Civil Discourse Curriculum Seeks to Promote a More Perfect Union

Lack of Civility in Discussion of Political Issues Can Be Addressed Through Civic Education

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Center for Civic Education, with funding from the Annenberg Public Policy Center's Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics, has released the Civil Discourse: An American Legacy Toolkit, a free online curriculum for college classrooms and adult learners that assists educators and their students in developing civil discourse skills using primary sources and current events.

"These new materials will enable college students and adult learners to face challenging conversations and welcome divergent viewpoints," said Dr. Donna Phillips, Vice President and Chief Program Officer for the Center for Civic Education. "We hope to address the lack of civility in political discourse through this freely available multimedia resource. It is a positive step forward in creating, as the Preamble promises, a more perfect union."

The Civil Discourse: An American Legacy Toolkit provides inquiry-based, modular lesson plans for instructors and facilitators. The curriculum contains five fully developed modules, Principles of the Constitution, the Evolution of Political Parties, Women's Rights, Civil Rights, and Citizenship. Each module contains short- and long-form video interviews with notable scholars in conversation about each concept and its constitutional history and underpinnings. Students are encouraged to make real-world connections between the context and principles surrounding the historical events in each module, current events and their own communities.

Students also participate in whole-group and small-group activities to build background knowledge to actively participate in civil discourse models. These models are rooted in the Paideia seminar model and the structured academic controversy model. A Paideia seminar is a collaborative, intellectual dialogue about a text that is facilitated with open-ended questions. The structured academic controversy model engages small groups of students in discussion of controversial issues. This cooperative-learning strategy allows multiple perspectives to be shared in a safe environment. Videos are available that explain each of the models.

Although developed in conjunction with community college faculty and students, the modular aspect of Civil Discourse: An American Legacy allows for easy adaptation and use in secondary classrooms. Out of the box, the resources are strongly aligned with U.S. history and government courses.

Civil Discourse: An American Legacy is funded under a 2022 award from the Leonore Annenberg Institute for Civics' Civic Mission of the Nation Initiative. LAIC is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.

About the Center for Civic Education

The Center for Civic Education has long been recognized as a leader in providing civic education to K–12 students and adults, with its research-based curricula reaching more than 42 million students and 440,000 educators in the United States and in more than 80 countries since 1965. Learn about the Center for Civic Education at www.civiced.org. Information on the Civil Discourse: An American Legacy Toolkit is available at https://civiced.org/civil-discourse.

Media contact:

Mark Gage
Center for Civic Education
805-794-7650
[email protected]

SOURCE Center for Civic Education