School House Rock's "Preamble" launches a study of the Preamble of the US Constitution and the relevance of this 200 year-old document today.

Scholars demonstrate what they know about the separation of powers through role play. Two individuals act out a skit as the remaining class members discuss and decide whether the interaction they observed is an appropriate example...

Explore the importance of rules in a community with the engaging first lesson of this series on the US government. To begin, children play a paper clip game that requires them to make up their own rules as they go, after which the...

How does the president of the United States get the authority to exercise his/her duties? What responsibilities and tasks go into a hard day's work for the president? Here is a lesson plan that includes several instructional materials...

So many US Constitution clauses, so little time. The 17th installment in a 20-part series teaches pupils about the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Amendments. Learning through activities such as group work, connecting to current events, and...

Students engage in a role-playing situation to illustrate the kinds of compromised that were made a teh Constitutional Convention. They write three short 1-2 paragraph arguments and then present their arguments to the class at the...

How much power should a president be allowed to exert? Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt exercised their power according to their interpretations of the United States Constitution, and these interpretations affected the...

At what point does the right of privacy end and the government begin? Scholars research rights under the Ninth Amendment to the Constitution. Using the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case as a starting point, along with small group work...

Congress does more than create new laws. Political scientists delve into the elections of 1796 and 1800 to understand how political parties, the Electoral College, and personal agendas affected the election process. The resource also...

What functions do laws serve in our society? Your learners will be guided through several interactive activities to address this question, and to consider the impact of rule of law in American society.

Can your class help the people of Nepal? Scholars take an in-depth look into the social injustices and struggling economy of a country in turmoil during a multi-day role-playing exercise. After reviewing information on the problems...

Explore the world of copyright law with a variety of activities to instill the importance of respecting creative property. Scholars watch an animated tale then take part in a grand conversation detailing the video's main idea, details,...

The perfect resource for a beginning journalism teacher or someone designing a journalism unit, this activity prompts students to write a newspaper article. It covers all aspects of the writing process, such as a guided warm-up...

Students examine friendship and leadership by creating "friendship committees" to develop a class friendship constitution. Committees list qualities/traits of a friend, as well as friendship infractions. These committees join together...

Students research the Supreme Court judicial selection process while role playing. They examine the political nature of the process and discuss merits of Supreme Court nominees.

High schoolers study the history of the United Nations and answer study questions regarding the role of the UN in present day post-war Iraq.

Twelfth graders summarize sections of the Declaration of Independence and share their interpretations with classmates. They write essays on the Declaration or an essay tracing the rights of minorities from the Revolution to the present.

Students explore the role of the media in war reporting. In this information age lesson, students discuss how to find and disseminate factual information. Students consider the source, motive, authority of information.

Young scholars analyze the dimensions of Emily Dickinson's poetry and persona. In this Emily Dickinson lesson, students read the example letters and analyze a chart of the poems. Young scholars present their findings from the poems in a...