Current Issues
Classroom activities to engage students in learning about and discussing issues in the news
The Ebola outbreak in West Africa and irrational reactions to it in the U.S. are creating challenges in some schools. Here are some suggestions and resources to help school staff restore calm and safety when students are being targeted because of Ebola.
Students read and discuss a brief history of the Polish Solidarity movement, and consider how an unarmed group was able to overcome a powerful and heavily militarized government. (See also our companion lesson marking the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the legacy of the Cold War...
Students learn about why so many languages around the world are facing extinction, and how indigenous movements are fighting to preserve their languages. They consider several distinctive words for which there is no English translation, and, in small groups, make up a word of their own to describe...
Students and teachers in Jefferson County, Colorado, joined forces in the fall of 2014 to protest a school board decision to review the Advanced Placement U.S. History curriculum to ensure that it promotes patriotism and discourages civil disorder. In this lesson, students consider how the board's...
Students learn about protests in Hong Kong (the "Umbrella Revolution") and analyze the different forms of civil disobedience protesters have used to organize for their cause.
In this lesson, posted in October 2012, students learn about Pakistan and about Malala's campaign for the education of girls, which made her the target of a Taliban assassination attempt in October 2012. The lesson has students read and discuss Malala's blog from her earlier days in Pakistan.
In small groups and class discussion, students share knowledge about Christopher Columbus and his voyages, learn about the impact of Columbus, and consider some ecological and political results of the encounter
This lesson uses Hispanic Heritage Month as a jumping off point for discussing how "history" is shaped and what we can do together to include a larger variety of voices and narratives in our study of history.
Students use the case of Ray Rice — the professional football player seen physically abusing his fiancé — as a starting point to learn about domestic violence.
Students work in small groups and as a class to decide on what policies they would recommend to the President to deal with threats posed by ISIS.