• Directed discussions
• Role plays
• Mock trials
• Cooperative and interactive exercises
• Activities to involve outside resource experts
• Research activities for students to use the library or Internet
• Resources on our web site

• Six interactive lesson modules centering on specific local government content, such as the executive, legislative, and judicial functions of local government and on realistic public policy issues, such as the economy and crime and safety.
  
  
• CityWorks Project activities follow each lesson. These activities and assignments help students explore problems, institutions, and public policy issues in their own community. Students are guided through a civics-based service-learning project that addresses a local community problem they have studied.

• The CityWorks Teacher's Guide includes everything you need--instructions for lessons, reproducible masters for all lesson handouts (including the Bugle), instructions for the CityWorks project activities, and reproducible masters of the Student Handbook.
  
• The Central Heights Bugle, six issues of a simulated newspaper in class sets of 35. Each edition is linked to one of the lessons in the teacher's guide and provides students with readings and information for the lesson.
  
• A Student Handbook containing detailed instructions for completing the CityWorks Project activities and serving as a portfolio for students to record much of their work.

The Challenge of Governance
Prepare your students to meet the National Standards.

Grades 9-12

Sample Lesson (PDF)

The fourth and final volume in the Challenge series, The Challenge of Governance is designed to help students gain proficiency in meeting the National Standards for Civics and Government. This 72-page supplementary text provides 16 lessons. Each lesson has four parts: (1) a short reading reviewing one to four standards, (2) discussion questions based on the standards, (3) a high-interest reading based on an issue related to the standards, and (4) an interactive activity designed to foster intellectual and participatory skill development. The 16 lessons are:

1. The Constitution and Governance (Standards 3, 4, 8, 12)
2. Constitutional Limitations on Government (Standards 2, 8, 12, 15)
3. A Democratic Republic (Standards 1, 5, 6, 7, 12)
4. The Civil Society (Standards 2, 9, 10)
5. Diversity and Equality (Standards 11, 14)
6. Conflicts (Standard 13)
7. National Government and Taxation (Standards 15, 16)
8. State and Local Government (Standards 15, 17)
9. The Role of the Judiciary (Standard 18)
10. Setting the Public Agenda (Standard 19)
11. Voting and Selecting Political Leaders (Standard 20)
12. Public Policy (Standard 21)
13. America’s Foreign Policy (Standard 22)
14. America and New Global Realities (Standards 22, 23)
15. Citizenship and Rights (Standards 24, 25, 26)
16. Civic Participation and Responsibility (Standards 27, 28, 29)

A separate teacher’s guide provides step-by-step directions for conducting each lesson based on the materials provided in the text.

• Fully illustrated with photos and cartoons
• Perfect for U.S. government, civics, and contemporary-problems courses.

The Challenge of Governance

The Challenge of Information
Grades 9-12

Table of Contents Sample Lesson (PDF)

The second volume of the Challenge series, this 72-page supplementary text examines issues surrounding information and the media. This high-interest book is divided into five units:

Unit 1: A Free Press covers basic constitutional issues dealing with the media and free press. It examines landmark First Amendment cases and explores issues involving the right to know.

Unit 2: A Responsible Press looks into problems of press ethics, such as the use of questionable sources, the influence of advertising on editorial content, tabloid journalism, undercover journalism, and the violent content of local news coverage.

Unit 3: Free Press–Fair Trial discusses issues involving the press and the criminal justice system. It explores problems related to high-profile cases such as the trial of O.J. Simpson and evaluates whether reporters should have to reveal their sources in court.

Unit 4: The Myth Makers encourages students to take a critical look at information. It gives students background for evaluating urban myths and rumors, conspiracy theories, and claims of paranormal phenomena.

Unit 5: New Frontiers addresses policy issues relating to the Internet. It takes a look at the growth of the Internet and at issues surrounding hate speech and indecency on the Internet.

