Civic Literacy

This report from the Stanford History Education Group describes the conclusions of their work in field testing a set of assessments of civic online reasoning by young people from the middle school to the college level. Middle school...

How can people tell the difference between real news and inaccurate stories? Viewers watch a video about discerning fact from fiction in news sources. Next, pupils use a set of discussion questions to further analyze the topic. 

This detailed lesson has students examining their community. The students then have class discussions, assignments and a portfolio to complete. A separate teacher site is available.

In this lesson, students examine civic action, the steps involved, and its various methods, including protests and petitions.

County Solutions is a lesson-based civic action project. Learners examine the broad context of their issues-including the role of county and other levels of government and focus on bringing about local change using strategies tailored to...

This is a site filled with current events that make connections to the relevant historical topics. There are six clickable topics, the videos of which are updated weekly. RealPlayer is needed and registration is required to stream or...

This extremely detailed site has students becoming involved in their community government.

To conclude their case study of media coverage of the shooting of Michael Brown by a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, class members consider the role of citizen watchdogs in a democratic society, develop strategies for combating...

So, how do you compare with students nationally and from around the world? Take the interactive online quiz to find out.

This article outlines a program that the author has used with academically at-risk ninth grade students to enhance their understanding of how communities work and how they can change through individual and group efforts.