American Institute of Architects
Architecture: It's Elementary!—Fifth Grade
Young citizens construct an understanding of urban planning in this cross-curricular unit. Covering every aspect of city development from the political, economic, and social influences to sustainable building practices, this 10-lesson...
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Privacy and the Fourth Amendment
Students examine the right of privacy for individuals in a society that is changing due to technology. They examine how courts have to change the idea of privacy.
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Citizenship
Students investigate patterns of immigration in the US while comparing and contrasting the ideas of citizenship and non-citizenship. They decide how education plays a role in citizenship.
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Best Practices of Technology Integration
Students are introduced to the functions of state and local government. In groups, they research Michigan as their home state and one other state given to them and answer questions given to them in a packet. They discuss their answers...
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Exploring the Smithsonian
Students explore the Smithsonian Institute. In this technology and history lesson, students work in pairs to complete a worksheet by researching questions using the Smithsonian Institute website.
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Who's The Boss?
Upper elementary and middle schoolers research and analyze some different types of governments. Democracies, Monarchies, and Dictatorships are some of the types that are looked at. Learners use the Internet to gather information that...
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What's Wong? What's Right?
Explore the ethics, responsibilities, and impacts of the career cluster that relates to law. Learners examine various cases where legal action was taken and resulted in a consequence. They'll act out various scenarios, research jobs in...
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The President's Cabinet: Choosing the Right Person for the Job
Students examine the Federal Confirmation Process for filling cabinet members by completing a confirmation process flow chart. They research the process, and participate in a mock Confirmation Process.
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Your Safety and Security or Your Civil Liberties - Which is More Important?
Students examine provisions of USA PATRIOT Act and controversies that led the ACLU to take legal action against the legislation. They create, conduct, and document results of a survey related to the PATRIOT Act and controversies...
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Trade Wars: the Candidates Take a Stand
Students research topics related to trade, and develop a graphic organizer. They debate and discuss topics related to trade.
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Summer Camp 2050
Students create a camp for the future. In this simulation activity, students will research various energy sources, and create a proposal for the "city council" to recommend what energy sources should be used for a summer camp in the year...
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Environmental Law-Making
Students go through the process of creating and passing a federal law. They select an environmental issue, research related policies for the issue, draft the bill, discuss it among committee members, bring it before the class and bring...
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Molas from South America
Third graders research world geography by creating a class presentation. In this South American lesson, 3rd graders read assigned text regarding the customs and traditions of different Indian communities in South America. Students...
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The Media
Students identify various forms of media used in a political campaign and compare the different formats as vehicles for distributing political messages. They analyze the effectiveness of candidate's uses of different media.
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Vote for Me!
Tenth graders analyze voter trends in South Carolina and discover techniques canddidates and their parties use to convince us to vote their way. They are able to locate voting statistics for their county; compare the number of...
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Time for Change? A look at Canada's electoral system.
Tenth graders cultivate respect and appreciation for Canadian Parliamentary democracy. They build curiosity and interest in studying citizenship issues related to Parliament and by engaging in a mock election.
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Controlling Nuclear Weapons: Debating the Non-proliferation Treaty
Students brainstorm about their prior knowledge of nuclear weapons and answer questions related to nuclear weapons based upon this brainstorming.
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Order in the Court
Students identify the branches of government, who leads each branch and its responsibilities. They understand the role that John Marshall played in our government system. They research the role of the Supreme Court.
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Hamilton and Burr : Compare and Contrast
Who were Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton? High schoolers examine the character traits of these historical figures and watch the video, The Duel. Hamilton vs. Burr: An Event that Changed History (available from PBS), to gain an...
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Global Health Issues
Examine global health issues and the philanthropic efforts of Bill Gates. Working in groups, your class will research selected diseases focusing on symptoms, transmission, and prevention. They also conclude by writing grant proposals to...
Australian National Schools Network
Civics and Citizenship
What is a good citizen? Here is a fantastic unit of ten lessons that will thoroughly cover the concept of civics and citizenship in your class. Examples of activities include learning stations, primary and secondary source analysis of...
Classroom Law Project
What do cartoonists see in this election?
Cartoons from the 2008 Presidential election provide the text for a lesson designed to help learners understand how political cartoonists use persuasive techniques to present a point of view.
Curated OER
Four Corners Debate
Should the student population wear uniforms to school? Pupils express whether they strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with a controversial statement, moving to a designated corner of the room to indicate their stance....
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Ecosystems
Young scholars role play as members of interest group with a stake in a local land use issue. In preparation for the town hall meeting, students research their issue and gather pertinent information to persuade their audience.