Current Issues
Classroom activities to engage students in learning about and discussing issues in the news
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.
The Republicans have introduced one of the largest tax overhaul plans in many years. In this lesson, students consider what taxes do and why Americans pay them; and examine the Republicans' proposed tax reform and how analysts are projecting it will affect the country.
Critics say Republican tax proposals will increase economic inequality. This activity has students explore the current state of U.S. wealth inequality through a quiz, reading, an activity and discussion.
In this activity, students consider, together and in small groups, what kind of environment allows sexual harassment and abuse to persist – and what we can do to challenge such an environment.