“Countdown to Doomsday”: An exciting Internet activity in which students take on the role of investigative reporters who must apply media-literacy skills to separate media fact from tabloid fiction. “Countdown to Doomsday” also serves as an authentic media-literacy assessment tool for The Challenge of Information.

Also included: Civil Conversations on provocative issues and Information-Age Checklists showing students how to gather and evaluate information.

• Fully illustrated with photos and cartoons
• Perfect for government and civics, 20th-century U.S. history, contemporary-problems, media- literacy, journalism, and law-related courses

A separate teacher’s guide provides procedures for interactive lessons based on the text.

The Challenge of Information

The Challenge of Violence
Grades 9-12

Table of Contents Sample Lesson (PDF)

The first volume of the Challenge series, this 72-page supplementary text challenges students to grapple with one of America’s most vexing problems. The book is divided into three units:

Unit 1: The Problem of Violence places the problem of violence in a historical context; explores the problems of violence today, including gangs and youth violence; and examines causes and risk factors.

Unit 2: Law and Public Policy examines how law and public policy at the national, state, and local levels seek to address the problem. Students engage in crucial societal debates over proposed solutions, including punishment versus prevention, gun control, curfews, and school uniforms.

Unit 3: Taking Action Against Violence helps students move beyond the classroom to learn how to take action against violence in their own lives and communities. Working as individuals and groups, they learn about and practice the skills and strategies of violence prevention, including self-protection, conflict management, volunteering, and conducting their own service-learning public-safety projects.

A separate teacher’s guide provides step-by-step procedures for 21 interactive lessons, which use material from the text and 18 reproducible handout masters. Included are directed discussions, role plays, simulations, and critical-thinking exercises. Also included are readings and procedures for guiding three Civil Conversations in which students conduct structured, Socratic-style discussions on provocative issues.

• Fully illustrated with photos, charts, and cartoons
• Perfect for government and civics, 20th-century U.S history, contemporary-problems, and law-related courses

CRF Mock Trials

Mock Trials take students to the heart of the justice system. Students acquire critical-thinking skills and an in-depth understanding of our judicial process as they study a hypothetical case, conduct legal research, and role play the trial.

Each Mock Trial packet includes a hypothetical case, witness statements, legal authorities, trial instructions, and procedural guidelines. It also includes a pretrial motion, designed to deepen student understanding of constitutional issues related to criminal trials.

Grades 6-12

People v. Palmer
Murder and scientific evidence
The day after a party, notorious Hollywood producer Jes Markson is found dead. Markson had been making a comeback after being found not guilty of murdering Taylor Rodriguez, Markson’s spouse. Markson’s former friend Alex Palmer is charged with firstdegree murder. Pretrial issue: Does a new “memory mapping” test meet the criteria to have its results admitted as scientific evidence?

People v. Campbell
Attempted school bombing and free expression
Police discovered a time bomb in a trash can near a high school’s lunch area. A student is charged with attempting to explode the device and possession of an illegal violent video game. Pretrial issue: Does the state’s law against violent video games violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution?

Seeing skilled students conduct People v. Campbell on DVD.

Seeing skilled students conduct People v. Markson on DVD.

_____________________________________________________________
People v. Kendall
Manslaughter, Illegal Contest of Speed, and Freedom of Speech and Association
A college student is accused of participating in a drag race that caused the death of another racer. Pretrial issue: Does the city's anti-drag racing club ordinance violate the First Amendment?

#70032CWB Individual, 64 pp. $5.95 ea.

Seeing skilled students conduct People v. Kendall on DVD or Video.

_____________________________________________________________
People v. Casco
Credit Card Fraud
A student is accused of buying items using other people's credit card information and of selling the items to other students. Pretrial issue: Was a drug-dog search at school, which uncovered information from the defendant, constitutional?

Seeing skilled students conduct People v. Casco DVD or Video.

Seeing skilled students conduct People v. Casco DVD or Video.

