Constitutional issues come to life in this Emmy Award-winning series. Key political, legal, and media professionals engage in spontaneous and heated debates on controversial issues such as campaign spending, the right to die, school prayer, and immigration reform. This series will deepen understanding of the life and power of this enduring document and its impact on history and current affairs, while bringing biases and misconceptions to light.
Creating Effective Citizens/Social Studies in Action Library
Watch lesson plans in the video, “Creating Effective Citizens,” from the Social Studies in Action Library, that teach students how to become active and effective citizens. Students participate in role-play and simulations that model civic action, discuss controversial laws about gender discrimination and individual rights, explore what it means to be a global citizen within a democracy, and engage students in local and national issues.
Dealing With Controversial Issues/Social Studies in Action Library
This program examines how social studies teachers in any grade level can encourage open and informed discussions with their students while dealing with controversial issues. Topics range from stereotypes and gender–based discrimination to the conflict in the Middle East. Through clearly identifying issues, listening to multiple perspectives, and formulating personal positions, teachers explore strategies that can be used to teach challenging issues such as these in their own classrooms.
“Story” from Essential Lens: Analyzing Photographs Across the Curriculum
Every photograph tells a story: Stories of struggle. Stories of beauty. Stories of community and culture. This video offers stories of three people and what compels them to do what they do. Hear from a high school teacher using the Protests and Politics photo collection from this resource (link to collection and big ideas on page), a National Geographic photo editor, and photographer Danny Wilcox Frazier who discusses his work, which focuses on marginalized communities across the United States.
Facts of Congress
Facts of Congress is a series of twenty fast-paced, one-minute animated videos that cover the basic concepts and terms of representative government. The series addresses questions such as: What is Congress? How does Congress work? What does Congress do for me? How can I participate? Scroll down on the linked page to find the full series of videos.
The Impact of Congress
The Impact of Congress looks at the work of the First Congress, 1789-91, and its impact on the country over the years. In this module you will learn about eleven of the First Congress’s most important accomplishments through primary source images and documents – accomplishments that still have a major impact on our country today. Then you will pick a later session of Congress and explore and analyze its accomplishments.
A Conversation with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Women & the Constitution
A conversation on women and the Constitution with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and Professor Maeva Marcus of the George Washington University Law School.
David McCullough: The Storm Before the Constitution
Author and historian David McCullough discusses why the Constitutional Convention nearly failed before it began. What role did fear play in the Convention being called? From where did the fear most stem – Shays’ Rebellion, mounting state debts, inflation, or international piracy?
Justice Stephen Breyer on the Constitution
Justice Stephen Breyer discusses the Constitution, Separation of Powers, and the role of the Supreme Court.