GRANT RECIPIENTS:

Elizabeth Trentanelli, Natural & Social Sciences, InterAmerican Campus
etrentan@mdc.edu

The project addresses students’ needs and learning styles both within the classroom and within the larger society beyond college. Interdisciplinary materials will be developed to connect political science instruction and civic education with academic skills. The project will focus on developing a portfolio/workbook and completing a web site with guided assignments; this approach is intended to empower students to succeed in course content and life. Students will conduct research analyze materials, and practice writing while learning about US geography and government, improving critical thinking skills, and finding resources necessary for life in a democratic society.

Anecdotal evidence and a literature review of recent studies indicated high school and college students in the United States, and Miami in particular, are lacking in certain skill and knowledge areas related to public affairs and basic academic skills. Therefore, three main goals of this project were to develop/improve students’ (1) basic research/writing and critical thinking skills, (2) knowledge of American government/history/geography, and (3) appreciation for personal responsibilities of “citizenship”. To address these concerns, development of the supplemental course materials began with a review of the course competencies for POS 2041 (American Federal Government) and ISS 1120 (Introduction to Social Environment). POS 2041 competencies matching the project goals are: #2 “The student will demonstrate an understanding of the foundations of American government…”; #3 “The students will demonstrate an understanding of the constitution of the United States…”; #4 “The student will demonstrate an understanding of the relations linking people with their governments…”; #5 “The student will demonstrate an understanding of the structure of the central government…”; #6 “The student will demonstrate an understanding of civil liberties and civil rights…”; and #7 “The student will demonstrate an understanding of the making of public policy…”. Likewise for the ISS 1120 course, competency #3 addresses project goals: “Students will demonstrate knowledge of fundamental political concepts, most important types of political systems, especially the American government and its functioning, and the role of political orientations and ideologies…” Each competency features several specific objectives that provided direction as to development of the supplemental materials to be included in the workbook.
Assessment
Workbook creation methodology included the development of a pre-test instrument to ascertain the level of knowledge and skill proficiency of the students in the content areas listed above (the assessment was later also used as a post-test to evaluate the effectiveness of the materials). The assessment was in part inspired by the “CATS” or Classroom Assessment Techniques described in Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers, by Thomas Angelo and K. Patricia Cross (Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco: 1993). Examples of the CATS and other assessment activities used for each goal are as follows:
• For Goal 1 (basic writing/research and critical thinking skills): Defining Features Matrix, Content-Form-Function Outlines, One Sentence Summary, and Applications Cards. Students were also asked to complete sample bibliography formats for a variety of resources.
• For Goal 2 (American government, etc.): Focused Listing, Approximate Analogies, as well as those listed above.
• For Goal 3 (citizenship, etc.) the CATS listed above were used as well as Classroom Opinion Polls and Everyday Ethical Dilemmas.
With all three goals in mind, students were also asked to identify persons they strongly admired and write a paragraph about that person.
The pre-test was administered to one section of POS 2041 and one section of ISS 1120 in January 2002; a mixture of qualitative and quantitative data were gathered from student responses indicating the following areas where most students were unable to:
• write in a way that could be understood
• construct adequate bibliographies
• analyze a document or determine its purpose
• identify powers delegated to the 3 branches of government
• explain the purpose of the US Constitution
• explain general voter registration procedures
• explain the purpose of the Electoral College
• differentiate between “socialism” and “communism”
• understand rights and responsibilities regarding “free speech” and privacy protections
• understand concepts like ‘civic responsibility’, ‘censorship’, ‘plagiarism’, ‘academic integrity’ or ‘service learning’
Sadly, many students could not think of someone they admire enough to write about and most had difficulty addressing the scenario regarding an ethical dilemma.
At the end of the Spring semester 2003 the same two classes were administered the same assessment instrument, as a post-test. Results indicated moderate or significant improvement in certain skill/knowledge areas but also indicated continued difficulties among some students with certain topics. While students had improved in the areas of elections, powers of the three branches of government, differentiation between political/economic ideologies like socialism & communism, understanding the Constitution & Bill of Rights, and appreciation of concepts like civic responsibility, censorship, plagiarism, most still showed some or great difficulty in the areas of writing, bibliography construction, analysis, and some students did not demonstrate mastery or understanding over areas like the Electoral College, certain aspects of the Constitution, and separation of powers/checks and balances.
A workbook of exercises and assignments (described in the next section) was developed focusing on the above topics.

