Diversity: Respect Our Differences

Political comics can be a great way to get kids thinking critically about current political topics. They assess this cartoon and analyze how the cartoonist feels about US spending policy. There are three solid critical analysis questions...

From more empathetic individuals to greater tolerance in government, learners explore the benefits of a culturally diverse world through a series of collaborative, discussion-based activities. 

Christopher Columbus: hero or villain? Prepare class members for the debate with activities that asks them to think critically about how history is reported.

This lesson starts out with a guided discussion about the statement "Birds fly in the sky; airplanes fly in the sky; therefore, airplanes are birds" and goes on to cover logical fallacies and reliable sources, relating these to the topic...

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.

Upper graders examine the clichés that accompany this political cartoon, depicting how various people handle the national debt. They review several clichés quoted in recent times and write a 1-2 paragraph analysis of each. 

A great resource for your unit on Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Small groups conduct research about related topics (list included), write papers, present PowerPoint slide shows, and take a student-created test. Fill in a few gaps to...

An interesting and unusual topic for a news article, this resource from the New York Times website asks learners to take a moment and consider all the things they notice during a typical day. Based of the editorial piece "Things I Saw"...

Not all animals respond to pain the same way. Thanks to the structure of the nervous systems of different living organisms, vertebrates and invertebrates experience nociception—the sensory nervous system's response to pain.  

Engage critical and social thinking by exploring the value of language and word choice. The class considers the article "The Silence of the Historic Present" and analyzes several presidential speeches. They engage in class discussion,...