_____________________________________________________________

People v. Martin
Murder and self-incrimination
An honor student, involved in a cheating scandal, is accused of murdering a student who discovered the cheating and threatened to report it to the school. Pretrial issue: Did the police violate the defendant's Fifth Amendment rights?

_____________________________________________________________
People v. Tanner
Homicide and memory reliability

Seeing skilled students conduct People v. Tanner on video or DVD.

_____________________________________________________________
People v. Brunetti
Homicide, conspiracy, the right to bear arms
Two students die in a schoolyard shooting —the victim and shooter. Police arrest the owner of the murder weapon. Pretrial issue: Is a statute regulating possession of assault weapons constitutional?

The Constitution & the Bill of Rights

Grades 4-12

CRF introduces a new teaching tool utilizing PowerPoint to provide social studies teachers with graphic presentations and classroom activities.

The Constitution & the Bill of Rights: An Introduction
Grades 4-12

The Constitution & the Bill of Rights: An Introduction provides teachers with a Power Point content presentation and talking points to tell the story of the development of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.  

The Constitution & Bill of Rights: Due Process, Volume 2
Grades 8–12

The Constitution & Bill of Rights: Due Process, Volume 2, further introduces students to the concept of due process from the Bill of Rights. The PowerPoint presentation concludes with a moot-court activity, Chicago v. Morales: A Supreme Court Case, involving a gang ordinance.

The Constitution & Bill of Rights: Equal Protection
Grades 7-12

The Constitution and Bill of Rights: Equal Protection introduces upper-elementary and middle-school students to the concept of equal protection. Using colorful, animated graphics, this PowerPoint presentation provides teachers with a graphic presentation and talking points on key concepts of equal protection.

In addition, the PowerPoint presentation includes a moot court activity, Gratz v. Bollinger: A Supreme Court Case.

Also included is a teacher's guide with talking points to accompany the content presentation, step-by-step teaching procedures for the moot-court activity, and student handout masters.

The Constitution & Bill of Rights: Free Expression
Grades 7-12

The Constitution & Bill of Rights: Free Expression introduces students to the concept of free expression as outlined by the First Amendment. Using colorful, animated graphics, this presentation provides teachers with a graphic presentation and talking points on key concepts of free expression.

In addition, the PowerPoint presentation includes a moot court activity, Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier: A Supreme Court Case.

Also included is a teacher's guide with talking points to accompany the content presentation, step-by-step teaching procedures for the moot-court activity, and student handout masters.

People v. A. Wolf::A Mini-Mock Trial

Grades 3-6

Based on the award-winning children’s book The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs: by A. Wolf by Jon Scieszka, this two-part simulation takes students through the process of selecting a jury and conducting a trial.

In the first simulation, students take the roles of attorneys, judge, and prospective jurors to learn about the jury selection process (voir dire). Roles for prospective jurors are based on traditional fairy tales and legends, reinforcing literacy skills including characterization.

In the second part of the simulation, the courtroom drama unfolds as students take the roles of attorneys, witnesses, judge, and jurors to determine if the wolf is guilty of two counts of murder (one of the pigs survives the wolf’s visit). Masters for handouts with instructions for the various roles are included.

Also included is an introductory lesson, “Who’s Who In The Courtroom,” to acquaint students with the roles and responsibilities of judges, attorneys, jurors, and others involved in a courtroom proceeding. The materials come with the book The True Story of the 3 Little pigs: by A Wolf.

Working Together: Lessons in Justice

Grades 5-9
Reproducible Lessons

Working Together: Lessons in Justice provides interactive lessons on law and citizenship. Organized to fit into a U.S. history curriculum, lessons focus on subjects such as the American Revolution, the Old West, civil rights, and the three branches of government.

All 10 lessons stress cooperative learning and critical thinking. The lessons are strengthened when used with a resource person to provide realism and positive role models. Each includes suggestions on resource persons.

