Civics Education in Higher Education: “Project Citizen” Sample

Project Citizen is an interdisciplinary curriculum for students, youth organizations, and adult groups that encourages citizens’ competent and responsible participation in local and state governments in about 35 countries worldwide. In this article, based on an example of Project Citizen activities done with university students, the application stages were examined, and the opinions of the students who applied were analyzed. The research was carried out with 38 students studying at the education faculty of a university in the United States during the 2018-2019 academic year. In the study, the projects prepared by the students in the activities were analyzed with the qualitative analysis program MAXQDA. As a result of the research, it was observed that the students needed comprehensive and detailed information at the beginning stage of Project Citizen, the projects they produced generally consisted of problems in their own lives, and they had the most difficulties in the public policy section while preparing projects. However, they found the project production process effective, efficient, and enjoyable.


Introduction
The development of more vital civic education systems through successful pre-service teacher preparation, as schools provide concrete laboratories for teaching democracy, helps to provide the requisite building blocks to encourage civic effectiveness in society at large (Fine & Scheiner-Fisher, 2013). Projects in civics education give learners significant and constructive learning opportunities to help them understand their potential as committed and involved citizens and practice the responsibilities (Kopish, 2017). One example of teaching democratic citizenship is Project Citizen, which teachers have used in the U.S. and other countries for years.
The foundations of project-based education have been debated since the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries. The development of project-based education became one of the most significant features in the progressive era of American education. As a result, objectives, rational concepts, and the pedagogies of Project Citizen were inspired by progressive education theorists such as Francis Parker, John Dewey, and William Heard Kilpatrick (Adha & Yanzi, 2014). First implemented in California in 1992 and expanded into a national program in 1995, Project Citizen is a subject-oriented teaching practice to develop the knowledge, skills, and inclinations of democratic citizenship to participate in government and civil society (Vontz, Metcalf, & Patrick, 2000). It is an interdisciplinary curriculum developed by the Center for Civic Education in Calabasas, California, to prepare students for democratic citizenship. Since its inception in 1992, the project has gradually expanded and is now used in all 50 states in the U.S. and many countries worldwide (Adha & Yanzi, 2014). The program encourages students to monitor and actively engage in public policy to address various school or community issues and acquire the necessary social and intellectual capital for responsible democratic citizenship.
Project Citizen is a learning technique to inspire students in the classroom that can then be used as a model of civic behavior in everyday life (Adha & Yanzi, 2014). It aims to increase the authority of the individual to exercise the rights and responsibilities of democratic citizenship by examining the schools, the society, the environment in which students live, and an actual public problem (Balkute, 2006). This aim can be done by understanding the importance of active participation by the citizen and ensuring that democratic values and principles are internalized (Center for Civic Education, 2020a). Budimansyah (2009) argued that the theoretical justification of Project Citizen is based on five principles that connect the philosophy of education and politics: 1. Democracy requires sovereignty, which means the active participation of responsible and informed citizens in the daily life of a community.
2. By participating in the life of a community, students learn how to become active and responsible citizens.
3. By exploring the problems and issues in their communities, students acquire knowledge about functioning democracy.
4. Although Project Citizen was initially designed for middle school students, some teachers use it for high school students.
5. Project Citizen provides students with a real-life communal experience that helps them develop civic knowledge, civic skills, and civic values to observe, monitor actively, and directly participate in public policy.
Project Citizen allows students to participate in government and civil society while engaging in critical thinking, dialogue, discussion, negotiation, cooperation, decision-making, and social action for public interests (Center for Civic Education, 1998).
By participating in Project Citizen, students share their understanding of democratic citizenship. Not only does Project Citizen promote students' involvement in and awareness of the issues in their communities, but it also teaches them how to solve those problems. It helps them better understand the government's principle, by the people, and for the people (Adha & Yanzi, 2014).
In the United States and many other countries around the world, teachers and students are encouraged to participate in competitive local, regional, state, or simulated national hearings, which is the final stage of Project Citizen. Although there is no obligation to participate in the program, competitions serve to motivate learning, reward success, and highlight the program to community members and potential financial backers. Some teachers who use Project Citizen prefer organizing inschool sessions and not participating in competitions. While many of these teachers state that academic competitions are generally rejected, others are concerned about including competitions in a rigorous curriculum. They feel pressure to move quickly to other issues (Stimmann Branson, 1999).
Research demonstrates that Project Citizen has a positive impact on the development of civic literacy and efficacy (Atherton, 2000;Liou, 2002Liou, , 2004Morgan, 2016;Root & Northup, 2007;Vontz, Metcalf, & Patrick, 2000). Nairne (2008) found that the program was well-received by educators in a survey of teachers who engaged in Project Citizen training. Trisiana (2015) concluded that the implementation of the Project Citizen model in high school civic education generated effective reinforcement and intellectual attitudes that affect social attitudes, social skills, spiritual attitudes based on the competence of civic education, civil awareness, civic skills, and civic disposition.
Researchers noted that Project Citizen is an effective vehicle for addressing various civic goals in elementary and secondary education. There is, however, a gap in empirical research about efficient ways to introduce Project Citizen in teacher education curricula and programs. This gap mainly concerns Social Studies/Social Sciences Education programs that prepare social studies teachers for elementary and secondary schools (Daly et al., 2010). Research among pre-service teachers can help develop specific pedagogies and curricular devices that will trigger further interest among social studies education professionals to include Project Citizen in their curricular and extracurricular practices.

