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Looking Back Reaching Forward: Exploring the Promise of Brown v. Board of Education in Contemporary Times
A six-lesson unit commemorates the historic Supreme Court decision Brown V. Board of Education. High schoolers discuss key elements of the decision and examine documents detailing the history of school desegregation and the conditions...
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Civics Curriculum Guide
The 10 lessons in the Civics Curriculum Guide series, designed for high schoolers, contain 28 activities focused on important civic topics. Young scholars consider what it means to be an American and a good citizen, examine the Four...
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Ben Across the Curriculum: Middle School
Ben Across the Curriculum is a set of interdisciplinary lesson plans that highlight the five central themes in the international traveling exhibition Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World. These themes are Character Matters, B....
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Becoming Us: Policy
Studying the laws and policies enacted to restrict or reform immigration, including or excluding certain groups of people, is essential to understanding the complicated history of immigration in our nation's democracy. Three case studies...
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Electoral College Lesson Packet
The Constitutional Rights Foundation presents two lessons about the Electoral College. The first has scholars examine a text that provides background information about the Electoral College. Then class members engage in a role play...
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Will You All Please Rise?
A three-lesson unit teaches fifth and sixth graders about the importance of participation in a democratic society. The first lesson focuses on the purpose of and importance of civic duty. The second lesson looks at the justice system and...
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Alexis de Tocqueville on the Tyranny of the Majority
The writings of a French diplomat and political philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville, offer young scholars much to think about. In the three-lesson unit, class members examine Tocqueville’s arguments about the power of the majority and...
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The Reconstruction Era and The Fragility of Democracy
Seven lessons examine the Reconstruction Era that followed the United States Civil War. The series of detailed lessons provide background information on the era, teaching strategies, videos, and primary source materials.
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What Makes Democracy Work?
Eight lessons make up a collection designed to help high schoolers make sense of an election year. Class members learn about voting rights, the importance of a free press, and civic participation. The focus is on the 2020 presidential...
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The Price of Freedom: Americans at War Lessons
Designed for teachers, a 15-lesson collection curated by the Smithsonian, examines how wars have impacted American society. Each resource includes a lesson plan, background information, a materials list, maps, images, and worksheets. An...
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The Price of Freedom: Americans at War Printable Exhibition
The Price of Freedom: Americans at War is a collection of 13 resources from a printable exhibition curated by the Smithsonian Museum of American History. Each resource begins with a summary and a table of contents. The resources...
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Changes in a Democratic Society
Democracies are not static. To learn more about how the United States form of democratic government has changed over time, class members examine primary and secondary sources, including works of art, and reflect on what these sources...