1.3 Civic Participation and Skills Study Guide
Learning Target 3. Prepare a collection of documents pertaining to a civic issue that contains examples from at least two distinct information types (e.g., public records, surveys, research data, and policy positions of advocacy groups); explain how each source is relevant; describe the perspective or position of each source and evaluate the credibility of each source.
Researching a civic issue involves determining which sources of information are relevant to the task, identifying the perspective or position of each source and evaluating the credibility of the sources.
Public records can include sources such county tax records, a report issued by a state agency or the Congressional Record.
Surveys of public opinion could be conducted by students or could come from major polling organizations. Surveys also could consist of data collections pertaining to a public issue (e.g., a survey of waterway contamination resulting from the runoff of snow removal chemicals).
Research data comes in many forms and may originate with organizations ranging from universities to research institutes. Research into local issues can be conducted by students.
Advocacy groups (interest groups, lobbies) produce literature and maintain websites that outline their positions on public policy issues.
Considerations involved with determining the credibility of sources include:
- the qualifications/reputation of the writer and/or organization;
- the circumstances in which the source material was generated;
- internal consistency and agreement with other credible sources;
- use of supporting evidence and logical conclusions; and
- evidence of bias or unstated assumptions.
Learning Target 4. Identify a civic issue and explain how persuasion, compromise, consensus building, and/or negotiation are used to resolve opposing positions on the issue.
Persuasion is a process of inducing others into accepting a point of view by means of reasoning and argumentation. Compromise is a process of making concessions to settle differences. Consensus building is a process of working toward achieving general agreement within a group.
Negotiation is a process of settling differences through a discussion of issues. These processes come into play by varying degrees during activities related to governing.
Negotiation is a process of settling differences through a discussion of issues. These processes come into play by varying degrees during activities related to governing.
