Current Issues
Classroom activities to engage students in learning about and discussing issues in the news
President Trump has announced that his administration will dramatically reduce the size of two national monuments in Utah. Through readings and discussion, students consider this move and wider questions about how public lands in the United States should be used.
Students learn about and discuss the remarkable success of an organization of farmworkers that is fighting abuse and demanding dignity on the job. The activity includes two short videos, discussion, and a reading.
The U.S. has more people detained while awaiting trial than any other country in the world. In this lesson, students explore the issue of cash bail, why some criminal justice reform advocates argue for ending it, and what has happened in cities and states that have ended cash bail.
This activity uses tweets to have students consider some of the events that put feminism on the front burner in 2017 - from the women's march to the #MeToo movement.
Through tweets, readings, and small-group discussion, students grapple with the #MeToo movement, and how it relates to the power -or lack of power - of women.
The tax bill moving through Congress would affect many aspects of our lives. In this lesson, students learn about and discuss the bill and the debate surrounding it.
Students learn about people around the globe who are being forced from their homes because of climate change, and think about how we as a society should respond. This companion lesson encourages empathy for climate refugees.
Students learn about a few of the thousands of people who have fled Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. In small groups, students discuss their stories and consider how they may be feeling about what has happened. This companion lesson has students explore the climate refugee crisis worldwide. ...
America is in the grips of a nationwide opioid epidemic. In this lesson, students think critically about the opioid crisis, its origins, and potential solutions.
Both government agencies and private companies have extensive access to data about us. In this activity, students learn about challenges to our digital privacy and discuss their own views about the risks we take when we put information online.