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PARTICIPATE

PARTICIPATING IN A CONNECTED WORLD:
EXPLORING CIVIC ISSUES, DISCOVERING CIVIC INTERESTS

QUESTION two:

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What civic issues do you hear people in your community talking about most?

Activity #2: Exploring Civic Issues in the News and in Your Networks

(30 min)

 

Step 1: Scan Your News Sources

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Ask students to look at today’s headlines in local print newspaper, watch/listen to local news, scan online local news sites.

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  • What civic issues are featured in the top news stories?

  • What civic issues are discussed but are given less space, time, and attention?

  • Are there any issues being reported on that you’d be curious to learn more about? What more would you like to learn?

  • What challenges might you encounter (or have you encountered) as you try to learn about this issue?

 

Step 2: Scan Your Networks

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Ask students to look at their news feeds on their favorite social media sites. They should look across the posts from a single day or across several hours if they have a very active feed. (If some students are not an active social media users, ask them to pair up with someone who is active on a social media site.)

 

Invite them to explore the following questions:

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  • What are the topics or civic issues represented across the posts? Make a list of the issues you see represented in what people post - including posts that contain news articles/links in addition to original posts (status updates, tweets, etc.) in which a person is sharing an idea or perspective about an issue.

  • Are there any issues being raised or discussed on social media that you’d be curious to learn more about? What more would you like to learn?

  • What challenges might you encounter (or have you encountered) as you try to learn about this issue?

Students explore their identities and communities, identify civic issues that matter to them, and consider how they might use digital media for civic participation.

Students work to understand and analyze civic information online, and consider what information they

can trust.

Students navigate diverse perspectives and exchange ideas about civic issues in our inter-connected world .

Students consider how, when and to what end they can create, remix and otherwise re-purpose content that they share with others in online spaces.

Students consider a broad range of tactics and strategies for acting on civic issues. 

© 2018 by the MacArthur Research Network on Youth and Participatory Politics

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