Keywords

This book has argued that using Twitter as a pedagogical approach within civic education provides opportunities which are currently underused, particularly for those whose voices are often unheard. Civic education sees students as potential or future citizens, and consequently focuses on preparing them to understand the American system of government. Civic education could be so much more: by recognizing that young people are already civic actors, and that learning more about that role requires both knowledge and practice, civic education could foster lifelong active civic participation. Teaching with Twitter provides both a site for civic action and an opportunity to increase students’ understanding of how social media works and the role that it already plays in the civic sphere. Research, including the study presented in this book, has shown both some promise of how such teaching has been done and ideas about how it might be done even more robustly in the future. This chapter offers some conclusions about the imperative of teaching about and with social media in civic education.

Consequences of Mediocre Civic Education

Effective civic education is critically important to the health of any nation with a participatory government. Civic education provides support and development for civic participation, which is itself a pathway to representation and power (Hanson et al., 2018). In a nation with a long history of disenfranchisement, oppression, and inequity, we have a responsibility to support the civic education and engagement of all students. And yet we know that civic education could be far more robust and that it is most inadequate for those whose political voices are often already marginalized. While civic education should be improved for all students, maintaining traditional approaches to civic education only serves to maintain hegemonic power structures, which in turn maintains oppressive systems. Inclusive and expansive civic participation is both necessary for and the goal of the American democratic Republic, but it continues to be an ideal which has not yet been fully realized. Therefore, we must seek new approaches to civic education which support civic engagement in young people, particularly those whose voices have been historically suppressed.

The uptick in research and calls for improvement in civic education have been fueled by recent world and political events (Educating for American Democracy, 2021). Two decades ago, civic education research foreshadowed these events. In a landmark study of civic education in 28 countries, including the United States, roughly 10% of students in five countries (Australia, England, Finland, Sweden, and the United States) were described as “alienated” (Torney-Purta & Barber, 2011). These students, at age 14, did not trust government institutions and had very negative opinions of immigrants and ethnic groups (Torney-Purta & Barber, 2011). Students with these characteristics were identified more than a decade before the Brexit vote, the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and the rise of nationalism in other countries in which similar sentiments played a role. This nationalism has only grown since 2016, in and beyond the United States, powered by a fear of all types of diversity (Gusterson, 2017; Judis, 2016; Wilson, 2017). Such findings invite questions about the role of civic education in helping students to feel that they and others who are not like them are both important parts of the community.

In pluralistic, self-governing societies, where the nature of government depends upon the collective supporting the wellbeing of all, feeling “alienated” runs contrary to the system of government which, as we have seen, can have deleterious effects on society. If the civic education of 20 and 30 years ago had been more participatory and inclusive, would the world be in its current state? Such a question perhaps puts too much pressure on civic education, but at the same time, if we learn how to be citizens through our belonging to the society of school (Dewey, 1897), then how we act as adults in the larger society must have its roots in our civic education.

Possible Pathways: The Potential of Social Media for Civic Education

We ignore the impact of social media at our own peril: it is already impacting civic life. At the same time, students do not know how to use social media merely as a function of being young; like any other tool or skill, they must be taught how to use it in order to fully understand and make the most of it. Young people are already acting in the civic sphere, but the ways in which they are doing so have been largely unsupported by the civic education that they receive in schools (Fitzgerald et al., 2021; Torney-Purta et al., 2001). Teachers and scholars have been calling for new approaches to civic education to address these gaps, including the use of social media as a pedagogical tool (Durham, 2019; Payne, 2015; Payne et al., 2020). Social media, particularly the platform Twitter, offer affordances for civic learning and civic engagement, such as the ability to connect with others outside of the school, to engage with various viewpoints, and to practice civic skills (Durham, 2019; Gao et al., 2012). It seems like we have arrived at the right moment to see learning about social media as a necessary topic to study in civic education, as well as a potential space for civic engagement.

The research on the use of Twitter in education has mostly examined how Twitter is used in higher education settings or by teachers for their own professional development (Greenhow et al., 2020). The research on Twitter for civic education is even further limited, and largely theoretical. Though there have been studies which have shown the benefits of the use of Twitter for youth civic engagement (Loader et al., 2014; Sloam, 2014; Xenos et al., 2014), the use of Twitter in K-12 classrooms for civic education is largely understudied (Chapman & Marich, 2021; Greenhow et al., 2020).