Evaluation
The following semester the POS 2041 course was determined to be the best avenue for trying out the new materials (its competencies more closely matched the project goals) so it was selected to “pilot” the materials and the ISS 1120 course was eliminated from the project. One section of POS 2041 was administered the pretest indicating the same types of deficiencies as the control group from spring semester.
Students in the Summer B 2003 POS 2041 class utilized the supplemental materials and indicated improved understanding of concepts like: ‘plagiarism’, ‘censorship’, ‘civic responsibility’; limitations (responsibilities) of free speech; the purpose of the US Constitution, the Electoral College, various checks and balances; and the difference between various political/economic ideologies. Many students indicated they were pleased to have for future reference information (such as government resources and correct bibliographic formats) they found through their own research and listed in their workbooks. Two students commented that they intended to share their workbooks with relatives who would be studying for citizenship tests soon. Students commented on how much they learned when researching campaign contributions, from companies like Enron, to various Representatives and Senators serving on oversight committees in the Congress. They genuinely seemed proud to know they were participating in a special grant-funded project that could yield benefits to other students in the future as well as to themselves.
Because of the overall smaller class sizes at the InterAmerican Campus, data compiled for this project yielded low numbers (of participants) and so therefore its validity may be subject to criticism from those teaching large, auditorium size classes. However, after using the newly designed supplemental materials the Summer B (6-week) POS 2041 class finished the term with a class average GPA of 2.8 as compared to the earlier (Spring 2003) POS 2041 group with its 2.0 class GPA.

Products
Workbook activities were developed after reviewing several sources for ideas and inspiration in the areas of multiple intelligences, test question wording, games, and language transition (or English as a second language). Activities were linked to particular chapters in the text and were reviewed by colleagues in the education and writing/composition disciplines, as well as student services; students themselves provided plenty of input as well. The workbook is on file in the Learning Innovations Office or can be obtained directly from me; however a partial list of assignments and supplemental information is included here:
• Building An Essay—a series of exercises based on general statements and supporting details (used when viewing videos in class);
• You Are The Internet Judge exercises whereby students rate web sites with a specific questionnaire;
• Internet research assignments on topics like the Sons of Liberty, Declaration of Independence, and the connection between corporate – government corruption;
• Map & demographic exercises;
• Opportunities for analysis & problem solving regarding: bias in the mass media, communicating with government officials, and examination of court cases;
• Cooperative learning ventures like US Constitution & government “scavenger hunt”, and construction of an opinion polling instrument;
• Application of certain concepts like Federalism (& US relations with Native American Indians), civil disobedience & non-violent conflict resolution;
• Bibliography Workshop, and Proofreader Practice exercises;
• “fun” assignments dealing with political satire, ecology, and technology.
Additionally, documents dealing with plagiarism and an example of a grading rubric for written work were included in the workbook. A little more money was spent than originally anticipated to bind workbooks with the flat coil, allowing the books to be opened flat on a surface for working comfortably. Making the workbook as user-friendly as possible was an important consideration during the design process.
Workbook exercises are also included in a website which was completed as part of the project. Although the assignments and course materials have been loaded into the site, unfortunately it is still in the process of being added to the College’s main web system. Meanwhile, these materials have also been loaded into a “Blackboard” powered site (Course Compass) which is provided by the publishers of the POS 2041 text, Government in America, Sixth Edition, by George Edwards, Martin Wattenberg, and Robert Lineberry (Addison-Wesley, Longman, New York: 2002). Students may access the companion site with the codes provided in the text or in a package they may obtain separately. Hard copy printouts of both sites are attached to the report submitted to the LILT office. Likewise, attached as appendices to the report are summary data gathered from pre-tests and post-tests as well as a bibliography of sources reviewed for this project.

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Copies of the workbook are available at the LILT office and the Social Sciences department at the InterAmerican Campus. A few copies are still available and hopefully more will be printed soon. Furthermore, a Power Point presentation for future use has been created. When the website address is confirmed I will make it available; my membership on the college-wide steering committee for the Social Sciences Discipline affords numerous opportunities to share. I am located at the InterAmerican Campus, #1350, telephone: 305.237.6229; and email, etrentan@mdc.edu.