69007 Teaching Civics: Methodology 1
Prerequisites: Israeli Democracy: Selected Issues, and one of the following: Democracy: An Interdisciplinary Approach, or Contemporary Democratic Theories; and two of the following: Curriculum Design, Development, and Implementation, Education Theory, Educational Psychology; or 80 credits, including Government and Politics in Israel, Introduction to Political Thought, and Democracies and Dictatorships: Comparative Politics,2 and two of the following: Curriculum Design, Development, and Implementation, Educational Psychology, Philosophy of Education 3
The workshop is suitable for students who wish to acquire a Teaching Certificate in Civics from the Ministry of Education.1 It is based on a reader edited by Myriam Darmoni-Sharvit and Benyamin Neuberger.
Objectives: Acquainting students with the fundamental issues of the field: the teaching goals and methods, and the contents of the Civics curriculum; developing didactic skills by improving practical professional knowledge; gaining experience with team teaching (planning, developing, implementing and reporting), with feedback processes, particularly in a computer-mediated environment; formulating guidelines for a distinct pedagogy for teaching Civics.
Structure: The course includes face-to-face didactic workshops and group discussions on the course website. The workshops deal with the assessment of the student's work, classroom events and expert lesson plans, and the development of reflective thought.
Topics: On Civics – A Jewish and democratic state; various perceptions of the State of Israel; the nature of democracy; principles of democratic government; human rights: individual rights and group rights; limited government; the rule of law in a democracy; the constitutional structure of the State of Israel; cleavages in Israeli society; political culture in Israel; mass media and politics in Israel. On pedagogy – Spiral learning; reflection as an instrument for the professional development of teachers; the pedagogical use of case studies; the integration of current events in teaching concepts and values; teaching through dialog – from lecturer to facilitator; teamwork; developing reading strategies; developing the ability to evaluate and apply oral and written information; how matriculation exams shape learning.
1No academic credits are awarded for this course, but it is equivalent to 6 semester hours.
See detailed explanations about the Teaching Certificate in Civics in the Information Guide [in Hebrew].
2or Democracies and Dictatorships: Ideas, Contexts, Regimes (10660, 3 credits), which is no longer offered.
3or Educational Theory (55004), which is no longer offered.