The results of the study indicate that most students that were enrolled in civic advocacy course were very active and were mo

Findings and results

The results of the study indicate that most students that were enrolled in civic advocacy course were very active and were mostly thoughtful in their daily class activities. However, not all the students of civic advocacy were not undergoing through the same experience. Among the sample of 13 advocacy students observed; three students often put their heads down during class meetings, some were busy doing their homework for other courses; nevertheless most concentrated and participated in advocacy course activities. During the 1st making period, 9 students accomplished projects that were aimed at increasing public awareness about a certain concept or issue, but in the second making period 11 students accomplished advocacy projects that were directed towards their institutions; however 2 students did not pass the course because of inadequate projects. Of the 7 students interviewed, 4 were motivated to take the course because of their interest in learning about civic involvements while the other 3 were motivated by other factors such as; mentor’s suggestion, a free-test class or need for graduation course. Generally, those students that did the projects because they were very interested in civic involvement created a more advanced and ambitious projects and they were more occupied in learning about related concepts. A few students that enrolled in civic advocacy course basically to attain elective credits were not enthusiastic about their projects. Their interests were limited and they did not engage on issues other than those that affected the projects. Thus, even though students took the civic advocacy course and seriously engaged in their projects, this positive approach was not true to all. However, almost all the students, including those who never develop suitable projects, actively participated in some skill-development activities that were meant to develop and strengthen their civic advocacy efforts. Additionally, students were characteristically very active when their classmates, particularly their friends, were the once leading discussions concerning their own projects and importuned feedback. Therefore, through learning and discussions about public issues limitations, mounting a sense of civic community with their classmates, and jointly focusing on their community based actions, many students were thoughtfully engaged in course activities.

The participation of students in civic advocacy projects positively affected their political efficacy and this enabled them to increase their knowledge about challenges once faces in his/her quest for civic action activities. For the reason that most projects never achieved their full objectives before the end of the class, few students articulated absolute satisfaction with their achievement. Overall, however, the experience they gained taught them about the likely challenges and effects of civic action and stimulated many of them to plan for their future efforts as shown on the table below

Table 1

Students’ Characteristics (N=39)

Variable Students in Advocacy Class NHS Students

% Ethnic Minority 8.3 7.7

% Mothers with college degrees or more 50.0 64.0

% Fathers with college degrees or more 41.7 56.0

Mean Age 16.7 16.4

***p<.001, **p<.01, *p<.05, ~p<.1

Both the qualitative and quantitative analyses results indicates that students engaged in the civic advocacy projects developed a greater belief about their abilities to influence political procedures compared to students in the comparison group. The t-tests and cross-tabulations analysis also shows that students that conducted advocacy projects and those who never conducted advocacy projects were alike demographically. Regardless of, these similarities, the ANOVA and t-test results showed that students undertaking civic advocacy course gained growth both external and internal political efficacy while students in the National Honor Society did not as shown in the table 2 below

Results of T-tests Examining Students’ Changes on Civic Engagement Factors (N=39)

Variable Beginning of Semester End of Semester

NHS Students Model UN Students NHS Students Model UN Students

Internal Political Efficacy 4.8 4.8 4.4 5.3*

External Political Efficacy 4.8 4.5 4.3 5.2*

***p<.001, **p<.01, *p<.05, ~p<.1

The results of ordinary least square regression show the same situation. Taking factors such as; internal political efficacy, parental interest, age, grade level, race and political interest, the OLS regression shows gives a much clearer results.

