Experiential Civic Education: Encouraging Student Engagement Using the Field Immersion Framework

Experiential Civic Education: Encouraging Student Engagement Using the Field Immersion Framework articulates a practical, flexible teaching-and-learning pedagogy that engages students and instructors in opportunities to successfully explore complex civic issues in the classroom. This volume marries place-based experiential learning with civic engagement to promote important transformative learning outcomes.

The Field Immersion Framework (FIF) pedagogy prepares students and faculty with the tools to navigate participatory democracy in local, state, national, and global communities. The FIF uses four stages - Foregrounding, Immersion, Reflection, and Civic Agency - to position learners as explorers and researchers in communities grappling with important societal issues. In this volume, Foregrounding chapters prime the reader with the theoretical support to explore the content; Immersion chapters situate the reader in case studies of FIF courses; Reflection chapters showcase the voices of students, faculty members, student affairs professionals, and others who have participated in these courses; and, finally, Civic Agency chapters explore the implications of the FIF.

This book will be important reading for those developing courses relating to civic engagement, social justice education, and community-based teaching and learning. It also supports educators in exploring place-based civic issues with their students, working to encourage understanding of diverse voices and perspectives, and supporting students’ lifelong navigation of our complex world.

Alix Dowling Fink is the Associate Provost for Research and Academic Initiatives and a Professor of Biology at Longwood University, USA.

JoEllen Pederson is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Longwood University, USA.

Heather Lettner-Rust is the Director of Civitae Core Curriculum and a Professor of Rhetoric and Composition at Longwood University, USA.