Teaching Politics: A Study of High School Government Courses and the 2008 Presidential Election

299 p.Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009.A multiple case study method was used, and data were collected through classroom observations, formal interviews with teachers and students, artifact analysis, and student surveys. Based on these data sources, I discovered that the inclusion of political events and methods for teaching politics is far from universal and can vary based on the environment in which students receive their political instruction. In particular, I found that pressure for teachers to adhere to the formal curriculum, the political makeup of a class, teacher bias, and ideological beliefs placed on teachers by schools and the surrounding community impact the political message presented in the classroom. From these findings, I use Foucault's (1978/1991) notion of govemmentality as a way of better understanding the political socialization that occurred in each of these classes. I then argue that a deliberative approach to teaching politics would provide students with greater political agency and temper the effects of governmentality on their political instruction. I conclude by offering implications of this research for social studies classroom instruction and teacher education.U of I OnlyRestricted to the U of I community idenfinitely during batch ingest of legacy ETD