Current Issues
Classroom activities to engage students in learning about and discussing issues in the news
A student reading focuses on the housing boom and bust, why AIG foundered and why taxpayers are propping it up. Discussion questions and a suggested fish bowl discussion follow.
Student readings offer an overview of the defense budget and the Pentagon; explore the issues surrounding production of the F22; and discuss the military-industrial-congressional complex. Discussion questions follow. The accompanying DBQ exercise is described below.
In this Document-Based Question exercise, students consider and write an essay about competing views on defense spending.
A summary of Schell's essay describing the interconnected crises we face and their commonalities is followed by suggestions for discussion, inquiry, critical thinking and writing.
Student readings and discussion questions address the the origins and impact of the economic crisis and President Obama's recovery plan.
How can teachers help their students understand and take action on problems stemming from the economic crisis? We propose a process for encouraging active student citizenship.
Through two readings and class discussion, students think critically about the effect of corporate campaign donations on our political system and consider efforts to reform campaign finance.
President Obama's inauguration address offered a continuing teachable moment for examining key issues facing the nation. A student reading including speech excerpts is followed by questions for discussion and inquiry.
In this classroom lesson, students consider President Obama's inaugural address as a speech and in the context of past inaugural addresses.
A student dialogue and two readings examine the declining readership of newspapers, especially among young people.