We the People...Project Citizen: A Case Study

Abstract

「我們全體人民…公民養成方案（We the people... Project Citizen）」是美國公民教育中心所發展之中學生公民教育課程；其目的在提昇學生有效參與公共事務的能力。實證研究發現該課程對學生之公民知識、態度與技能皆有正面影響（Soule, 2000; Tolo, 1998; Vontz, Metcalf, & Patrick, 2000）。然而，這些研究或因研究設計不當或研究工具的信度過低，致使其研究發現的可信度值得商榷。 本研究採質的個案研究，以研究者本身作為資料蒐集之工具；其目的在探討「我國全體人民…公民養成方案」的實施成效以及參與該課程的學生與教師對該課程的觀感。此外，該課程的優、缺點以及實施該課程所需之準備亦是本研究的重點。

We the People... Project Citizen (Project Citizen), developed by the Center for Civic Educaiton, is a civic education program for middle school students. Through engagement in the program, students will develop the social and cultural capital necessary for responsible citizenship. Research has shown that Project Citizen positively impacts the civic development of adolescent students (Soule, 2000; Tolo, 1998; Vontz, Metcalf, & Partick, 2000). However, these studies should be treated with suspicion because of flaws in the research design (e.g. Tolo, 1998; Soule, 2000) and poor measurement instruments (e.g. Vontz, et al., 2000). This case study, since it uses the researcher herself as an instrument for data collection is more valuable for it enables us to gain first-hand evidence of how effective Project Citizen is, what the teacher's and students' perceptions of the program are, and what kind of preparation should be done before implementing the program.