Jonathan Collins, an assistant professor of education and international and public affairs at Brown, will work alongside seven scholars at the University of California Riverside and Ohio State University to develop and test a social studies curriculum that lets students discuss pressing social issues with sitting members of Congress.

Collins has long known that U.S. citizens feel more engaged when they directly interact with their elected representatives. One of his most recent research projects found that providing opportunities for deliberation at local school board meetings empowered parents from marginalized groups to advocate for themselves and their children, potentially leading school board officials to make decisions and craft policies that are more inclusive and universally beneficial. Similarly, Collins believes that giving students the chance to talk to their representatives could prove empowering for them and informative for federal leaders.

As part of the web-based curriculum Collins and his colleagues are devel- oping, high school students will spend three weeks researching all sides of a policy issue, such as climate change or health care, and learning how to evaluate the credibility of information they find. Then they’ll engage in “deliberative town halls” alongside one of their own congressional representatives. Finally, they’ll have the chance to compare notes with students from other U.S. communities who have researched and debated the same issue.

Collins said the research team will conduct pilot tests of the curriculum in a diverse set of high schools in California, Illinois, and Florida, with the long-term goal of ensuring that all U.S. students become informed and engaged voters and citizens.

“For too long, Congress has felt like a distant myth for kids, and particularly kids who don’t come from privileged backgrounds,” Collins said. “We want to reverse this by not only connecting kids to sitting members of Congress but also giving them the opportunity to have real-time dialogues about pressing policy issues.”