Deliberating in Democracy

Duration: August 2007 – August 2010
Partners: Organizations from each project site in participating countries.
Donor: US Department of Education, Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago, Constitutional Rights Foundation from Los Angeles and Street Law Inc.
Locations: In its first year (2004-2005), the DID Project was conducted with secondary teachers and their students in six sites: the European countries of Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania; and the metropolitan areas surrounding Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, DC (Fairfax County, Virginia). During the 2005-2006 school year, these sites continued to participate in the project. Five additional sites began participating in the project during the 2005-2006 year: Estonia; Kaluga, Russia; Moscow, Russia; and two sites within the United States, Denver and Columbia, South Carolina. During the 2006-2007 school year, these sites continued to participate in the project. During the 2007-2008 school year in addition to the sites from the previous years, five additional sites began participating in the project: North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine and one site within the United States: Bloomington, Indiana.

Objectives: The project outcome was to provide a model for secondary teachers to learn and appreciate among themselves the power of deliberation in their classrooms and a platform for engaging secondary students in discussions of substantive content on the institutions, governmental systems, and basic principles of a democratic constitutional state. The project was a teacher-focused initiative designed to improve teaching and learning of democratic principles and the skills for civic deliberation.

Results:
• Teacher staff development workshops organized;
• Classroom deliberations;
• An online Discussion Board for students and teachers;
• Teleconferences between students in partner sites;
• Teacher exchanges organized.