The Journal Club Module: A Co-Learning Tactic for Demystifying Academic Research and Building Classroom Culture in Undergraduate Courses
By Nancy B. Arrington and Brooksley L. Pruitt, California Polytechnic State University
The Journal Club Module (JCM) is a tactic for incorporating the benefits of Journal Clubs into undergraduate political science courses. We argue that by having the instructors participate in the Journal Club sessions – that is, the articles assigned to the class are new to the instructors as well – the JCM builds classroom culture via a pedagogy of vulnerability and facilitates the incorporation of empirical research into undergraduate courses. We assess the implementation of the JCM with survey data and content analysis of student self-reflection assignments.
The Journal of Political Science Education is an intellectually rigorous, path-breaking, agenda-setting journal that publishes the highest quality scholarship on teaching and pedagogical issues in political science. The journal aims to represent the full range of questions, issues and approaches regarding political science education, including teaching-related issues, methods and techniques, learning/teaching activities and devices, educational assessment in political science, graduate education, and curriculum development.