The purpose of this study was to examine high-school social studies teachers’ use of the social media platform Twitter in order to understand how a teacher’s context, objectives, and experience factored into their reasons and practices of using Twitter to teach civics. The five teachers who participated in this study came from different contexts, had different objectives, and dealt with different issues, but taken together, their experiences provided a vibrant picture of teaching civics with Twitter. The analysis of these cases revealed common themes: the importance of teachers’ initial prompts to use Twitter and their process of incorporating it into their teaching; the teachers’ conceptions of citizenship as occurring fluidly in both online and offline spaces; and the use of Twitter to reflect and support student worth.

These findings add to the prior literature base through its examination of high-school teachers’ use of Twitter as a pedagogical approach to civic education. While the teachers in this study varied in how and why they used Twitter with their students, each of the teachers used Twitter to support students’ inherent worth. Most of the teachers saw student worth because they felt that their students needed to see themselves as civic actors and to be recognized as such by the community. Further, most of the teachers in this study used Twitter because of their conceptualization of citizenship and civic education. Teachers observed that the civic sphere is a blend of online and offline spaces, and they felt that Twitter could help their students to navigate that fluidity well. These findings have implications for future theoretical work, as well as for research and teaching practice.

Implications

This study has implications for educational theory, research, and practice. This study contributes to two fields of educational theory and research: civic education and social media; in particular, it updates the literature base on civic education to include how social media can be used for civic education, and it increases the body of literature on the use of Twitter in K-12 education, a subfield which is currently limited. This study also contributes to the conceptualization of the use of social media in education more broadly and also offers a strong critique of Bennett’s framework of citizenship within the field of education and advocates for using a critical digital citizenship framework instead. Finally, this study has implications for teacher education programs in both social studies teaching methods and educational technology. In terms of teaching practice, this study showed how Twitter is currently being used in civics education classrooms, which provides a lens into how teachers are thinking and teaching about citizenship. Each of these implications is explored in the sections which follow.

Implications for Theory

Based on the experiences of the teachers in this study, some work should be done to revise the framework of citizenship with new media developed by Bennett and his colleagues (Bennett, 2008; Bennett et al., 2009; Bennett et al., 2010; Bennett et al., 2012). The teachers who participated in this study conceived of citizenship more broadly than the binary categories of Actualizing Citizenship and Dutiful Citizenship theorized by Bennett. The teachers also thought that civic engagement, as seen in particular civic actions, was more fluid than Bennett had conceived. Given the common concern over low levels of youth civic participation and this study’s finding that citizenship exists in both online and offline spaces concurrently and in similar ways, further theoretical work should be conducted in order to better account for the breadth of understanding of citizenship as experienced by the teachers in this study.

This reframing of a theoretical understanding of how social media supports civic education should be grounded in critical digital citizenship. The concept of critical digital citizenship requires further development, and it is an important theoretical framework through which to further our understanding of how people learn with social media. This study showed that the participants in this study used Twitter in their classes in focused and particular ways; part of their success with the platform may be tied to how its use was tied to their objectives. One of the objectives for most of the teachers in this study was to address issues of marginalization which they saw in their communities. While three of the five teachers in this study, and theorists and researchers beyond this study (Logan et al., 2022; Sloam, 2014; Xenos et al., 2014), have argued that social media could provide a platform for marginalized students’ voices, the teachers in this study had not yet been able to leverage Twitter for that purpose. Future research should further explore how critical digital citizenship, applied to the use of social media as a pedagogical tool in classrooms, impacts students’ civic learning and engagement.

Implications for Research

In addition to future theoretical work, this study has several implications for future research on civics education and social media. The findings of this study have implications for initial and ongoing development of teachers as well as implications for future research on other tools for civic education which blend online and offline forms of citizenship, the effects of technological tools on student civic participation, and the effects of technological tools on student worth and of increased student worth on civic participation.

This study’s findings pertaining to the prompt and process of teachers’ choosing to use Twitter have implications for future research in teacher education. One of this study’s findings was that teachers used Twitter as a means of convincing students of their worth and agency, particularly in the civic sphere. We know about the critical importance of the relationship between teachers and students, particularly in adolescence (Chapman et al., 2021; Chapman et al., 2023). The teacher-student relationship can be transformative, particularly around issues of student worth, but creating these types of relationships is intentional (Chapman et al., 2021). Future research should evaluate the effects of social media on student worth should be assessed, as well as what other tools, activities, or elements of school culture could foster students’ sense of self-worth. Research should be conducted which evaluates the effect of student worth on civic engagement. Finally, teacher education programs and teacher professional development should include means of supporting students’ inherent worth in the classroom. It would be important for this research to be approached through a social justice lens; issues of student worth are often bound up in students’ identities and the need to be seen, known, and valued for who they are (Chapman et al., 2021).

