?
6.
If simple, the teacher instructs students as to
what that course of action would be.
These are usually well-established process protocols.
7.
If complex, students engage in one of a variety
of information gathering and analyzing activities which are geared to answering:
What governmental agencies and or
individuals are involved? What are the
likely actions/inactions of these individuals/agencies? When applicable, what moral values are at
stake in the situation? What reasonable
alternative courses of action exist for those involved? What are the reasonable consequences of these
alternatives? And what is the likelihood
of each consequence happening or occurring?
8.
And, whether simple or complex, the unit ends
with students formulating a preferred course of action and rationale to justify
it.
Of course, this basic plan can be augmented;
for example, where appropriate, it can have students actively implementing any
course of action they design by the above process.
If
limited to the above steps, an extra point should be made. Step #7, when used, would take up the bulk of
a unit’s time. In that time, students
would be led to see the problem situation from the perspective of different
disciplines. With that line of thought,
a teacher can ask and determine: how are
the needs of the subject matter functionally addressed? That is, how can information be used in
solving the problem situation?
All
of this suggests various curriculum goals and objectives. These will be addressed in the next posting.
[1] Fred M. Newman and Donald W.
Oliver, Clarifying Public Controversy:
An Approach to Teaching Social Studies (Boston, MA: Little, Brown and Company, 1970).
