Fostering Democratic Competences in Learners: An Interdisciplinary International Experience

Y

13

Interdisciplinary Approach; Democracy; Teaching Methods; Guidelines; Communication Skills; Mathematics Education; English (Second Language); Second Language Learning; Second Language Instruction; Teacher Education Programs; Foreign Countries; Language Teachers; Exchange Programs; Computer Simulation; Intercultural Communication; Democratic Values; Story Telling; Multimedia Materials; Cooperative Learning; Outcomes of Education; Local Issues; Global Approach; Citizenship Education; International Education; State Universities; Undergraduate Students; Student Projects

Germany; Connecticut

2322-1291

This article presents an analysis of a teaching concept we developed based on the Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) (Council of Europe, 2018), that not only provides opportunities to practice communicative skills but puts a major focus on democratic competences. Mathematics students and TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) students from the USA and Germany engaged in a virtual exchange project to reflect upon local and global issues that can be seen from more than one perspective. The topics they chose are all related to the domain of 'values' in the RFCDC. The students created short stories in which they address these issues and collaborated in the production of a multimodal, digital storybook. The aim of this article is to examine how education for democracy can be fostered through interdisciplinary intercultural citizenship projects. The unit of analysis is the teaching concept, with a focus on the results of the interdisciplinary collaborative process and its outcomes.

As Provided

2023

EJ1363183