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Democracy and Me: Design and Evaluation of a Citizenship Education Program
Author(s): Oke Heinrich Horstmann (Author)
- Publisher: Springer
- Publication Date: October 7, 2025
- Language: English
- Print length: 420 pages
- ISBN-10: 3658490136
- ISBN-13: 9783658490133
Book Description
In this book, Oke Heinrich Horstmann explores how young people learn about democracy and their own role within it through out-of-school educational settings. The study is motivated by the political engagement of many youths, particularly in the context of the Fridays for Future protest movement. The author first outlines a conceptual framework for Citizenship education programs within teaching-learning laboratories. Based on an integrated approach of democratic education that combines social and subject-specific learning, he develops an out-of-school educational program implemented at the demokratie:werk of the Kiel Science Outreach Lab (Kieler Forschungswerkstatt).
A quantitative questionnaire-based study investigates changes in participants’ individual political dispositions. In addition, guided individual interviews are conducted and analyzed using qualitative research methods to capture processes of meaning-making related to democracy. The results suggest that participation in the program may lead to increases in political self-efficacy, specific action readiness, and, in some cases, political interest. The investigation of learners’ conceptions suggests potential for fostering meaning-making but also reveals a need for deeper reflection on the perceived role of the individual in democratic contexts.
Editorial Reviews
From the Back Cover
In this book, Oke Heinrich Horstmann explores how young people learn about democracy and their own role within it through out-of-school educational settings. The study is motivated by the political engagement of many youths, particularly in the context of the Fridays for Future protest movement. The author first outlines a conceptual framework for Citizenship education programs within teaching-learning laboratories. Based on an integrated approach of democratic education that combines social and subject-specific learning, he develops an out-of-school educational program implemented at the demokratie:werk of the Kiel Science Outreach Lab (Kieler Forschungswerkstatt).
A quantitative questionnaire-based study investigates changes in participants’ individual political dispositions. In addition, guided individual interviews are conducted and analyzed using qualitative research methods to capture processes of meaning-making related to democracy. The results suggest that participation in the program may lead to increases in political self-efficacy, specific action readiness, and, in some cases, political interest. The investigation of learners’ conceptions suggests potential for fostering meaning-making but also reveals a need for deeper reflection on the perceived role of the individual in democratic contexts.
The Author
Oke Heinrich Horstmann is a research associate at Kiel University (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel). Since 2019, he has been conducting research at the demokratie:werk of the Kiel Science Outreach Lab (Kieler Forschungswerkstatt).
The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content.
This book is a translation of an original German edition. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence (machine translation by the service DeepL.com). A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content, so that the book will read stylistically differently from a conventional translation.
About the Author
Oke Heinrich Horstmann is a research associate at Kiel University (Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel). Since 2019, he has been conducting research at the demokratie:werk of the Kiel Science Outreach Lab (Kieler Forschungswerkstatt).
