Private Matters

Does the Westboro Baptist Church have the protection of the Constitution when protesting military funerals? High schoolers examine the 2011 Supreme Court case of Snyder v. Phelps before comparing the situation to a fictional scenario of...

Ever notice that, just after looking at an item online, that item shows up in an advertisement along the side of another webpage? That's because many companies track online data and use it to create targeted advertisements. Introduce...

Young historians examine the work of Martin Luther King Jr. by reading and answering questions about the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Albany Movement, the Birmingham and Chicago campaigns, and the Memphis Sanitation Worker's Strike.  

Middle schoolers discuss how to respect other's privacy online. In this personal information lesson plan, students discuss the reputation of themselves and others if privacy information is leaked out.

What are the different ways we are susceptible to identity theft? Impress the importance of protecting personal information and privacy with this resource, which includes an excellent video clip, discussion prompts, and worksheets for...

Your young historians will learn about non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust who were also targeted for being "different", such as Gypsies, African-Germans, Jehovah's Witnesses, Poles, and political prisoners. 

How and why was the Cold War fought? A carefully crafted, inquiry-based unit covers seven major topics: the roots of the Cold war, decolonization and nationalism, the three-world order, American foreign policy, American domestic policy,...

Students discuss the advantages and disadvantages of private communities and the lives led by their residents. They design ideal planned communities for people featured in other Class Matters articles.

Private John G. Burnett was one of the American soldiers involved in the forced removal of the Cherokee from their lands in the south to Oklahoma. His account of this experience, “A Soldier Recalls the Trail of Tears” provides the text...

Students explore the topic of national identity cards in the United States as a starting point in determining what types of information should be publicly accessible to the government and private industry about specific individuals.