Working Together: Lessons in Justice

It's Yours: The Bill of Rights
Grades 7-12

For ESL students and students reading below grade level

Perfect for sheltered English classes, It's Yours: The Bill of Rights offers eight units of interactive lessons on U.S. government and the Bill of Rights. This illustrated supplement focuses on the structure of U.S. government, the rights of free speech, equal protection, religion, and the rights of the accused.

Carefully designed activities, reasoning exercises, and questions help students acquire language facility as they apply the Bill of Rights to situations relevant to their lives. A teacher's guide provides instructions for structuring lessons and utilizing outside resource persons.

• Addresses needs of ESL or below grade-level reading students
• Activities to involve outside resource persons
• Content-based language development

It's Yours: The Bill of Rights

For more than a decade, CRF's Active Citizenship Today (ACT) program has offered an exciting approach to civic education through service learning. The newly revised ACT curriculum helps students develop citizenship skills and knowledge while they plan and implement service-learning projects. This newly updated ACT curriculum consists of three components:

The ACT Handbook for Teachers (Second Edition) features new lesson plans, reproducible worksheets, and a complete explanation of ACT's structure, goals, and teaching methods. It now includes a section on implementing ACT throughout a school or district.

The ACT Field Guide (Second Edition) is a lively, full-color, user-friendly student handbook full of tips, methods, and profiles. This practical guide is designed to support ACT lessons and provide students with resources for all stages of a service-learning project. A final section features skills that students may need to develop during a project, e.g., how to conduct interviews, persuade others, speak in public, conduct opinion polls, raise funds, run meetings, and much more.

ACT Online offers free web resources for students and teachers at every stage of the ACT process.

The ACT curriculum takes students through five units of study:

1: Exploring Your Community takes students on a quick tour of their community looking for its resources and problems. They learn about each others' impressions of the community. They do a brief community search. They go on the Internet and create a statistical profile of the community.

2: Choosing and Researching a Problem lets students select a problem and research it at the library, online, and in the community. Students find out what government, business, media, and non-profit organizations are doing about the problem.

3: Evaluating Policy introduces students to the world of policy. They look at policies addressing the problem and learn simple ways to analyze policy.

4: Examining Options offers students a variety of project ideas and ways to gain support in the community for any project they do. Students decide on a project idea and think of ways to get support for it.

5: Taking Action provides students with instructions and information vital for a service project. Following these instructions, students build a plan, put the plan into action, and keep track of their progress.

This publications was made possible by a grant from the Ford Foundation. The first edition was funded by a grant from the DeWitt Wallace–Reader’s Digest Fund. ACT publications are produced and developed jointly by Constitutional Rights Foundation and Close Up Foundation.

Take Charge: A Youth Guide to Community Change

Grades 8–12

All across the nation, young people are learning how to create positive community change. Whether school- or community-based, well-planned civic-participation projects help young people develop citizenship and leadership skills while they make the world a better place to live—for themselves and others.

Take Charge is a step-by-step manual for teaching citizenship and creating community change. Designed for school or community use, this straightforward guide shows young people how to work together to:

• Explore and define their community and identify its needs and resources.
• Look at policies that impact their lives and the life of their community.
• Interact positively with local government, businesses, non-profits, and the media.
• Plan and complete a project designed to create positive community change.

Take Charge is ideal for school or community groups.

With Take Charge, young people follow a simple framework to:

• Explore their community.
• Identify community problems.
• Evaluate public policy.
• Explore options to deal with community problems.
• Plan an action project.

An additional Stop and Think component gives young people the tools they need to evaluate their progress and reflect on what they have learned.

Civic Action Starters
Grades 9-12

Perfect for schools or youth groups, these starter kits offer stimulating, hands-on, and quick introductions to effective citizenship.

Citizenship Mini-Lessons

Citizenship Mini-Lessons provide 14 interactive lessons on citizenship knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors. Every lesson can be taught in sequence or on an occasional basis. Each takes just one class period. Teacher materials include complete instructions for the lessons. Each lesson comes with a one-page student handout, which has a brief introduction, a short reading, an explanation of the activity, and discussion questions.Mini-Lesson topics include:

• Opinion polling
• Policy analysis
• Rights and freedoms
• Citizenship and voting
• Propaganda
• News search
• Community exploration
• Differing perspectives
• Getting involved
• Values in conflict

And MORE!!

