Designed as a core or supplementary text for upper elementary, middle and high school teachers and students, Building Democracy for All offers instructional ideas, interactive resources, multicultural content, and multimodal learning materials for interest-building explorations of United States government as well as students’ roles as citizens in a democratic society. It focuses on the importance of community engagement and social responsibility as understood and acted upon by middle and high school students—core themes in the 2018 Massachusetts 8th Grade Curriculum Framework, and which are found in many state history and social studies curriculum frameworks around the country.

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the civics test, a current graduation requirement for Kentucky students, in order to consider the ways in which the test addresses needed knowledge and skills to prepare students for active engagement in civic life. The compelling question for the inquiry—can the civics test make you a good citizen?—frames students’ assessment of the civics test in consideration of what it means to be a “good citizen,” a purpose of the Kentucky civics test, as well as national initiatives to have similar civics test in all states, notably by the Joe Foss Institute.

Unit Theme: Elections, government, and advertisementsLesson Title: What’s a Campaign?                    Level: Grades 4-5Big Idea/Essential Question: What is an election? What is an election campaign? and How have election campaigns changed over time?

Created through a partnership between the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, Chronicling America offers visitors the ability to search and view newspaper pages from 1690-1963 and to find information about American newspapers published between 1690"“present using the National Digital Newspaper Program.

Not all people are born equal or free but there is an expectation of both when you are a citizen of the United States. Our struggles to earn the base level of representation are quickly forgotten as we look for another group to demonize. In my unit we will discover why George Washington was ahead of his time with his warning about "factions" and how their existence makes freedom and equality harder to bridge. As we trek through time highlighting issues such as the abolition of slavery, support for women's suffrage, and the challenges that face Asian and LGBTQIA communities my hope is that student understand the sacrifices made to be accepted and to earn the right to vote but more importantly the difficulty in being welcomed into American society.

The “Citizenship Complex” is the process by which groups gain full inclusion. To understand it, one must look to the intersection of law, citizenship and the Constitution. The unit aims to provide a more complex history of our nation, to tell a more earnest story of how the American identity became a mosaic of human struggle, and to offer a more robust and enlightening study of these issues so that as students recognize the power of citizenship they will take a more hopeful view of what our nation will look like in the future. By engaging in the sophisticated discussions of the past, identifying why some groups supported each other and scapegoated others, and learning about the importance of supporting efforts at inclusion, our students should become more informed, open-minded, and ready for the globalized world of the 21 st Century.

The unit will focus on four groups that have experienced the “Citizenship Complex”: African-American slaves, women, Asian immigrants, and the LGBTQIA community. By comparing these groups over time, we will really be able to unearth the cycles behind the Citizenship Complex and understand that American citizenship means at different times in our country’s history.

The unit will teach elements of civics and democracy through the lens of the Presidential election. Students will be asked to research, read, and write about various aspects of civics and democracy, using a wide array of multimedia resources that will include (but not be limited to) literature, music, visual arts, and technology. The goal of the unit is to help students understand the importance of voting and participation while building their knowledge of the election system. The unit will encourage your students to think about government in a new way and connect this remarkable election to their day to day lives. While this unit will be taught during the first marking period, the unit will work at any point throughout the next few years. It is a Social Studies based unit designed for middle school students, primarily in the sixth grade, but can be modified and adapted to fit high school curriculum, grades nine through twelve.

This curriculum unit focuses on children as citizens, and how they can claim ownership of their citizenship. Overall the unit works its way through the rights that children have as citizens and how they can use them to their advantage. It starts with what it means to them to be citizens, two specific rights that they have, and finally how they will use those rights to better their lives. The two rights that we discuss in this unit are education and voting. Those rights are the focus of this unit because I believe that they are the most important to young children and that they will benefit them the most in the long term. Education will provide the foundation for all of their learning throughout their lives, and voting is something that education prepares them for and will later in life affect their community and potentially the nation. I also believe that having an understanding of how voting actually impacts this country could potentially interest them in being active politically in the future.

From June 2018 to May 2019, we administered an assessment to 3,446 students, a national sample that matches the demographic profile of high school students in the United States. The six exercises in our assessment gauged students’ ability to evaluate digital sources on the open internet. The results—if they can be summarized in a word—are troubling: •Fifty-two percent of students believed a grainy video claiming to show ballot stuffing in the 2016 Democratic primaries (the video was actually shot in Russia) constituted “strong evidence” of voter fraud in the U.S. Among more than 3,000 responses, only three students tracked down the source of the video, even though a quick search turns up a variety of articles exposing the ruse. Two-thirds of students couldn’t tell the difference between news stories and ads (set off by the words “Sponsored Content”) on Slate’s homepage.Ninety-six percent of students did not consider why ties between a climate change website and the fossil fuel industry might lessen that website’s credibility. Instead of investigating who was behind the site, students focused on superficial markers of credibility: the site’s aesthetics, its top-level domain, or how it portrayed itself on the About page.

Civics is the study of our national government, constitution, and the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Topics include democracy and other forms of government; legislative, executive, and judicial functions; the political process; and foreign and domestic policies. It also includes a summary of Washington State History and local native sovereignty.

