Advising a Model United Nations club: A scaffolded youth-adult partnership to foster active participation and political engagement

Model United Nations is one of the world's most popular civic education programs, but there has been little research on how adult advisors of such programs support students' participation and political engagement. This study begins to address this research gap through a case study of one Model UN club. By analyzing data from over 150 h of observation and from interviews with advisors and students, the author found that advisors facilitated the club as a scaffolded youth-adult partnership and provided three major types of support: intellectual, administrative, and personal. Findings have implications for various extracurricular and classroom-based educational programs.