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Joint Research Program

Current Research
Democratic Dialogue’s first three years of research focuses on an exploration of democracy, education, and society in three settings: K-12 schools; institutions of higher education; and, community-based agencies and organizations that engage in and support educational practices. Across these settings, researchers at New York University (New York City), Harvard University (Boston), University of Illinois (Chicago), Mills College (Oakland, California), University of Oregon (Eugene), and the University of Ottawa are currently engaged in the following projects:


Teaching Democracy: A Study of the Surdna Foundation's Democratic Values Initiative
Joel Westheimer, University of Ottawa
Joseph Kahne, Mills College

In collaboration with Joseph Kahne of Mills College, this study examines 10 exemplary educational programs designed to promote Democratic values. The programs worked with middle school students, high school students, college students, and adults. This study examines the visions of citizenship and democracy embedded in these differing curricular efforts and the relationship between those visions, the curriculum, and the impact on participants. We also identify shared practices that appear particularly effective. Funded by the Surdna Foundation.

Canadian High School Students and Civic Values
Sharon Cook, University of Ottawa

During the recent Ontario provincial election, students at the elementary, middle and high school levels across the province participated in a pilot programme designed to encourage knowledge, skill development and engagement in the electoral process. Kidsvoting Canada offered a curriculum package to teachers, a variety of resources and the opportunity to participate in shadow elections in their school's constituency. Work is now proceeding to structure a similar programme for the next federal election, expected in the Spring of 2004. In addition to consulting with the team on the curriculum package, we have initiated a research project which aims to assess the degree and kinds of success of the rather limited objectives of this project, as well as possible broader civic understandings and engagement by students and teachers participating in this programme. The instruments utilized to gauge the kinds and depth of learning will include interviews and focus groups with teachers and students, and investigations of student productions in response to the curriculum package.

Civic Intentions: A Study of Schools that Teach Democratic Values
Joel Westheimer, University of Ottawa

This three-year study examines educational initiatives that make education for democracy central to school curriculum, conduct, and organization. Theoretical and empirical investigations of school-based programs that seek to educate for democracy through curriculum, classroom practice, and school organization. This research is funded by a three-year grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Citizenship Skills and School-To-Work Programs
Joel Westheimer, University of Ottawa
Gordon Lafer, the University of Oregon, Labor and Education Research Center

This project is concerned with the notion of “citizenship skills” and the creation of school-to-work programs that emphasize rather than disregard democratic principles and practices. Drs. Westheimer and Lafer are investigating democratic values as they are embodied in the “citizenship skills” curricula of school-to-work and similar government-sponsored job training programs. The aim is to produce publications for both researchers and practitioners in the areas of citizenship education and labor studies. Second, the Labor and Education Research Center at the University of Oregon will work in collaboration with the University of Ottawa to develop a Workplace Rights curriculum for high school students designed to complement existing business-oriented school-to-work programs with an emphasis upon democratic rights and citizenship in the workplace. The goal of this collaboration is the establishment of a model curriculum unit that will be presented to high school teachers in a “train-the-trainer” program delivered through in-service training. This project is supported through research assistance from Democratic Dialogue and the Labor and Education Research Center of the University of Oregon.

Social History, Democracy, and Education
Robby Cohen, New York University
Joel Westheimer, University of Ottawa

This project investigates how social studies can emphasize democratic themes through the historical study of social movements and, thereby, prepare students for the challenges of contemporary citizenship. Professor Robert Cohen is Director of the Social Studies Teacher Education program of New York University. Westheimer and Cohen are investigating how curriculum development can advance education for democratic citizenship. In underscoring the importance of what students need to know, how this knowledge can be conveyed through social studies curriculum, and how historical knowledge affects contemporary social action, Westheimer and Cohen invite Democratic Dialogue collaboration that examines how curriculum can encourage students to learn about and to participate in efforts to strengthen and preserve democracy. This project is supported through research assistance from Democratic Dialogue and the NYU Social Studies Program.

