Know Your Local Government

Young historians climb through the three branches of the US government in the third activity of this five-part series. While reading the first three Articles of the Constitution in small groups, children write facts on paper leaves that...

Here is an interesting plan for introducing your pupils to the workings of the local city council. The teacher must go videotape a city council meeting in it's entirety. Learners watch the tape, and discuss what they observed from the...

Intended as a follow up to the Protecting Your Drinking Water activity, young environmentalists use their assessment of the a hypothetical town's water supply to debate the installation of underground chemical storage tanks. With the...

How to meet the needs of people around the globe—a question many ask. The fifth in a six-part series about human population and its effects on the globe, the eye-opening lesson includes discussion, a homework activity, and an in-class...

With all the hubbub surrounding national elections, it's easy to forget the importance of local government. After learning about county governance and voter turnout for local elections, young citizens demonstrate how local governance...

A simulation gives scholars a personal look at what goes into forming a government. Each of them is assigned 1 of 4 tribes which make up Borka, a hypothetical country. The tribe distribution is based on the percentage of people in each....

Help your high schoolers undertand the critical problems around healthcare. By focusing on the political and private process of healthcare, students will watch a video, analyze issues, and write an essay on their findings. Additionally,...

Investigate current local elections across the United States with this New York Times reading activity. Using informational text, middle and high schoolers research local elections and create their own news reports about what they...

How is your state government organized? How many elected officials are women? What is the mean age of your state representatives? Young scholars answer these questions in a research project before creating a chart to reflect their...

Students investigate politics by speaking to the Mayor of their city. In this local politician lesson, students listen as the Mayor speaks in front of them in their class and ask the Mayor questions about his daily duties. Students write...