In Washington, a stand-alone high school civics course is required by a new state law.

A statewide sub-committee of OSPI's Social Studies Cadre and Walter Parker, Professor of Social Studies Education, University of Washington, drafted this list of resources in hopes that it will be useful to schools needing to create such a course or update an existing course. It is a work-in-progress.

Social Studies Targets:Forms of governmentNature/Purposes of governmentIdeologies of governmentComparative governmentEconomic systems and governmentLearning Targets:Understand how the world is organized politically and nations interact (civics)Identify the differences in philosophy, structure, and the nature of different types of government (civics)Understand the role of sovereignty in the development of different governments and within governments (civics)Compare and contrast democracies with other forms of government.(civics)Understand individual rights and their accompanying responsibilities including problem solving and decision making at the local, state, and international level. (civics)Understand how cultural forces and factors influenced and were influenced by changes in government (Cultural Geography)Identify ways that power can be distributed geographically within a state (Physical Geography)Identify the different types of economic systems (Economics)Understand how different government and economic systems influence one another (Economics)Students will recognize and analyze the ideologies inherent in different economic systems. (Economics)

From: University of Virginia Center for PoliticsThe Key to John LockePurpose: The student will understand some of the basic theories of John Locke including limited government, unalienable rights, equal rights, and authority from consent of the governed.Objectives:Students will interpret the ideas of John Locke as they relate to limited government, unalienable rights, equal rights, and authority from the consent of the governed.Students will apply their interpretations of specific quotations from Locke to contemporary paintings by Norman Rockwell, The Problem We All Live With, by Dave Cutler, Flag With Male Symbol, and to a photograph from the 1989 revolt in Tiananmen Square.Key Words:consent of the governed natural rights treatise state of nature unalienable rights

Teacher's Guide: The Sovereign State by iCivicsTime Needed: Two class periodsMaterials Needed:Student WorksheetsPower Point w/projector (optional)Colored pencils (optional)Copy Instructions:Anticipation & Closing Activities (half pages back to back; class set)Guided notes organizer (1 page; class set)Create a State Worksheets (2 pages; class set)Learning Objectives. Students will be able to:Identify and describe the four features of a state.Differentiate between a sovereign state and the “states” in the United States by deciding whether the four features of a state apply to each.List the four roles of government.Apply the features and roles of a state by creating a profile of a new, fictional sovereign state and deciding on its priorities.

This lesson combines two readings from the iCivics Influence Library and adds activities that bridge the two topics: Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.Learning Objectives. Students will be able to:Identify the basic ideas on government from Thomas Hobbes and John Locke.Define the terms: state of nature, natural rights, sovereign.Trace the development of the idea of the social contract from Thomas Hobbes to John Locke.

These lessons concern the United States Constitution Article 1 concerning the establishment and purpose of the Legislative Branch of the three branches of the US Government.

Sphere provides educators with viewpoint diverse resources to bring conversations to the classroom and equip students to engage in civil discourse. Sphere offers lesson plans, discussion questions, videos, and publications on various topics for use in the classroom that are exclusively nonpartisan.

Decide whether you want to cover this material in two on Abraham Lincoln prior to introducing the Civil War,
or three class sessions. This lesson covers background so that the students are familiar with concepts such as
on the Civil War, including the state of the nation slavery and freedom. The readings and pictures should
leading up to the war, the causes, and the impact on the help the students understand the new vocabulary. As with
nation. There are eight Civics Test items related to this the other history lessons, the goal for the students is to
topic, so the material covered is somewhat dense for a comprehend and answer the Civics Test items correctly,
beginner class. Covers civics test items 48, 60, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, and 76.

Grounded in the belief that students need to explore climate change for themselves, the high school-level Climate Project course from the OER Project equips students with the knowledge and skills to take action. The course aims to understand the climate crisis by examining facts, impacts, and solutions, fostering civic action, education, and career readiness, and promoting constructive discussion. Through an inquiry-based approach, students interrogate diverse sources, build data and digital literacy skills, and engage with timely materials. Flexible in design, the course can be taught as a comprehensive semester program or through standalone lessons, culminating in projects ranging from climate-focused careers to community civic action.

This inquiry leads students through an investigation of the communication between the Cherokee nation and the American government. Resource created by Lucas Spooner, Winnebago Public Schools, as part of the Nebraska ESUCC Social Studies Special Projects 2023 - Inquiry Design Model (IDM).

How does Washington’s state constitution compare and contrast with the U.S. Constitution? In this lesson, students will find out! Guide your class through some basic similarities and differences as well as side-by-side text analysis with this lesson’s integrated reading/activity format.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Determine how the Washington State Constitution complements the federal structure of government in the United States
Compare the state government established by the Washington Constitution with the federal government defined in the U.S. Constitution
Compare and contrast rights protected by the Washington and U.S. Constitutions
Compare and contrast methods for amending the Washington and U.S. Constitutions

View this activity online or register with iCivics (free) to download materials. Materials may be copied or transmitted for noncommercial purposes with proper attribution.