Small Schools and Democratic Practices
Bill Ayers, University of Illinois-Chicago

This project focuses on the relationship between school size and the realization of democratic practices. The investigation of small schools has given birth to a host of school reforms designed to make educational environments more personalized and less bureaucratically removed. Rejecting large comprehensive high schools, small school sites are touted as places where democracy can flourish both in the organization and administration of the school, as well as in the lessons taught to students. Professor William Ayers of the University of Illinois, Chicago, has investigated a range of social issues that shape teaching, school practices, and institutional organization. In exploring the relationships between institutional size and democratic practices in schools and related institutions in the Ottawa area, Democratic Dialogue collaborators will join Professor Ayers in his current research into the culture, organization, and community settings associated with small schools. By critically examining how democratic institutions are best organized, and the social and cultural tensions that emerge when ideals of communitarian and democratic organizational arrangements are put into practice, Ottawa-based researchers will explore the impact of population, organization, and administration within Canadian educational settings, social institutions, and public and private sector organizations.

Visible Minorities, Invisible Selves: Educational Profiles and The Social Construction of Identity in a Multicultural Society
Martin Barlosky, University of Ottawa

While some use the word “postmodernity” to capture a world increasingly characterized by multiplicity and difference, others use the word “globalism” as a harbinger of a smaller world community in which what was once distant and alien becomes experientially immediate.  As difference progressively enters into daily experience, those within and those outside mainstream social groups are pushed to re-describe concepts of identity, personal efficacy, and social solidarity that are requisite to a citizenship actualized through vigorous civic participation.  The research examines to what extent those who fall within the category of ethnically diverse populations and “visible minorities” speak in many voices as they articulate who they are, describe their personal affiliations, and report their experiences and perceptions of the Canadian social context.  The data will be analyzed in order to explore how those categorized as visible minorities differ and agree in the ways in which they describe and understand their identities, actions, and aspirations and how they experience, perceive, and engage the Canadian social setting. Findings from the research will address the broader theme of conceptual and cultural pluralism which increasingly problematizes unitary definitions of knowledge, self, and social reality and will give definition to difference as a cultural fact that can inform social policy initiatives, enhance civic engagement, and enrich interpersonal encounters.

Citizenship, Wayward Youth and Tobacco Use: an Historical Study
Sharon Anne Cook, University of Ottawa

Smoking has been a fairly common youth behaviour since the nineteenth century, eliciting almost unanimous condemnation from adult society from the 1890s.  During the first three decades of the twentieth century, with the war period the only exception, smoking became an advertisement for personal and public irresponsibility; the young smoker was not regarded as a reliable citizen.  Surprisingly, considering the fervour of the public debate during this period, anti-smoking campaigns d id not sustain public interest after the late 1920s.  From about 1930 to the early 1960s, it was almost ignored as a moral and health issue for Canadian young people amongst all but the most passionate anti-tobacco advocates.  Over the past two decades, however, we have seen it recover as a public policy issue, taking on some of its earlier moral connotations under the modern rubric of responsible citizenship.  This research examines the symbolism of tobacco use generally and smoking in particular.  For much of the twentieth century, it was tobacco’s moral threat rather than the (currently) obvious physical dangers which captured public interest and allowed it to be a virtual code-word to identify wayward youths and irresponsible citizens.  This research explores the historical and current moral connotations of smoking as these intersected with the equally powerful morality of citizenship.     

Ethnic Diversity Survey Data Analysis
Martin Barlosky, University of Ottawa

The database represented in the Ethnic Diversity Survey (EDS) is a unique and extraordinarily valuable Canadian resource that we feel can be used to empirically describe and explore patterns of identity, agency, and association too often restricted to abstract and, at times, abstruse philosophical and political debates. Through utilization of the EDS data-base, we hope to create a series of vivid, subtle, and differentiated portraits of how those referred to as “visible minorities” shape their respective identities and social commitments by both utilizing and resisting predominant cultural images and social institutions, particularly those that would educate. Core research themes include: (1)  Patterns of Identity, Agency, and Affiliation; (2)  Educational Participation – Acquiring Tools for Citizenship, Civic Participation, and Work; (3)  Policy and Program Initiatives for Engagement and Inclusion.

Special Projects

CD-Rom of “working papers,” a web page and CD-ROM with current news and events from Democratic Dialogue and partner institutions.

Public colloquia on democracy and education to be held in 2005 at the University of Ottawa.

Special September 2003 issue of Phi Delta Kappan on Democracy and Civic Engagement. Look for articles by Deborah Meier, William Galston, Charles Payne, Joseph Kahne & Joel Westheimer, Tim Stanley, U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, and more.

Special April 2004 symposium in PS: Political Science & Politics on The Politics of Civic Education. Look for articles by Larry Cuban, Diana Hess, Jane Junn, Joseph Kahne, E. Wayne Ross, Joel Westheimer.

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