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Lesson Plan
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Constitutional Rights Foundation

Options for Affecting Public Policy

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Letter-writing, e-mail and telephone campaigns, petitions, marches, meetings, with lawmakers. Options for influencing elected representatives are the focus of resource that details how to craft each of these approaches to influencing...
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Lesson Plan
1
1
Constitutional Rights Foundation

Federal Policy and Immigration

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
How is federal policy established? To gain insight into this complex and often messy process, class members read an article that uses information on attempts to establish public policy in immigration to illustrate the role proposed...
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Website
University of North Carolina

Policy Brief

For Students 9th - Higher Ed Standards
Not all writing assignments take the form of an essay. When it comes to politics, it's all about policy briefs. This type of writing is the topic of an informative handout, which is part of a larger series on specific writing...
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Lesson Plan
1
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C-SPAN

The Role of the Executive Branch in Policy Making

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Although the president of the United States does not have the power to pass laws, they can propose legislation, veto bills passed by Congress, and issue executive orders that bypass Congress. Six video clips show middle schoolers these...
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Lesson Plan
1
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Bonneville

Renewable Energy Panel

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Plan a panel on public policy. On the first day of lessons, scholars identify local government planners and create questions to ask regarding renewable energy and infrastructure. On the second day, they conduct the panel and learn about...
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Lesson Plan
1
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Advocates for Human Rights

Civic Engagement and U.S. Immigration Policy

For Students 8th - Higher Ed Standards
To conclude their study of immigration and human rights, class members create a civic engagement project centered on an issue of immigration and designed to influence US immigration policy. They examine examples of attempts to influence...
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Lesson Plan
Foreign Policy Association

Public Diplomacy Online Lesson Plan

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
To build an understanding that there are many perspectives of global issues and that an individual's perspective is influenced by background and experience, class members assume the identity of a person in the global community and...
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Lesson Plan
1
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Constitutional Rights Foundation

Conducting a Panel Discussion and Civil Conversation

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The final lesson in an 11-session study of immigration asks class members to engage in either a panel discussion or a civil conversation of the controversial legal and policy issues they have investigated as part of the unit.
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Decoding Media Bias

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
Alternative facts? After watching the We The Voters film, "MediOcracy," viewers compare how cable news outlets CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC report the same story about politics or public policy. After a whole-class discussion of their...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

“From Time to Time”: Presidents and Communicating with the Public

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
While the Constitution requires a "State of the Union" address, it doesn't give many details. In fact, it wasn't until Woodrow Wilson that the periodic update to Congress was given in-person. Using primary sources, recordings and...
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Lesson Plan
Carnegie Mellon University

Renewables Workshop

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Youngsters examine resource maps to find out which states are using solar and wind power and discuss as a class various other renewable energy sources. They use a provided data table to record pros and cons to each technology, build and...
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Interactive
1
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iCivics

Branches of Power

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Learners take on the roles of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government in the United States and work to develop public policy issues and ideas into laws in this engaging and well-designed online interactive.
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Lesson Plan
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School Improvement in Maryland

Affirmative Action

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Do the government's affirmative action policies promote equity in the United States? The Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution and affirmative action policies come under scrutiny in an activity that asks class members to...
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Lesson Plan
1
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Social Media Toolbox

Verification

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
When you're putting together a great story, you've got to consider the source! Scholars discover the dangers of errors in reporting during the 14th activity in a 16-part Social Media Toolbox series. Groups collaborate to create a source...
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Lesson Plan
Newseum

Weighing the Arguments

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan1:21
Federal Reserve Bank

Is the Fed Public or Private?

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
The Federal Reserve System as a decentralized central bank can be a difficult concept for learners to grasp. Help them get a firm handle on this concept using this resource, in which class members work as a group to identify the...
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Lesson Plan
Center for History Education

How Did the Public View Women’s Contributions to the Revolutionary War Effort?

For Teachers 3rd - 5th Standards
Calling upon the legacies of Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I, and Catherine the Great, Esther Reed rallied Southern women to support the American Revolution. Using a broadside by Reed and other primary sources, such as poetry, young historians...
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Lesson Plan
Newseum

You Can't Say That in School? The Case of Lee v. Weisman

For Teachers 7th - 12th
The Supreme Court case Lee v. Weisman is the focus of a activity 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...
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Lesson Plan
Learning for Justice

Challenging Gender Stereotyping and Homophobia in Sports

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young learners are asked to challenge what they see as stereotyping and homophobia in sports and the arts. Participants read an article about sexual orientation in the NFL and statements from public figures like Theodore Roosevelt. They...
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Activity
Curated OER

Great Depression and New Deal

For Teachers 9th - 11th Standards
The five activities outlined in this resource packet engage class members in projects that ask them to research the causes and the effects, both national and local, of the Great Depression and the New Deal policies of FDR.
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Lesson Plan
University of Wisconsin

Analyzing Presidential Campaign Propaganda

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Campaign propaganda has evolved from 1952 through the presidential election of 2008. A social studies activity prompts class members to analyze the devices used in ads and political cartoons, noting strategies they believe would work to...
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Making an Issue-Based Video

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Encourage class members to become engaged citizens by researching an issue they are passionate about and then producing a video to present to policymakers, the public, and their peers. Everything needed for the unit is contained in...
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Unit Plan
University of Oklahoma

Understanding My Rights and Responsibilities

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Three scripted lessons comprise a unit designed to inform special needs students about their rights and responsibilities in high school. In the first lesson class members examine the Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA), Child Find,...
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PPT
Curated OER

History of Modern Cuba

For Teachers 8th - 11th
Set the context for the often-strained relationship between the US and Cuba with this informative and entertaining presentation. From political cartoons to photographs of Fidel Castro and Fulgencio Batista, as well as heartbreaking...

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