Call for Proposals: Teaching Democratic Thinking

Posted by on January 14, 2013

Call for Proposals

Topic: Teaching Democratic Thinking

To appear in a special edition of Partnerships: A Journal of Service-Learning and Community Engagement in 2014.  Partnerships is a multi-disciplinary, open access peer reviewed journal, exploring “effective partnerships between students, faculty, community agencies, administrators, disciplines” in higher education.

Abstracts due: February 15, 2013

Final Papers due: September 30, 2013

In 2003, Elizabeth Minnich published “Teaching Thinking: Moral and Political Considerations” (Change, September/October), which creatively combined political and moral questions with epistemology and pedagogy, and which eventually served as the basis for a seminar to explore “teaching democratic thinking.”  The inaugural Elon Research Seminar on Engaged Undergraduate Learning, co-sponsored by Elon University’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning and the American Association of Colleges and Universities, brought together 27 faculty, staff, administrators and students to explore and research this nexus of normative, epistemological and pedagogical issues.

Building from that seminar — while expanding the scope of the discussion — this collection asks questions about the meaning of “democratic thinking”: what it looks like, if it is a goal higher educators should have, how one acquires it, and how/if it can be taught.  The nature of the collection lends itself to a focus on multiple aspects of service-learning and community engagement in higher education, but from an unusual angle: that of thinking.

Among many other topics, papers might explore:

1.            The habits of mind fostered through service-learning and/or community engagement
2.            The role of perspective and perspective-taking in community action partnerships
3.            How partnering leads to new and different ways of thinking
4.            How to prepare students for the particular epistemological challenges of working in the community
5.            The relationship between knowledge, authority and democracy
6.            The pairing of critical reflection and political action

Questions about this special addition and abstracts should be sent to sschulman@elon.edu by February 15, 2013. Abstracts should be no longer than 750 words (excluding reference).

Click here for the full Call for Proposals.

http://www.elon.edu/e-web/org/nccc/pubRes-partnerships.xhtml