Learning Through Activism

"Learning through activism is powerful because the need to use vital academic skills for social justice motivates their acquisition" (Cowhey, 2006, pg. 103).  This quote caught my attention because if a student learns through activism they will learn critical thinking skills.  The article states that this will help students develop social justice, fairness, and equity.  For example, if the student was to learn just the importance of voting it might not have benefited them compared to them doing an actual voter registration drive.  This way the students were able to ask people if they were registered to vote and if not, and they met the criteria, the students invited them over to register.  Students began to notice that some people from their community were not allowed to vote and wanted to see if they could change that by reaching out to lawyers, for example.  The article states that the teacher wanted to create an activity like this so it would empower students and their families to become active citizens.  This helped them learn the importance of voting, even though these students were not old enough to vote they were able to make an impact on the community.  I believe it is a great way because the students were not asking the people to vote for a certain party, they were simply asking them to register so they can help make an impact.  Teaching social studies could be very interesting if the teacher puts effort into teaching a lesson by not just providing dates and events but by helping students become a part of history and by allowing them to help shape it.