Civic Action Guide

Are you going to help young people do a service project? The Civic Action Guide gives you all you will need, including:

• Planning Guide, handouts that students can use to plan, implement, and evaluate a project. The handouts explain the basic steps of all projects, how to plan, and include a blank project plan for students to fill out.
• Eight Community Action Projects, one-page handouts sketching plans for community- service projects. Each sheet includes a project description, its goals, resources needed, relevant facts or figures, a series of action steps, and some methods to evaluate the project.
• Skills, handouts on skills, such as interviewing, opinion polling, and finding resources.

CityYouth

CityYouth is a middle-school curriculum that integrates civic education and service learning into the core academic subjects: social studies, language arts, science, and math. CityYouth’s interactive lessons support team teaching, cooperative learning, portfolio assessment, and student service-learning projects.

CityYouth students use critical-thinking skills to analyze issues and reinforces basic reading, writing, and math skills.

CityYouth lessons support a variety of academic and performance standards in each core subject area as well as in civics/government and problem-solving.

CityYouth: Today’s Communities

Table of Contents Sample Lesson (PDF)

This version of CityYouth contains 32 sequential, developmental lessons organized around four themes: Crime & Safety, Harmony, Health & Well-Being, and Environment. The lessons include readings, role plays, and simulations that help students use higher-level thinking skills to identify and analyze issues in their own school and community. In addition, CityYouth guides students toward applying the concepts and skills they learn while they plan, complete, and evaluate service-learning projects.

CityYouth: Today’s Communities is used in the regular middle-school classroom and has also been successfully implemented as an after-school and core-advisory curriculum.

CityYouth Teacher's Guide
The complete curriculum consisting of four eight-lesson units; repro-ready masters of every student handout and worksheet; classroom and community teaching strategies; tools, methods, and rubrics for program evaluation and student assessment; and a valuable community action resource guide.

CityYouth Student Workbook, 132 pp.
The complete set of student-friendly, 2-color CityYouth handouts, worksheets, and cooperative learning checkpoints, with graphics. 

CityYouth: U.S. History

Download Sample Lesson

This four-unit version of CityYouth is designed to support a U.S. history course of study. Each of the four units contains lessons set in a historical era that introduce a theme students will explore and analyze.

Multidisciplinary lessons provide depth and contemporization of the theme and guide students toward applying what they learn through service-learning projects.

Unit 1: Leadership—American Revolution
Unit 2: Crime & Safety—Old West/Reconstruction
Unit 3: Youth & Education—Turn of the 20th Century
Unit 4: Media—Contemporary

Teacher's Guide: Contains step-by-step lesson plans, repro-ready masters of all student handouts, strategies for making school-community connections, and tools, methods, and rubrics for program evaluation and student assessment.

Set of Student Handout Masters: The complete, copy-ready set of student handouts, including cooperative-learning checkpoints, unbound for easy repro.

CityYouth: Ancient History

Travel with your students on an exciting, standards-based journey to ancient Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome. Grades 6-9

Sample Lesson (PDF)

CRF's new CityYouth: Ancient History provides teachers with 13 social studies lessons and related lesson ideas for core teachers of language arts, mathematics, and science. It integrates civic participation and service learning into the regular curriculum. Its four units focus on ancient history and can culminate in a service project.

CityYouth: Ancient History is divided into four units.

Unit 1: Ancient Egypt explores the social and political order of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes; shows how the Nile helped shape ancient Egyptian civilization; traces the political history of ancient Egypt through the three kingdoms; and outlines the relationship between religion and Egypt's social and political order.

Unit 2: Ancient China explores the geography of China and the development of ancient Chinese civilization; introduces the social, legal, and political impact of Qin Dynasty Emperor Shi Huangdi; examines the ancient philosophies of Confucianism and Daoism; and looks at developments in the Han Dynasty, including the opening of the Silk Road.

