This episode features a conversation with Dr. Johari Harris, Assistant Professor of Educational Psychology at Kennesaw State University. Johari is also the director of Educating for Democracy, an initiative housed at the University of Virginia designed to combine the science of adolescent learning and development with the teaching of critical histories and supporting justice-oriented civic engagement.

In Part 2 of their conversation, Johari and Jason talk about the Educating for Democracy Project, the resources that teachers can use in their classrooms to expose students to the many narratives that make up American history and civic life, how young adolescents are absorbing current events around the state of democracy and how to inspire them to be engaged citizens to shape a more just future. 

Additional Readings and Resources

• Educating for Democracy
  • Teacher Toolkit
  • Middle School Units
  • Profiles of Resistance
• Kennesaw State University
• Harlem Children's Zone
• Social and emotional learning
• Social Cognitive Domain Theory
• Larry Nucci, University of California at Berkeley
• “What Kind Of Citizen? The Politics Of Educating For Democracy,” Joel Westheimer, University of Ottawa and Joseph Kahne, Mills College, excerpted from “What Kind of Citizen? The Politics of Educating for Democracy” American Educational Research Journal. Volume 41 No. 2, Summer 2004, 237-269. 
• Joanna Lee Williams, Associate Professor, School Psychology, Rutgers University
  • Lessons in Adolescence, Episode One: Lessons with Dr. Joanna Lee Williams