Three Components of Civics Education

A true civics education has three interrelated components,virtue, knowledge and skills.
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Civic virtues are the traits of character necessary for the preservation and improvement of democratic governance and citizenship. Examples of civic virtues are respect for the worth and dignity of each person, civility, integrity, self-discipline, tolerance and compassion.

Civic knowledge includes principles of democratic theory, operations of democratic governance, and behaviors of democratic citizenship. In particular, it involves concepts and data about democracy in the learner's country and comparisons with other countries.

Civic skills are the cognitive operations that enable the learner to understand, explain, compare, and evaluate principles and practices of government and citizenship. There also are participatory skills that involve actions by citizens to monitor and influence public policies and the resolution of public issues. Together, the cognitive and participatory skills involve the citizen's use of knowledge to think and act competently in response to the ongoing challenges of democratic governance and citizenship.

http://www.ericdigests.org/1998-1/global.htm