This and lesson plan and accompanying video enables students to examine the experiences of Muslims and Arab Americans following the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Students will investigate an example of prosecution of Arab immigrants living in Detroit, Michigan. Students will choose from among other primary source materials to describe particular experiences and generalize about the broader experiences of Muslims and Arab Americans.

Every decade, after each United States census, states engage in redistricting, the redrawing of congressional and state legislative boundaries. This process often becomes politicized, with district lines drawn to create partisan advantages and disadvantages – a tactic known as gerrymandering. What’s at stake now: control of the House of Representatives. Which criteria should matter most when drawing district lines? What are the electoral consequences when politicians draw lines based on political or racial demographics? Examine interactive resources to explore how changing district lines can affect the balance of partisan power, and evaluate criteria for drawing district lines.

This lesson and its accompanying seven-minute video introduce students to a professional fact-checker, who describes the methods and processes he employs to verify information that appears in news stories. The video explains which claims can be fact-checked, and why some sources are more reliable than others. How do fact-checkers engage in analysis of contemporary and historical claims? How do we distinguish between “bad facts” and “bad narratives” when critiquing media sources? Examine the tools that fact-checkers use to identify and interrogate claims, and put those skills into practice.

This 13-minute video and lesson plan are designed for students to analyze the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the public debate over the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques by U.S. officials and government contractors. Students will evaluate multiple perspectives from a mix of resources (video clips, a short film, documents and political cartoons) and classify arguments as being supportive, neutral or critical of government action.

The United States conducts a constitutionally mandated census every 10 years. This count has numerous effects, and one of the most important is its impact on our representative democracy. Reapportionment and redistricting, in turn, affect how and by whom the people are represented.

The 11-minute video and accompanying lesson plans explore the ways reapportionment, redistricting and gerrymandering affect how and by whom the people are represented. In addition, you'll find other Retro Reports that focus on various aspects of voting.