Cooperative learning and teaching citizenship in democracies

In order to ensure future generations of citizens in a democracy understand their rights and are committed to their responsibilities, schools must involve them in the processes of democracy on a day-to-day basis. The two steps for doing so are using cooperative learning the majority of the school day to engage students in the basic processes of democracy and utilizing constructive controversy procedures to engage students in the processes of political discourse. The paper presents a conceptual argument that by engaging in the processes of democracy over and over again for as long as they are in school that children, adolescents, and young adults internalize the values, attitudes, and patterns of behavior necessary to be involved and contributing citizens in a democracy.