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This study investigated how 8th-grade civics teachers kept their students engaged in learning during the abrupt shift to remote teaching caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020. We analyzed the interview transcripts of 10 teachers who were piloting a new civics curriculum during the 2019-2020 school year. We found that three of 10 teachers leveraged technological tools to offer more authentic learning experiences for their students, which led to increased student engagement online. Implications for practice are discussed.

To better prepare students for active and thoughtful participation in a democratic society, civic education should foster an array of civic competencies. Cultivating student civic agency--an under-studied civic competency--is of particular importance to equip students to authentically use their voice in their communities. But what does it look like to foster student civic agency in a classroom setting? This article leverages a social and emotional learning (SEL) framework to uncover the active curricular ingredients and educational mechanisms through which a student-led civics curriculum has fostered civic agency. In this multi-site case study, we analyze the implementation of an eighth grade student-led civics curriculum in a northeastern U.S. state. We outline how implicit SEL processes in these classrooms, stemming from a pedagogical focus on "changemakers," supported development of civic agency. We found that the changemakers theme facilitated student exploration of their own civic identity and values, while prompting students to critically examine political power structures. Notably, the theme also helped students to develop a narrative of self as changemakers and to envision themselves actively engaged in civic spaces. This study adds insights to growing evidence on the multi-faceted benefits that civically-oriented SEL may offer to preparing young people to engage in democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the authors investigated the experiences of ten eighth-grade civics teachers as they implemented a year-long civics curriculum pilot. Their reports reflect marked differences in how students engaged with content around race that was included in a unit on identity and values. Teacher reports suggest that students' prior exposure to academic content on race and students' lived experiences with race impacted their experience with the Identity Unit. Students in predominantly White schools, who had little exposure to race in the school curriculum, struggled to engage, but so did students in racially diverse schools who had prior academic learning about race/racism. Students in schools predominantly with students of color, with little exposure to race ideas in school, had some success in connecting with the content of the unit. Recommendations for practice are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]