Action Civics: A New Mode of Civic Education in American Schools

In recent years, a new experimental civic education, action civics, was advocated by both researchers and practitioners. It derives educational philosophies from positive youth development, social and emotional Learning, and service learning. Based on the Theory of Change, it focuses on youth voice, youth expertise, collective action and reflection, so as to promote a new mode of civic education featuring student-centered, project-based and high-quality. In practice, it is gradually becoming the mainstream mode of civic education in current schools in the US by being introduced into state standards of curriculum and action civics projects.