Collaborative Learning in Politics: Creating Spaces for Political Socialization in the Classroom

Political socialization describes the process by which citizens crystalize political identities, values and behavior that remain relatively persistent throughout their life Neundorf and Smets, 2017). This paper analyzes the change of attitudes towards politics in university students of the Degree of Communication after applying collaborative learning experiences between students of the first-year course of Political Science and students of second-year course of Journalistic Genres. This is the result of a project of educational innovation implemented at the University Loyola Andalucía, in Spain. Collaboration between students is aimed at setting up a collective blog about concepts and current political issues intended for high school students. The effects of the project on the attitudes towards politics among the university students involved are measured through a mixed methodology. On the one hand, a survey based on the IEA Civic Education Study questionnaire (Schulz and Sibberns, 2004) was administered both before and after the project of educational innovation was implemented. On the other hand, focus groups were also conducted in both referred moments. Our teaching experience lectures about how to create spaces for political socialization in a context characterized by a low level of interest in politics among young people.