Purpose of the Research
The purpose of this study was two-fold: a) to examine and describe the introduction of Project Citizen as one of the project-based techniques available to pre-service teachers in teacher education programs in the United States, and b) to investigate pre-service teachers' opinions about Project Citizen at various stages of its introduction. The following research questions guided this study: 1. How did the instructor introduce Project Citizen to pre-service teachers?
2. How did pre-service teachers determine the theses of their projects and present the final projects in class?
3. What were pre-service teachers' opinions about the preparation of Project Citizen?

Method, Data Collection, and Analysis
Qualitative research data were collected through observations, document and artifact analyses, and interviews. The first and second researchers observed classroom instructions and pre-service teachers' performance during two courses: "Social Studies Methods in Secondary School" and "Social Studies Methods in Elementary School." The observation lasted for 15 weeks (one semester) and was conducted in classrooms on campus. Researchers kept field notes that they analyzed after every class. The limitations noted for participatory observation (Patton, 2002) were also present for this study. However, after the first week, the coherence between the class and the observer-researcher was achieved, and it was thought that it was not a problem to be a guest participant in the course in the following weeks.
Document and artifact analyses included course syllabi, lesson plans, various written assignments, and visuals that the instructor and pre-service teachers prepared for Project Citizen.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five participants. Each interview lasted approximately 30-35 minutes and was audio recorded. Audio recordings were transcribed using "Dragon Professional Software," and transcripts were sent to participants to review for accuracy. All interviews were scheduled in advance, and the place of the interview was selected based on participants' requests.
To ensure the validity and reliability of the results, researchers consulted experts about the interview protocol and data collection. Data collected from various sources were triangulated to ensure internal validity.

Participants
Thirty-seven participants were recruited through purposeful convenience sampling. They included 12 pre-service teachers who were enrolled in a secondary social studies methods course and 25 pre-service teachers who, at the time of the study, were enrolled in an elementary social studies education methods course. Participants were informed about the purpose of the study. All participants consented to participate by signing consent forms. Five participants volunteered to be interviewed about their opinions about the preparation of Project Citizen.

Research Implementation
After reviewing relevant literature, researchers contacted the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S.), which administers several teacher education programs, and received permission to conduct the research. The research was conducted after approval by the Purdue University Institutional Review Board (IRB).
All participants were pre-service teachers who took elementary and secondary social studies methods courses at the study time. The implementation of the research was completed in the second half of the spring semester. The students were given the assignment to prepare projects as required by the course syllabus. They submitted their progress reports to the instructor every week. The projects' presentations completed by the students were presented within the scope of the course in the last five weeks. They were discussed and evaluated in the classroom environment.
The purpose of assigning project tasks related to democratic participation to prospective teachers as an out-of-school activity is to raise teacher candidates as citizens involved in democratic participation processes and to enable them to do such activities as teachers while performing their profession. Project Citizen is a platform that tries to bring students together within the scope of social responsibility at every step from primary school to university.
The process was explained to the students by the instructor before the research as follows.

Explanation of the project, its objectives, and outcomes:
The instructor explained the advantage of group projects in general. He particularly emphasized the importance of group projects in the development of civic knowledge and skills. Then he explained what public policy was and the importance of engaging students in monitoring and developing public policies that would benefit communities and the public good. He also asked students to give examples of a public policy. He then explained that the purpose of Project Citizen is to teach students how to monitor and develop public policy, and the outcome of the project would be an analysis of a specific public policy and an action plan for how this policy might be implemented.

Identification of the problem:
Students selected a problem in their community to study, analyze, and develop an appropriate public policy to solve. The instructor suggested brainstorming to identify the problem and recommended multiple ways of discovering problems that concern the community (T.V., printed media, chats with friends or neighbors, etc.). Students used "Problem ID and the Analysis form" to document their decisions (see Appendix 1).

Researching the problem:
Inquiry as a theoretical and practical basis of research.
Throughout the project, the instructor demonstrated the importance of reflective inquiry as a theoretical and practical tool to research the problem, develop the solution, and implement the solution in practice. The inquiry process includes several steps, each of which is vital for developing students' sense of democratic citizenship and responsibility. These steps are: Gathering information about the problem and searching for alternative solutions; Analysis of the collected data and testing the application of possible solutions in a given social, cultural, and political environment; Develop an action plan based on collected data regarding legal issues, democratic principles, and cultural environment.
To implement the project, and students were split into four groups. Each group was responsible for an element of the project: Group 1: Explanation of the problem The collected data were included in portfolios. The collection of group portfolios constituted a project portfolio. This portfolio was the critical document of the project. In making a portfolio, students collaborated to put ideas together (Iwan, Rusli, & Ruslan, 2018).

