Democracy Education in Elementary Schools
I recently read an article about the importance of teaching democracy in the classroom. I really think that this article was great! I agree with the author of the article that it is very important to teach students about democracy at a young age. It is important that they understand how our government works and how it varies from other types of governments. Democracy is an abstract concept for elementary education students, so they need to be able to experience it in the classroom. The article included several different methods of this can be done. Below are the methods described in the article.
Student-centered education
This is a away for teachers to show their students that they have choices. It is also giving them responsibility to make their own choices and follow through with them.
Democratic classroom management
This is a technique that allows for the teacher to set up democracy in the classroom. This can be done by allowing students to help come up with classroom rules and vote on things. This gives the students a sense of power that is important.
Effective teacher guidance
Teachers can set up classroom governments to show students how a government is set up and how it works. The class can vote on who they think would be best at representing the class. Teachers can also encourage this type of set up in after school activities.
Giving value to different ideas
This is an important concept that students need to be familiar with. Students need to learn that everybody has different opinions and it is okay to disagree. Not everybody thinks the same and that it what makes all people different.
Democracy by means of games in the classroom
Games are always a great way to capture the attention of students. Since democracy is very abstract having students act out different roles and show how democracy works could be very beneficial for the whole class.
Gabrielle,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading this post. Teaching democracy in a classroom is a very difficult task. Students may know the basics from watching a presidential election on tv or hearing information from their parents, but they don't get an in depth, hands on experience from those sources. The idea of having a democratic society in the classroom is great! It is so important for the students to learn about others opinions as well. Having a 'presidential debate' or a debate about any topic in a classroom would be a good idea as well. This can teach students that there are many different people with different thoughts and ideas in the world. This lesson can also bring in a review on what it means to be respectful and courteous, which is always a good review. Thanks for sharing the article!