Effect Sizes (Unstandardized B) of OLS Regression Model Examining Changes in Political Efficacy (N=39)

Independent Variables End-of Semester

Internal Political Efficacy End-of-Semester

External Political Efficacy

Participation in Advocacy Class .876*** .731*

Internal Political Efficacy, Time 1 .621*** .236

External Political Efficacy, Time 1 -.050 .279*

Political Interest, Time 1 .148 .210

Parental Education -.060 -.240

Persistence Self-Efficacy .074 .127

Age -.263 -.445

Grade Level .080 .640

Race/Ethnicity (White) .522 -.095

Constant 5.703 7.043

R2 .732*** .562**

The change in political efficacy is a reflection of an assessment of their recent experience learning and most concern is about community concepts and achieving small success in determining other factors. Overall, the participation of students in the advocacy projects helped them to develop ambition of how to influence their political process. The quantitative analyses indicate those who participated in advocacy project can persistence to be a challenging task. The OLS regression analysis, civic advocacy negatively influence the student’s awareness of their own determination, race, political interest, controlling for political efficacy, parental education and grade level. Comparing these results with those who never undertook civic advocacy; students who undertook civic advocacy course in the end of the semester 0.565 standard deviation with a p-value of <.05.

Independent Variables End-of-Semester

Persistence Self-Efficacy

Participation in Advocacy Class -.565*

Persistence Self-Efficacy, Time 1 .587**

Internal Political Efficacy, Time 1 -.008

External Political Efficacy, Time 1 .076

Political Interest, Time 1 .117

Parental Education .036

Grade Level .061

Ethnicity/Race -.083

Constant 1.350

R2 .561**

Discussion

It is very challenging to prepare high school students to assists in conducting civic advocacy within their own society or community. Student’s empowerment will give the students an opportunity to appreciate and realize their full potential. The idea of civic advocacy is to courageously get out in the world and discus with people the issues that affect them in one way or the other hence making shift or change something in their life. The flexibility of the projects assignment is attributed to difficulties by the students. However, some students seemed to benefit from this independence. Although the high degree of independence seemed to increase some student’s motivation, it gave other students too much freedom that they assumed the importance of the start stage of their projects. Evidence from observations and interviews indicates that students have different engagement concepts towards their projects based on their reasons for taking the class. No matter how hard civic advocacy might seemed, the study aimed at providing students with the necessary guidelines that will facilitate their reflection and learning from the process. The best results were achieved by first developing a flexible curriculum plan that adapted to the students’ interest and projects. The study was on three main objectives that were mutually related and supported. The objectives were; student’s broad understanding of social challenges, students’ progress of civics skills and the development of two projects by the students which could either be developed in groups or individually: one project focused on influencing the position of policy makers regarding power while the other designed to increase public awareness about an issue. By making the students to dominate the projects, I managed to introduce the students to sociopolitical limitations that helped them establish their own research questions to explore civic skills that will see them succeed on their projects. In order to help the students increase their interest in civic advocacy projects, I managed to engage the students academically in the concrete and ethical challenges contained in taking social action. To strength the students’ motivation and moral conviction, it is necessary to advocate for roles challenge the students thinking. For example, after presentation of basic principles of Hume’s moral relativism, students were challenged to take their own independent positions. This prompted students to an animated debate about how it is not necessary to violate another’s physical space. By learning about major sociopolitical challenges together with their associated ethical dimensions, students were able to develop convictions and purposes for being implicated in social issues. From the study, students who engaged in civic advocacy projects were significantly involved in political efficacy as compared to students in National Honor Society despite of their background characteristics and political attitudes. These findings have two main implications; first, it shows that students might become civically engaged when they conduct projects in their societies. Secondly, it further supports the augments that numerous claims that society involvement has a strong effect on civic outcomes if at all accompanied by a focused instructional component.

Conclusion

Through learning a variety of political skills, students were also prepared to implement advocacy projects. These political skills helped the students to strengthen their ability to build up an action plan that will help develop the project. Students also assessed themselves experimentally to determine their own civic action. After completing the projects, the students also engaged in discussions that mainly focused on their work and their future plans towards the projects. Students need guidance and opportunities to successfully conduct and complete their projects. Effective civic action is sometimes an interactive procedure which necessitates assessments of strategies and goals. Social studies teachers have been greatly involved in advocating for students to become active especially in democratic related issues. Political efficacy is the best practice that determines how active a student is in relation to political participation. Therefore, it is necessary that this concept is fully developed and encouraged not only by the social studies teacher but with all related stakeholders.