Unit 3: Ancient Greece looks at the rise of Greek city-states and Athenian democracy under Pericles; compares two contrasting Greek city-states: democratic Athens and militaristic Sparta; and explores ideas about what makes a good society from three of the Western world's greatest philosophers--Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

Unit 4: Ancient Rome traces the history of Rome from its founding myths through the Roman Republic; examines the political and social institutions of the republic; explores the leadership of Augustus when Rome made its transition from republic to empire; and discusses religious toleration and persecution in the Roman Empire.

Additional CityYouth Program Components

CityYouth Action Pack, 13 pp.
A low-cost disposable set of student worksheets designed to help students plan and complete their own service-learning project.

CityYouth Certificates
Award students for their accomplishments.

SUPER VALUE!!! -- CityYouth Class Set
Get a Teacher's Guide plus 40 each of student workbooks, action packs, and certificates.

Teacher staff development for CityYouth is now available! 

CityYouth, our multidisciplinary citizenship and service-learning program for middle schools, is sweeping the country. Now you too can receive intensive CityYouth training.

Two-day trainings are conducted on a regional basis and prepare administrators and teachers in all CityYouth fundamentals: Curriculum, project development, and implementation. Materials are provided. To find out more about this exciting opportunity, contact us at (800) 488-4CRF.

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Quick Link: Select a publication from the list below. Active Citizenship Today Adventures in Law & History Bill of Rights: Mini-Lessons Challenge of Diversity Challenge of Governance Challenge of Information Challenge of Violence Citizenship Mini-Lesson CityYouth: Ancient History CityYouth: Today's Communities CityYouth: U.S. History CityWorks Civic Action Guide Constitution & Bill of Rights Criminal Justice in America Election Central Foundations of Freedom Immigration Debate It's Yours: The Bill of Rights Landmarks: Historic U.S. Supreme Court Decisions Letters of Liberty Mock Trials Of Codes & Crown Of Democrats & Dictators People v. A. Wolf Police Patrol Primary VOICE: Literature and the Law Project History: U.S. History for Middle School Take Charge: A Youth Guide to Community Change Terrorism in America Violence-prevention Outcomes in Civic Education (VOICE) Working Together: Lessons in Justice We the People Youth & Police

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Youth and Police
Grades 6-9

Table of Contents Sample Lesson (PDF)

Youth and Police is the perfect way to educate about the law, improve police-community relations, and involve middle-school youth in service-learning activities to improve public safety-all in one comprehensive package. 

This multi-dimensional curriculum contains five core and five extension interactive lessons and comes with reproducible handout masters. The core sequence features a two-day lesson sequence on the development of the modern police force, a two-day simulation on issues of school safety, and an adaptation of CRF's renowned Police Patrol simulation. Then, working together with community police or school officers, students create and conduct their own service-learning project to improve community-police relations and neighborhood safety.

The extension lessons promote critical-thinking skill development by involving students in examining laws and policies that affect law enforcement. Topics covered include the use of force, the laws of arrest and search, the Miranda rule, and police governance and discipline.

• Promotes positive police- community relations

• Helps students think critically about controversial issues

• Blends law-related and service-learning strategies in one
   comprehensive package

Youth and Police

#50080CWB Integrated Teacher/Student Edition, 88 pp. $16.95

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Police Patrol

Simulation for 20-35 players
Grades 5-12

Perfect for students from fifth through 12th grade and beyond, Police Patrol is an innovative curriculum that will open communication and break down stereotypes between police and students. Students get an opportunity to have positive interactions with police officers, to learn about police work, and to work on improving police-community relations. Police Patrol consists of these sessions:

Pre- and Post-Survey and Discussion for measuring the change in student attitudes.

