How can social media help or hinder civil dialogue? How can information shared on social media be verified? As the investigation of media reports of the events surrounding the shooting of Michael Brown continues, class members read...

Every culture has a set of social skills one must learn to establish and maintain relationships. Some of these skills are particular to a culture and some are universal. Class members practice using appropriate language,...

What does social security reveal about the political and social culture of the 1930s? After beginning with a brief introductory video on the impact of the Great Depression and how various Americans, such as Huey Long and Francis...

High schoolers engage in this thought-provoking lesson which has them view images from the past that depict the social condition. During the series of four lessons, pupils design a PowerPoint and a photo montage of images they collect...

“Humanscape No.65” by Melesia Casas and Ester Hernandez’s “Sun Maid Raisins” launch a study of how works of art can advocate for social change. After examining these two works and discussing the human rights issues raised, class members...

While the kids in your class tap quickly on their electronic devices to stay in touch with their peers, they may not know the consequences of online social lives. Take them through a discussion about potential downfalls of a social media...

Class members investigate The Indian Removal Act of 1830, U.S. Theft of Mexican Territory Timeline, and President Abraham Lincoln’s letter to Horace Greeley, 1862, and then conduct a mock trial of each of these documents to determine...

What does it take to create news stories that are both informative and objective? Aspiring journalists walk the line between engagement and activism with lesson plan 15 of a 16-part series titled The Social Media Toolbox. Grouped pupils...

Examine the Texas social studies curriculum controversy with your class. Using a current events lesson, learners read the article "A Christian Land Governed by Christian Principles," respond to the discussion questions, and participate...

Twelfth graders consider art as a medium to convey information and opinions on social conflict and issues. They analyze images from the Crocker Art Museum, discuss their effectiveness in raising awareness of an issue, and create a...

Artists, musicians, and dramatists have long been the leaders in the quest for social justice. To gain an understanding of the power of the arts to address social issues, class members listen to a reading of Drew Daywalt's The Day the...

A lunch-time activity encourages pupils to step out of their usual lunch bunch and connect with someone new. To begin, individuals examine a group photograph and identify what they believe is the gender, race, religion, and sexual...

Even without captions, photographs can tell amazing, involved, and complex stories. Viewers analyze two photos, consider what the pictures reveal about the subjects' identity, and determine the social justice issues represented in the...

A social justice lesson focuses on the Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia which struck down laws that prohibited marriages between African Americans and white Americans. The lesson begins with class members examining a photograph of...

Sexual harassment and sexual violence are by no means new issues. What has changed is the role of social media in these issues. This powerful and troubling lesson plan uses a specific rape case to launch research into a discussion of the...

Sometimes the hardest part of planning any unit of instruction is determining the activities that reinforce the concepts of the lessons and support the development of student skills. This first resource in the Health Smart series...

Whether it's cute cat videos or pictures from an epic vacation, scholars love to check out what's happening on social media! But, how much sharing is too much? A lesson from a vast digital citizenship series poses some serious points to...

Team sports are quite social; they involve following rules, playing cooperatively, communication, taking turns, and interpersonal relations. Introduce your special education class to the all-American sport of baseball. They learn about...

Action is the heart of change. Encourage class members to not only identify critical social justice issues in their school or community but to take action as well. As individuals or as groups, they research a situation, develop a...

The class analyzes a series of documents intended to show the events that lead to women gaining the right to vote. They play a Tic-Tac-Toe style game, make a time line with sequencing cards, and review the 4 steps of social change....

Encourage your students to think about how and why people and categorized in terms of social class. They decide what "class" they belong to, and then brainstorm about the indicators that society uses to define class and to categorize...

Stereotyping and discrimination are explored in this social justice lesson.  Students listen to the book Dragon of Brog, in which mythical characters experience discrimination. Then, they sculpt a magical character out of plasticene...

Learners explore social justice, the civil rights movement, and everyday heroes. They view video clips, learn about James Armstrong: The Barber of Birmingham, and create their own hero wall. They present their walls to the class and...

Just because slavery was illegal doesn't mean it went away ... Jim Crow Laws took its place. An eye-opening lesson focuses on how Jim Crow Laws were used as a form of racial social control against African Americans in the United States....