Research
Calibrating Confidence: Civic Education and the Relationship between Objective Political Knowledge and Political Knowledge Confidence
In our most recent published work, we explore the relationship between objective political
knowledge and political knowledge confidence. The results reflect that confidence
in one’s politics can become more aligned with one’s objective knowledge after taking
college civics. This conclusion makes several important contributions to the bodies
of research on political knowledge, civic education and the Dunning-Kruger effect
in political behavior. Additionally, shedding light on the relationship between what
individuals know about politics and what they think they know, emphasizing the importance
of civic education in shaping an informed and active electorate. Click here to read our full article.
The Impact of Course Structure on Students’ Political Efficacy and Confidence-in-Knowledge in Introduction to American Government Courses
Introduction to American Government is a foundational general education course meant
to promote understanding of and participation in democracy. But there is substantial
variation in how the course is structured in terms of size, modality, and pedagogy.
We leverage variation in course structures to assess their impact on students’ growth
in political efficacy and knowledge-confidence while taking the course. The results
show that active/interactive pedagogy is a key promoter of student learning about
politics. Click here to read our full article.
Disrupted Learning about Democracy: Instructor Strategies for Navigating Temporary Modality Shifts
In this short, open access paper, we tracked temporary modality changes across 10
sections of Introduction to American Government and found that students rated instructors’
handling of shifts well if they made course material engaging, communicated clearly,
and effectively used technology. The analysis suggests that instructors can mitigate
the impact of unplanned changes to modality on students’ learning when there are three
or fewer shifts during a semester. Click here to read our full article.