Current Issues
Classroom activities to engage students in learning about and discussing issues in the news
The current political crisis over Virginia’s governor and attorney general appearing in blackface raises many opportunities for learning, including about aspects of our nation’s history of racism. These issues require ongoing attention and deep exploration far beyond this news cycle. Here are some...
The economy is growing. Why aren’t people feeling it? This lesson has students examine whether the way economists measure the health of the economy actually reflects the reality Americans experience. Students explore alternative measures that some countries and states have begun to adopt aimed at...
Los Angeles teachers and their allies won a strike demanding improved public education in LA. Students explore the background, strategy, demands, and impact of the strike with a quiz, reading, and discussion.
Are Amazon, Google, and other companies monopolies? Should we use antitrust legislation rein them in? Students read about and discuss the roots of anti-trust laws and whether they should be applied today.
In this simulation, students play the role of striking teachers in order to explore the reasons and strategies behind recent teacher strikes.
What made 30,000 teachers in Los Angeles decide to go out on strike? In this lesson, students read short quotes from the news to better understand the issues at stake, and discuss the issues from their own perspective as students.
Students look at photos, read about, and discuss some of the climate crises in 2018, then survey a range of actions being taken to address it.
Students compare the “Green New Deal” proposed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with President Roosevelt’s original New Deal.
Students discuss President Trump’s prime-time speech about border security on January 8, 2019, and examine whether the facts back up his statements.
Now might be a good time to review what has happened over the past year,both in our lives and the wider world. In this activity, students share reflections with the help of a short video and consider a next step.