This lesson introduces click restraint, a strategy that helps students resist the urge to click on the first search result they receive in a search engine. Students learn to scan the results they receive to make an informed choice about which result to choose first. Teacher materials, Student materials, and Presentation slides are included in this lesson.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Learning Task, Lesson
This lesson is an introduction to a strategy that helps students evaluate where web baed information come from and whether it is trustworthy. Lateral Reading is a strategy for investigating a website or post by going outside the site to determine who is behind a website and its information and deciding if it can be trusted. Teacher and Student materials are included in this lesson.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Learning Task, Lesson
This is Lesson Three in the Introduction to the Civic Online Reasoning method of evaluating online resources. Students will be introduced to the important of verifying and supporting information with multiple information sources. This lesson is to be taught after Who's Behind the Information Saturday School and What's the Evidence lessons. Students will use the fictional scenario and resources to support claims and evidence presented in the information sources. Teacher and Student materials are included in this lesson.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Learning Task, Lesson
This is Lesson Two in the Introduction to the Civic Online Reasoning method of evaluating online resources. Students will practice anaylzing evidence to be able to evaluate online information. This lesson is to be taught after Who's Behind the Information Saturday School lesson. Students will use the fictional scenario and resources to analyze and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the information source and the evidence itself. Teacher and Student materials are included in this lesson.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Learning Task, Lesson
This is Lesson One in the Introduction to the Civic Online Reasoning method of evaluating online resources. Students will practice examining three sources around a fictional scenario, mandatory Saturday school, in this lesson to determine who is behind the information and how their motivation could affect their information. Teacher and Student materials are included in this lesson.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Learning Task, Lesson
Overview: This simulation game has students follow a bill through the three branches of government. It begins with the Executive Branch creating an agenda and then proposing a bill based on that agenda. The bill then goes to the Legislative Branch where hearings are held, deliberation about the bill occurs, and then a vote occurs. If passed, the Bill goes back to the Executive Branch for review. Finally, the Judicial Branch will determine if the law is constitutional. Instructor Notes: Teachers can assign this content to their students through their iCivics account and then Clicking the Assign button on this activity. Teachers will then have the option to add a Class into iCivics OR Sync a roster from Google Classroom. This will allow teachers to see student's responses. There are also Downloadable Resources available to support this learning activity.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Learning Task, Lesson
This WebQuest has students explore the three branches of the United States government and how they provide a system of checks and balances in decision making. Students will learn about the state of the union address, how bills become law, the President's power to veto, and the Supreme Court's role in the law process. Instructor Notes: Teachers can assign this content to their students through their iCivics account and then Clicking the Assign button on this activity. Teachers will then have the option to add a Class into iCivics OR Sync a roster from Google Classroom. This will allow teachers to see student's responses. There are also Downloadable Resources available to support this learning activity.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Learning Task, Lesson
This WebQuest has students explore the definition of the role of the President, what tasks are part of the job, the departments and cabinet that support the President, and their role in passing and carrying out laws. . Instructor Notes: Teachers can assign this content to their students through their iCivics account and then Clicking the Assign button on this activity. Teachers will then have the option to add a Class into iCivics OR Sync a roster from Google Classroom. This will allow teachers to see student's responses. There are also Downloadable Resources available to support this learning activity.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Learning Task, Lesson
Overview: This simulation game has students be the President for a day. In that role, they will be challenged with creating an agenda, making decisions about bills, delegating bills to the appropriate department so they can become laws, handling international diplomacy situations, and commanding the military. Instructor Notes: Teachers can assign this content to their students through their iCivics account and then Clicking the Assign button on this activity. Teachers will then have the option to add a Class into iCivics OR Sync a roster from Google Classroom. This will allow teachers to see student's responses. There are also Downloadable Resources available to support this learning activity.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Game, Simulation
This lesson enhances the student experience during the Judge Chats program at the National Constitution Center. It is an anticipatory activity that helps students explore the requisite skills necessary to become a judge. Through this lesson, students will create a list of questions, based on what they learned in class, to share with the visiting judge during the Judge Chat program. The students will access their personal experiences to connect with the content of this lesson. They will examine and analyze primary source documents, in order to understand how the U.S. Constitution and state constitutions established the qualifications and duties of judges.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
This lesson is designed to introduce students to the Constitution. It can be used as a one-day lesson to fulfill the Constitution Day requirement or as a means to begin a conversation about the framers of the Constitution. It has been carefully designed to highlight the three spheres of civic education as detailed by the National Constitution Center; that is, the lesson includes civic knowledge, active citizenship, and democratic deliberation. The Founders’ Library refers to the prior knowledge the Founding Fathers brought to the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. Students will examine these ideas and use them to analyze the Constitution and Bill of Rights. At the same time, students will be considering ideas and information that relate to their own lives. Students will finish the lesson by considering the idea of prior knowledge. Each student will be asked to think of books, music, movies, or television shows that impact ideas about the United States. The combination of personal experience and the critical examination of the Constitution will allow the students to have a deeper understanding of the creative imagination that was necessary to write and debate the Constitution of the United States This lesson is designed for one forty-five minute high school class period. It does not have to be limited to the social studies classroom, but can be completed in a variety of settings from a small seminar to a traditional humanities classroom.
Material Type: Lesson Plan
Many Americans do not fully understand the history and text of the First Amendment, even if the rights enshrined within are used every day. While many Americans, like much of the founding generation, can agree that freedom of the press should be protected, there are disagreements over when, why, and how freedom of the press may be limited. This lesson encourages students to examine their own assumptions and to deepen their understanding of the currently accepted interpretation of freedom of the press under the First Amendment
Material Type: Lesson Plan
This is a video learning module that teaches about citizenship and the 14th amendment. The module goals are: define citizenship as stated in the Fourteenth Amendment, describe the process of becoming a naturalized citizen, and to evaluate the impact of the naturalization process on society, government or the political process.
Material Type: Assessment, Learning Task, Module
This infographic and supporting resources assist educators and students to contact local government and advocacy groups to advance civic engagement in and out of the classroom. It provides background information on why civic engagement is a good idea, what it looks like in the classroom, and links to community development, university partners, and statewide Chambers of Commerce. Special thanks to Jim Renzelmann at the Sheboygan Area School District for his help on this work!
Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Reference Material
Through the Data Source Audit, leadership teams become aware of each data source, its logistics, and how it is currently being used. This audit is designed to be completed within four contexts based on the team’s priority needs-- Literacy, Math/STEM, Student Engagement, and College-Career Readiness. Within the selected context, the team may choose to complete this audit from a Student Data or a Practices
Material Type: Alternate Assessment, Assessment, Formative Assessment, Interim/Summative Assessment
Photo showing 0.9% Sodium Chloride in 250 ml bag
Material Type: Diagram/Illustration
Photo showing 0.9% Sodium Chloride in 500 mL bag
Material Type: Diagram/Illustration
Photo showing 100% intake of a plate of food.
Material Type: Diagram/Illustration
Public education is the single largest expenditure for state and local governments across the nation. Yet it is arguably the most criticized. Many people charge that public schools are faltering and that American academic achievements are far behind those in other countries. In recent years, many states and localities have experimented with improving public schools.
Material Type: Diagram/Illustration, Reading
This site recounts the struggle for control of Hawaii between native Hawaiians and American business interests in the late 1800s. This 1897 petition and a lobbying effort by native Hawaiians convinced the U.S. Congress not to annex the islands. But months later the U.S.S. Maine exploded in Havana and the Spanish-American War began. The U.S. needed a mid-Pacific fueling station and naval base. Primary source images, standards correlation, and teaching activities are included in this resource.
Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan
