Current Issues
Classroom activities to engage students in learning about and discussing issues in the news
Updated: The presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on October 9, 2016, raised some important but difficult issues about sexism and sexual assault. In this activity, students learn about and discuss the controversy, hear and discuss Michelle Obama's comments about it, share...
Using tweets, video and a poster, students review the history of the Black Lives Matter movement, consider criticisms of it, and examine the movement's policy goals.
Are the candidates telling the truth? Students learn tips for fact-checking and research campaign issues they're most interested in.
NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick has added momentum to a remarkable wave of protests by athletes against racial injustice and police killings. Students discuss tweets about the protests, consider multiple points of view about them, and construct a timeline of events.
What is happening at Standing Rock? Students learn about and discuss the growing protest by the Standing Rock Sioux and their allies to stop a pipeline.
Through a series of engaging "opinion continuum" exercises, students explore a range of views about the phrases "Black Lives Matter" and "All Lives Matter."
This first of three lessons on the Black Lives Matter movement serves as an introduction. Students learn about the origins of the Black Lives Matter movement through tweets, quotes, and discussion of the movement's principles.
Help students catch up on what’s been happening in the news - from the presidential campaign, to Colin Kaepernick's protest, to Brexit - with this fun quiz and discussion questions.
Polls show that a high percentage of voters are dissatisfied with the 2016 presidential nominees of both major parties. And yet, as in past years, third parties have struggled to gain a foothold. In this lesson, students learn about U.S. election laws that make it difficult for third parties to...
Splits and controversies made for extra drama at this summer's Democratic and Republican national conventions. In this activity, students learn about and discuss what conventions are for and how they work, and what happened at the conventions this summer.