“Inexperienced Drivers, Few Survivors,” was one of seven Project Citizen projects completed at Cape Elizabeth Middle School during the first year the program was implemented there.
Eighth-grade social studies teacher Evan Solender learned about Project Citizen in 2008, and was inspired to bring the program into Cape Elizabeth Middle School.
“I think it’s one of the most important concepts that I’ve brought to social studies: the fact that you’re a citizen, and you can see what change you can make in the world, even if it’s a small change,” said Mr. Solender.
Students in his two social studies classes brainstormed ideas for the issues they would address using the Project Citizen model. The classroom had a bulletin board with newspaper articles and ideas, labeled “Step 1: What Is the Problem?” The classes broke into groups, each selecting its own issue. The teams chose topics ranging from cell phone use while driving to anorexia.
Throughout the process, the students wrote summaries of what they learned from their research. By creating abstracts of the ideas in a research source, the students moved beyond simply repeating statements to analyzing their meaning for addressing a real community problem. In their explorations of possible alternative policy solutions, they learned to discuss opposing viewpoints and respond to counter arguments.
The process teaches as much about skills such as working cooperatively, overcoming procrastination, and time management as it does about the specific social studies topics studied, according to Mr. Solender.
Community partners were an important part of the unit. Students decided who to interview about their topics and crafted emails to invite speakers. If they saw a local article on the subject, the teacher encouraged them to contact the reporter. The wide range of topics brought in a wide range of community leaders: representatives from the town council, the school board, the state legislature, the South Portland police department, and the Secretary of State’s office. The group that chose pesticides in the environment as the problem they wanted to address invited a local “green” lawn products business owner to speak. School nurses shared information about anorexia.
The teams of students researched their topics in depth, chose a public policy to address the problem, and created the Project Citizen portfolios to share their findings. Each group wrote a group reflection on their learning, from prompts, and rehearsed their presentations.
Cape Elizabeth held a local showcase, open to the public. More than 150 people attended, and the event was covered by local television. Parents and community members provided very positive feedback on the event, many sharing that they were particularly impressed with how well all of the students presented their results to a large audience.
The two winners from the local Showcase attended KIDS Consortium's State Showcase.
“Inexperienced Drivers, Few Survivors” focused on the problem of teenagers getting into accidents and the more than 4,500 teenage driving deaths each year. The students found that there was no limit to the number of times applicants could re-take the test to obtain a drivers license. They chose a policy that would require an additional driver education class for anyone who failed the drivers test two times, before they would be able to re-take the test. The students’ policy would also add other restrictions on beginning drivers.
In 2010, all four eighth-grade social studies teachers at Cape Elizabeth Middle School are applying the Project Citizen model.
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Public Policy is difficult to define, so it was with great pleasure that I watched very young students who really get it! So many worthwhile projects, so many thoughtful students and teachers, so great a contribution that KIDS is making toward increasing civic engagement!!!