Teaching Civics

From the Constitutional Rights Foundation Why was the Constitution necessary? In this free unit from CRF’s Adventures in Law and History, students explore the meaning of Read More

Artifact Artwork Document Film Map Newspaper Article Oral History Picture/ Photograph (Image) Political Cartoon Poster tag: distance learning

From: The Choices Program Students will: Practice image analysis skills. Understand the process for applying for asylum in the United States. Review a timeline of Read More

Produced by WNYC Studios. In partnership with musicians such as Dolly Parton, Kevin Morby, Devendra Banhart, Aisha Burns, and more, More Perfect created songs inspired by the Read More

Each podcast episode of Civics 101 gives listeners a basic, non-partisan, topical reintroduction to how the U.S. government works. The history of the topic, as Read More

Insights on Law and Society, Winter 2014 What is an injunction? This overview of injunction types and requirements for their issue demystifies this oft-referenced legal document. Teaching Read More

“In this activity, students will analyze historical readings about the system of separated powers, or checks and balances, outlined in the U.S. Constitution. They may Read More

Each podcast episode of Civics 101 gives listeners a basic, non-partisan, topical reintroduction to how the U.S. government works. The history of the topic, as Read More

Each podcast episode of Civics 101 gives listeners a basic, non-partisan, topical reintroduction to how the U.S. government works. The history of the topic, as Read More

Each podcast episode of Civics 101 gives listeners a basic, non-partisan, topical reintroduction to how the U.S. government works. The history of the topic, as Read More

Make No Law: The First Amendment Podcast The episode features the Tinker v. Des Moines case and how it has impacted freedom of speech for students on Read More

Make No Law: The First Amendment Podcast Explore the Garcetti v. Ceballos case, the results of which saddle government employees with a tough decision when Read More

Each podcast episode of Civics 101 gives listeners a basic, non-partisan, topical reintroduction to how the U.S. government works. The history of the topic, as Read More

Each podcast episode of Civics 101 gives listeners a basic, non-partisan, topical reintroduction to how the U.S. government works. The history of the topic, as Read More

Each podcast episode of Civics 101 gives listeners a basic, non-partisan, topical reintroduction to how the U.S. government works. The history of the topic, as Read More

From The Washington Post In 1912, the U.S. Congress decided to approve a fundamental change to the Constitution by passing the Seventeenth (17th) Amendment, which Read More

From The Washington Post The Constitutional Convention – “… During a sweltering summer in Philadelphia, a group of revolutionary Americans holed themselves up in Independence Hall Read More

By Tom Jacobs, From The Learning Network “In a landmark 1967 case known as In re Gault (“in re” is Latin for “in reference to”), Read More

Constitutional Rights Foundation - Civics On Call In preparing for a Civil Conversation activity (guide included), students read about the emoluments clause in Article 1, Section Read More

From The Washington Post “What makes someone American? A landmark Supreme Court case in 1898, involving a child born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrant Read More

From BackStory With The American History Guys “… A man named Ernesto Miranda confessed to rape and kidnapping in a Phoenix police station. His trial would Read More

Each podcast episode of Civics 101 gives listeners a basic, non-partisan, topical reintroduction to how the U.S. government works. The history of the topic, as Read More

From the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress “Search America’s historic newspaper pages from 1789-1963 or use the U.S. Newspaper Directory Read More

Steven D. Schwann, Social Education November/December 2017 “The U.S. Constitution codifies a complex system of governmental checks and balances. But for all its innovation, our founding Read More

From The Washington Post What is the role of new technologies that are transforming privacy? In this episode, “National Constitution Center leader Jeffrey Rosen explores the Read More

By Digital Scholarship Lab, University of Richmond “American Panorama is an historical atlas of the United States for the twenty-first century. It combines cutting-edge research with Read More

Produced by WNYC Studios. A mini series. “Politicians have been manipulating district lines to favor one party over another since the founding of our nation. Read More

“In the Interactive Constitution, scholars from across the legal and philosophical spectrum interact with each other to explore the meaning of each provision of the Read More

By The Choices Program How should public spaces be used to commemorate the past? Who should decide? How do governments and citizens shape historical memory? Read More

From iCivics Students will: • Analyze the basic principles of the U.S. Constitution. • Identify relationships among popular sovereignty, consent of the governed, limited government, Read More

Many ProCon.org’s websites feature state laws and state-specific research on the issues they cover. Find links to state laws and related state resources here. Be Read More

Published by The Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School “Theft! A History of Music is a graphic novel laying Read More

“PROHIBITION is a three-part, five-and-a-half-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick that tells the story of the rise, rule, and fall Read More

From Copy/ Paste Gr. 5 Government – Document Based and Constructed Response Questions For Elementary Students (DBQ CRQ Directions: Write an introductory paragraph. Use specific details Read More

Constitutional Rights Foundation “In this lesson, students learn about the phenomenon of “fake news,” how it spreads quickly on the Internet, and how to recognize Read More

From The Learning Network’s “50 Ways to Teach With Current Events” by Michael Gonchar This site has 50 ideas to help teachers bring current events into the classroom. Read More

From The News Literacy Project A guide to help students fact-check rumorous claims. Go to: http://thenewsliteracyproject.org/sites/default/files/Viral-GO-071415.pdf tag: fake news  

From iCivics “In this mini-lesson, give your students a reality check about the news industry by helping them understand that news is a business. Students Read More

From iCivics OVERVIEW Examine the seven forms of propaganda found in advertising and politics. Discover the persuasive methods behind the messaging we see every day Read More

From the Media Education Lab Analyze policial communication strategies and evaluate the impact of mass media on the political campaign process. 5.1 – Distortion Tactics Read More

By David C. Vladeck, Freedom Forum Institute This reading is divided into two parts – an overview of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and how it Read More

Students explore the idea that anyone can publish on the Internet, so not all sites are equally trustworthy. Students will: understand how the ease of publishing Read More

This lesson plan features an interactive quiz: Do You Recognize These Types of Biases? as well as a video (5:20): Why Do Our Brains Love Fake Read More

Sone ideas for teaching FOI in the college or high school classroom (Record requests, Organized FOI audits, I seek dead people, Secret justice, Dream House, Bleachers Read More

“Educating About Immigration helps teachers and students address issues of immigration productively and critically. It is a one-stop informational and interactive clearinghouse on topics of U.S. Read More

By The American University Game Lab and JoLT This game was designed to “playfully show how to detect fake news.” The player is shown an Read More

From NewseumED “Freedom of press doesn’t promise perfection. By exploring corrections, students learn why the news media make mistakes and what happens.” Option to focus on Read More

From NewseumED “In this activity, students learn the purpose of editorials and opinion articles and evaluate their effectiveness.” Go to: https://newseumed.org/activity/the-press-and-the-presidency-heres-what-we-think-editorials-and-opinion-articles/ tags: fake news, media literacy

From NewseumED Students find a news story that includes information/facts from at least two different individuals. Then, they determine whether they can trust the story by investigating Read More

From NewseumED Students use an infographic to gauge the value of a news story and weigh what they should do with it. Go to: https://newseumed.org/activity/is-this-story-share-worthy-flowchart/ tags: fake news, Read More