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Engaging the Unengaged: Using Visual Images to EnhanceStudents' “Poli Sci 101” Experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2009

Stacy Ulbig
Stacy Ulbig
Affiliation:
Sam Houston State University
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Abstract

As the nation witnesses a distinct decline in civic engagement amongyoung adults, political science instructors across the nation facethe formidable task of engaging students in lower-level, generaleducation courses outside students' primary domain of interest. Theresearch presented here seeks to understand if visually enhancedlecture material can effectively engage such students better thanmore traditional methods of classroom delivery. The project utilizesan experimental design involving two different sections of the sameintroductory American government course. By exposing the sections todifferent visual presentations, and controlling for a variety ofpotentially confounding factors, the impact that simple visualimages have on student engagement both inside and outside theclassroom are isolated. Findings suggest that the use of simplevisual images can enhance students' impressions of the discipline ofpolitical science and boost their interest in and knowledge ofpolitics and public affairs more generally.

Type
The Teacher
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , April 2009 , pp. 385 - 391
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 2009

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