Presentation of the projects:
Students present their portfolios at mock hearings. These can be mock hearings of any legislative body, from a school board or city council to mock congressional hearings. In presenting the portfolio, each student has a responsibility. Students from other groups or classes can attend their peers' presentations and serve as the committee, board, or council members.
After presentations, students politely ask questions to clarify the information presented. Students are prepared to listen to the responses to questions posed by other groups (Iwan, Rusli, & Ruslan, 2018).    As P3 is the researcher's observation, notes states, "The project is about on-campus housing.
The student started to explain how expensive the housing of students is. The other student started to explain Indiana state university prices. After the presentations, one of the students has questions.
Presenters have some answers to them to make it clearer. On-campus housing is expensive here at Purdue. The presenter said that with a meal plan, he is saving about 10,000 USD per year. The instructor said he paid over half of its price when he was a graduate student at Purdue. Presenters also explained about the student loans. The instructor offered to the presenters that their students be more specific in their presentations; in that way, the projects would be better to understand." Instructor mediation and examples play an important role in clarifying the purpose of various elements of the project. They also provide an opportunity for students to negotiate and interpret their own experiences. The most important aspects of the action plan, as we can see in Figure 5, are clarity, ability to be implemented, and adherence to laws and constitutional principles. Implementing an action plan is evidence of students' understanding of their role as citizens in a democratic society. Student 10 (S10) stated in P10, "Democracy is important because it allows people to have a voice in their community.
It means that as citizens, people have the opportunity to recognize when something needs to be changed and take action." The ability to speak to authorities, monitor and change unsuccessful public policies, and make their voices heard is democratic citizenship in action. Student 2 (S2) and Student 5 (S5) said that any problem could be overcome if people actively participate in democratic processes.

Discussion, Conclusion and Recommendations
Project Citizen is a participatory citizenship program to engage students in monitoring public policy, solving community problems, and promoting political efficacy (Rekow Walker, 2015). It is also an educational device used to develop civic awareness, civic skills, knowledge, and values and educate responsible politicians passionate about good government and mature civil society. The Project Citizen curriculum encourages learners to participate actively in government and civil society to solve problems at school or sharpen social and intellectual intelligence, which are very important for citizenship's responsible democratic structure (Trisiana et al., 2015).
The study demonstrated that in the process of preparation and presentation of Project Citizen, pre-service teachers applied critical and analytical thinking skills, information search skills, critical literacy skills, and other skills relevant to the development of inquiry. In general, pre-service teachers expressed positive opinions about the project, curricular and pedagogical tools they used, and new knowledge they acquired during the preparatory work. This explanation is consistent with the results of Fry & Bentahar's (2013) study that demonstrated that high school students had positive perceptions of Project Citizen and reported improved understanding of civic duty and civic responsibility. Fry & Bentahar (2013) also outlined the importance of specific learning experiences that helped students develop civic knowledge, skills, and dispositions in Project Citizen.
Observations and interviews confirmed that students generally enjoyed doing the projects.
Their interest was stimulated by the fact that they addressed the problems that were close to their Participants noted that the most difficult conceptual part of the project was realizing multiple components of public policy. It confirms the findings of other authors that underscored the importance of developing critical thinking skills related to understanding public policy (Fitzgerald, 2020). Observing participants' preparation and presentations of the project, we noticed that students relied heavily on their own experiences when they discussed possible solutions to the problem and action plans. We believe that such personalization of decision-making is critically important: Project Citizen Participants "rehearsed" self-governance as responsible citizens.
According to the interviews, participants reported acquiring knowledge and academic growth triggered by work on projects. These reports are consistent with other studies that found improved participants' academic abilities associated with civic engagement and engagement in Project Citizen (Fry & Bentahar, 2013). Although Fine and Scheiner-Fisher (2013) concluded that Project Citizen did not demonstrate a significant impact on participants' perceptions about the components they will use in their potential classrooms, the pre-service teachers still found many experiences worth including in citizenship education.
Participants were able to select topics that they or their peers considered of high importance.
The ability to select and discuss these topics transformed to heightened interest in participating in Project Citizen. This opportunity confirms findings by Fine and Scheiner-Fisher (2013), who emphasized the importance of pre-service teachers' implementation of civic education initiatives that they can later demonstrate to their students.
By the publishing principles of this academic paper and based on the results of this study, we would like to make the following recommendations that may prove helpful for both researchers and practitioners:  We suggest that educators include Project Citizen in their curricula, particularly citizenship education curricula, as an activity application model to hone students' cognitive, affective, and psychomotor abilities in the learning process (Sulistyarini, Utami, & Hasmika, 2019).
 Each Project Citizen presents a unique set of activities, including topics and procedures that students undertake in preparation and presentation. It will be beneficial if students learn about past projects before they develop their own.
 It is recommended that the educators who will implement Project Citizen for the first time benefit from the experiences of experienced educators have a pre-implementation interview with them and, if possible, make a conversation to gain familiarity about the difficulties (such as understanding public policy) and easy aspects of the process.
 Although Project Citizen is applied in various countries in the literature, the scarcity of studies examining student products and opinions draws attention. For this reason, there is a need for new studies that examine student views on Project Citizen with participants from different countries. Better information about the efficiency of this activity can be obtained by providing data diversity.