Police Patrol Simulation. This powerful simulation engages youth and police officers in a structured activity that builds understanding and communication. Students are provided an opportunity to "take a walk" in an officer's shoes as they become police officers and citizens interacting in typical police call situations. The simulation puts adult officers in the roles of mentors and coaches to help youth officers handle calls using police procedures.

Police-Community Relations Discussion. Following the simulations, students and police officers discuss ideas for improving police-community relations.

Project Planning. Students design a service project to improve police-community relations. A list of project ideas is included along with instruction on planning, implementing and evaluating projects.

This publication includes a step-by-step instructions for conducting each session, handouts, discussion questions, and pre- and post-surveys for officers and students. To facilitate duplication, the packet includes separate masters of all handouts.

Police Patrol

#50011CWB Simulation $ 15.95 ea.

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Quick Link: Select a publication from the list below. Active Citizenship Today Adventures in Law & History Bill of Rights: Mini-Lessons Challenge of Diversity Challenge of Governance Challenge of Information Challenge of Violence Citizenship Mini-Lesson CityYouth: Ancient History CityYouth: Today's Communities CityYouth: U.S. History CityWorks Civic Action Guide Constitution & Bill of Rights Criminal Justice in America Election Central Foundations of Freedom Immigration Debate It's Yours: The Bill of Rights Landmarks: Historic U.S. Supreme Court Decisions Letters of Liberty Mock Trials Of Codes & Crown Of Democrats & Dictators People v. A. Wolf Police Patrol Primary VOICE: Literature and the Law Project History: U.S. History for Middle School Take Charge: A Youth Guide to Community Change Terrorism in America Violence-prevention Outcomes in Civic Education (VOICE) Working Together: Lessons in Justice We the People Youth & Police

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Public Policy Packets

Grades 9-12

Constitutional Rights Foundation's Public Policy Packets offer readings, discussion questions, and interactive activities to address current debates over particular public policy issues.

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The Immigration Debate

Historical and Current Issues of Immigration
2nd Edition

Grades 9-12

Newly updated, revised, and expanded, The Immigration Debate features 12 interactive lessons on the history of immigration, refugees and asylum, and illegal immigration. Each is linked to U.S. history and government standards.

History of Immigration
1: History of Immigration Through the 1850s
2: History of Immigration from the 1850s to the Present
3: Ellis Island
4: Educating European Immigrant Children Before World War I

Refugees and Asylum
5: U.S. Immigration Policy and Hitler's Holocaust
6: Refugees: International Law and U.S. Policy
7: Issues of Asylum in the U.S.
8: Refugees From Vietnam and Cambodia
9: Refugees From the Caribbean: Cuban and Haiti "Boat People"

Illegal Immigration
10: Illegal Immigrants
11: Plyler v. Doe
12: California's Proposition 187

Each lesson features a standard-based reading, questions to engage students in a discussion, and an interactive activity that helps students delve more deeply into the reading and develop critical-thinking skills.

Terrorism in America

What can a democracy do to protect itself? Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, Americans must confront troubling issues about terrorism. Terrorism in America provides current and historical perspectives on these issues.

Terrorism in America includes interactive lessons on:

• The September 11 attacks
• The Oklahoma City bombing
• How other countries handle terrorism
• Military tribunals
• America’s response to terrorism in 1919
• Changing our Constitution
• Talk radio
• Free speech cases
• Conspiracy theories

Also included:

• Lessons to help students do a service project
• Teacher instructions for all lessons

All lessons have master copies ready for easy duplication.

This curriculum was originally developed following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995. It was revised, updated, and expanded after the September 11 attacks.

On our web site, we have also developed America Responds to Terrorism, a collection of online lessons and resources. Included are much of the material from Terrorism in America, additional lessons, and a huge collection of links to lessons, media sources, government sources, and information on the Middle East, Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, maps and geography, Islam, tolerance, think tanks, commentary, and other collections of links on terrorism. This site is constantly updated.

Terrorism in America

• Short, high-interest readings.
• Discussion questions to facilitate understanding.
• Interactive activities to foster critical thinking.