Young historians use the prompts on a worksheet to analyze President Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech. They identify the intended audience for the speech, the devices FDR used to persuade his audience, the responses promoted, and the...

As part of a study of the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, young historians imagine the feelings of those who lived during the attack by creating a word cloud of 10 words they think express the emotions of people at that time....

After listening to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "Day of Infamy" speech, young historians research information about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, possible motives for the attack, and the consequences of the attack. Scholars...

As part of a civil rights movement study, groups select an event from an interactive timeline that they feel marks a turning point in the struggle. After collecting evidence to support their choice, the teams develop a multimedia...

The debate over the integrity of stories in media is not new. Young journalists analyze historical sources that reveal freedom of the press controversies and draw parallels to challenges freedom of the press faces today. 

After class members brainstorm a list of current social and political issues, groups each select a different topic from the list to research. Teams create a portfolio of at least 10 examples of stories about their issue, stories that...

Scholars examine front-page news stories to gather evidence about significant historical events. They hypothesize how these events changed people's lives who lived through them and how they continue to impact lives today.

Granting women the right to vote was a long time coming and took many efforts. Young historians select one woman involved in the suffrage movement to research. They compare and contrast the depictions of their subject in mainstream...

Young activists research a community issue and apply the rights defined in the First Amendment to develop a proposal that would solve the issue—using Pinterest's board "The Freedom to Make A Change Posters" as examples, groups design a...

Young journalists use a "Is This Story Share-Worthy?" flowchart graphic to decide whether a story is worth sharing online. Instructors provide groups with fake news, poor quality stories, opinion pieces, biased news, and high-quality...

The Supreme Court case Lee v. Weisman is the focus of a lesson that examines religion in public schools. After reading a summary of the case and before reading the verdict, pupils use their knowledge of the First Amendment to discuss the...

Be curious! Seek out different opinions! Be conscious of your thinking process! After reading an article about confirmation bias and motivated reasoning, class members apply these strategies to the topic of school start times. They read...

Class members brainstorm a list of people in the news (immigrants, millennials, etc.). Teams then select one to research. Using the provided worksheet and guided by a list of questions, the teams examine the stereotypes in news reports...

Young journalists select a news story, editorial, or opinion piece that they disagree with or one that leaves them with questions. They then create their report in response and share it with the class.

Young journalists use four strategies from an "Am I Being Fair?" tip sheet to check for and counter personal biases about a topic. Scholars apply the strategies to an article about the best pizza as guided practice. Participants then...

To understand how personal perspectives can affect policy and politics, scholars examine the woman suffrage media map and historical artifacts to analyze arguments for and against women's suffrage. Class members then take on the role of...

Securing women the right to vote was a long time coming. Over the years, some aspects of the suffrage movement changed, and some things remained the same. Pupils research three time periods and collect evidence of key people,...

Using a helpful resource, scholars conduct research to learn about different types and aspects of virtual businesses. They research three company websites, taking notes on what they find appealing about the website design of each. 

Eugenics philosophy takes survival of the fittest to a whole new level. With a research-focused lesson, young scientists examine the history of the eugenics movement and its impact on society. Pupils engage with a video clip, primary...

After brainstorming a list of contemporary local, regional, and national civil rights issues, pairs of scholars select one of these issues and design an information campaign to spread awareness of the issue.

Class members watch a short video about the criteria used to drive search results to learn about how search engines work. Scholars use a "Search Signals" worksheet and a tip sheet to record information as they conduct a simple search of...

Young journalists investigate the various ways to share news about a disaster and evaluate the pros and cons of each of these types of news. Individuals then select two different forms of media reports of a recent disaster. Using the...

Journalists are supposed to adhere to a Code of Ethics. To determine the degree to which reporters follow this code, individuals select three recent stories with photographs from newspapers, magazines, online news sites, or television...

Separating political rhetoric from propaganda is no small feat. Class members are challenged to examine two different sources about a candidate in an upcoming election and determine whether the primary purpose of the source is to inform...