Current Issues
Classroom activities to engage students in learning about and discussing issues in the news
An overview of young people's growing political involvement is followed by a student questionnaire that gauges how informed students are, suggestions for student inquiry, and a listing of online resources.
Despite a nonstop presidential campaign, the candidates have failed to seriously address some critical issues. A student reading is followed by question-asking, question-analyzing, and discussion.
The Supreme Court decision granting habeas corpus rights to Guantanamo prisoners is an opportunity to help students understand the importance of those rights and why granting them to non-citizens is controversial.
Student readings about critical problems at the Federal Election Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency are followed by discussion questions, suggestions for further inquiry, writing assignments & citizenship activities.
Selecting Supreme Court nominees is one of a president's most consequential actions. Three student readings consider Court interpretations of constitutional principles; the impact of social conditions on Court rulings; and what the current presidential candidates have said about Supreme Court...
Three student readings explore problems with our healthcare system; candidate proposals for reform; and healthcare systems in other industrialized nations.
The huge earthquake that ravaged China on May 12 buried thousands of schoolchildren. American students may have a special interest in acting to help young survivors in China.
A brief student reading about the recent devastating cyclone is followed by suggestions for translating students' compassion into action.
NYC police were found not guity in the shooting of an unarmed young man, setting off protests. Three student readings explore conflicting accounts of the shooting, reactions to the verdict, and opinions from differing perspectives. Suggestions for discussion, inquiry and a "constructive controversy"...
Students are invited to think critically about these complex issues through poll questions, brief case studies, and a critical thinking exercise.