This study’s findings pertaining to the prompt and process of teachers’ choosing to use Twitter have implications for future research in teacher education. One of this study’s findings was the key role played by a slightly more technologically savvy peer in a teacher’s adoption of Twitter. Additionally, a teacher’s introduction to Twitter came at a time when the teacher had specific objectives for student learning or goals for student connection. A second, related finding was the process through which teachers chose to use Twitter, considering both student preferences and the affordances of Twitter in making their decisions about how to use the social media platform.

Similarly, another implication of these findings is the need for further research on the teaching of and about social media in teacher education and professional development programs. Given the finding that teachers’ adoption of Twitter was connected to their awareness of what they wanted to do with their students, future research could evaluate the best ways in which to prepare pre-service teachers to be effectively introduced to social media for use in the classroom and to incorporate it thoughtfully into their teaching practice. Further, what supports should be in place in teacher education around the use of social media for learning? There is a parallel research implication for teacher professional development: how might teachers be supported most effectively through professional development in their incorporation of social media into the classroom? Can this be designed in order to include an exploration of teachers’ objectives? Answering any of these questions should come through a critical digital citizenship lens, so that as teachers learn about using social media in their classrooms, they are best prepared to address its less virtuous aspects with their students. Further, applying a critical digital citizenship lens to teachers’ use of social media in the classroom broadens the type of civic actions which can be supported through formal civic education.

This study’s findings also have implications for research into the student experience of civic education with social media. One of this study’s findings pertained to the goals that teachers have for students, namely: teaching civics in ways that incorporated both online and offline experiences of citizenship. Further research should be done to examine the ways and tools that teachers are using to teach citizenship in ways that blend online and offline civic practices (one example: civic education games; see Chang et al., 2020 for more information). Research should also be done to assess the effectiveness of these blended practices on student civic knowledge and civic participation, both during their time in school and later into adulthood. A critical digital citizenship lens can be applied here, as well, to best understand the ways in which such approaches can work toward systemic change.

Implications for Practice

This study also has several implications for civics teachers and for any teachers who are interested in using social media in their classrooms. One of the common themes which emerged from this study was that the participants came to use Twitter in their classes because they were introduced to Twitter by peers who were also using the platform in their classrooms. Importantly, the participants in this study also had ideas about what they wanted to do in their classrooms when they were introduced to Twitter. Teachers who are curious about using social media in their classrooms should find a colleague or peer who is already using social media for educational purposes; this person could help the teacher to learn the social media platform as well as provide support as the teacher begins to implement its use in his or her own classroom. Additionally, teachers should reflect upon their goals for their students as they consider adopting social media in their classrooms. A second finding of this study was that teachers’ process of choosing to use Twitter considered both their students’ social media preferences as well as the affordances of Twitter and their alignment with the teachers’ intentions for using social media in class. Teachers who want to use social media in their classrooms should reflect on both their students’ preferences and the affordances of any social media platform they consider.

The objectives of the teachers who participated in this study also have implications for other teachers. Based on this study’s finding that teachers are incorporating elements of both online and offline citizenship into their teaching, teachers should think broadly about the civic skills and civic actions they teach. The teachers in this study did not think it beneficial to separate online and offline civic practices, choosing instead to see them as parts of the whole that made up civic engagement. Other teachers might consider doing the same as a way of inviting all students to find ways to participate in civic life.

Finally, the teachers in this study were concerned about student worth. Young people matter to their community, and teachers used Twitter as a tool to convey students’ value to and impact on the community and students’ the civic sphere. This is a practice that other teachers could adopt and could also serve as a prompt for teachers to think about other ways that they could attend to student worth through their teaching.

