Conference Papers

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Most, if not all, colleges teach a course in American Government and Politics, and many of these are classes with a large number of students. We have grappled over the years with the issue of how to transcend the dilemma of delivering largely monologic lectures to relatively passive students, some of whom are seated quite a distance from the instructor. Our concern is that the very structure of this course tends to disfavor precisely the kind of participatory politics that we tell our students is central to the health of a constitutional democracy. Are we practicing what we preach when students are not given a substantial opportunity to participate actively in a course on American politics? This paper describes a project that we began during the 1995/96 school year to promote active learning through the integrated use of the Internet and simulated political participation (including a congressional hearing and a mock Supreme Court case). Our purpose was to promote the practice of democratic politics in the introductory American Government and Politics course. These techniques are discussed and partially evaluated in this paper.

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Teaching Politics is published by William J. Ball (ball@tcnj.edu)