Limitations

This study has several limitations which may have implications for future research. Each of the participants in this study had positive experiences with using Twitter for civic education, and each participant intended to continue to use Twitter in their classrooms. Although qualitative research does not aim to generalizable its findings about a phenomenon (Hoyt & Bhati, 2007), there is no counterpoint in this study to the participants who support using Twitter in their classrooms. Therefore, a limitation of this study is that it did not include the voices of teachers who have used Twitter for civic education and who no longer do so because it did not work for them. Having these voices in this study would have presented a fuller picture of what it means to teach civics with Twitter. Including these voices should be a consideration of future research. Another limitation of this study is that there are aspects of civic education, such as democratic values and knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, which are not addressed in Bennett’s model (Bennett, 2008; Bennett et al., 2009; Bennett et al., 2010). Because this study focused on the aspects of civic education that Bennett did address, this study does not address all of the complexities of civic education. Finally, despite an awareness of the potential threats to validity and the steps taken to avoid them referenced in Chap. 4, it is possible that not all of these threats were entirely avoided. In spite of reviewing my data analysis with two other researchers, it is possible that my analysis was influenced by my positionality about civic education, social media, or the importance of youth civic participation.

Conclusions

Overall, the study presented in this book contributes much to the conversation happening around rates of youth civic participation and offers directions for future research and suggestions for ways in which the use of social media could be incorporated into civic education. Civic engagement and civic participation among young people have recently been areas of interest and concern. By examining how high school social studies teachers were using the social media platform Twitter to teach civics, this study showed that teachers were prompted to use Twitter by an influential peer at a time when the teachers could see the affordances of Twitter as beneficial for the goals they had for their students. Teachers chose to use Twitter after consideration of their students’ social media preferences because the affordances of Twitter aligned with their objectives, particularly incorporating both online and offline citizenship and increasing student worth.

The results of this study have important implications for researchers and practitioners. This study’s findings show the importance of the manner in which teachers are introduced to and supported in using social media in education. Teachers who participated in this study also conceived of citizenship broadly, in ways that incorporated online and offline civic learning and civic action which are fluid. This understanding of citizenship and its application to teaching have implications for connecting with a wide range of students. Importantly, the study’s findings add to the literature base of the use of social media in K-12 education. This study also showed that teachers were using Twitter to attend to student worth, which is a new insight for this field.

Through the use of the social media platform Twitter, the teachers in this study sought to introduce their students to a variety of ways of participating in civic life. Although the teachers used Twitter in ways that continued to align with some of the established best practices in civic education, in using Twitter, they broadened the ways in which they taught about citizenship, making it accessible and applicable to as many students as possible. This study showed that teachers were concerned with students knowing that they had a right and responsibility to participate in civic life, because their intrinsic worth made them valuable members of society. Overall, this study provides insights into how teachers are conceiving of civic education in ways that will meet their students where they are and guide them into civic participation.

This can then provide guidance for the remainder of the field of civic education. Civic education in the United States is in need of reform. This is apparent to people across the political spectrum, as well as to teachers and researchers (Vasilogambros, 2021). After decades of spending educational resources on other subject areas (U.S. Department of Education, 2019) and years of increased political polarization (Payne & Journell, 2019), civic education is in need of attention, revision, and reimagination. What those reforms should be is a matter of some debate.

Throughout this book, I have argued that teaching with and about the social media platform Twitter should be considered as a valuable pedagogical approach to teaching civics. Not only is Twitter a place where students can learn in vivo about civic engagement, they can participate on Twitter as civic actors, recognizing the role that young people play in the community already, rather than seeing them as citizens-in-training. Further, young people do not know how to use Twitter, or any technology, simply as a function of their age. Teaching with Twitter affords teachers the opportunity to teach about Twitter as well. Given the role that Twitter and other social media sites already play in civic life, understanding how these platforms operate is necessary not only for using them well, but for living in a world in which civic life unfolds in both online and offline spaces.

This is the crux of what civic education must be. Those living in any participatory style of government, but particularly those in a democratic Republic “need to know democratic things and do democratic things” (Payne, 2015, p.22). Walter Parker (2008), whom Payne is paraphrasing in her quote, argued eloquently for the important role that diversity plays in civic education:

Diversity matters in both knowing and doing, in both enlightenment and engagement, in both revealing the world and solving its problems. Without the diversity afforded by a varied social environment—such as a school—growth is stunted, idiocy encouraged, civic consciousness narrowed, and decisions impoverished. Diversity and shared problems are the essential resources schools afford to the education of democratic citizens. (p. 76)

Diversity and shared problems certainly exist in schools, but schools could foster greater inclusivity and conversation could be by opening the school up through social media. Social media, which already is a site of civic engagement and thus part of the civic sphere, can offer a place for student civic learning and youth civic engagement. Supporting young people in their engagement with others on social media is essential for their knowledge and wellbeing; doing so for civic purposes is imperative for our democracy.