Media Smarts
Fact versus Opinion
Part of a series aimed at breaking down cultural bias from the Canadian Media Awareness Network, this activity identifies where opinions do and don't belong in a newspaper. Pupils review handouts about the purpose of editorial comments...
Street Law
The Challenge of Selecting an Ideal Supreme Court Nominee
Nearly every president has had the opportunity to name a nominee to the United States Supreme Court. But what makes someone an ideal candidate to become a Supreme Court justice? High schoolers test their prior knowledge about the...
Curated OER
Conflict Resolution Lesson Plan
Fourth graders investigate conflict and social justice. In this conflict resolution lesson, 4th graders consider conflicts they have experienced and think about how they could have applied conflict resolution strategies to change the...
Curated OER
Food Makes the World Go Round
Fifth graders investigate the origins of foods they eat while they consider social justice issues. In this food sources instructional activity, 5th graders play a game and then research food distribution, food security, and hunger in the...
Curated OER
Confronting the -Isms
Learners keep "Mindwatch" diaries to chart their own prejudices and stereotypes. In this social justice lesson, students monitor their own reactions to people who are different from themselves. Learners identify and discuss patterns of...
Curated OER
Bringing Justice Home ~First Steps toward Community Action
Students explore activities that might some day bring "justice for all" to their communities. They assess how justice is a day-to-day, life or death matter that faces their communities. Interviews are conducted to explain how justice is...
Curated OER
Martin Luther King and Writing as a Tool for Social Change
Middle schoolers explore writing as an agent for social change. In this Social Studies lesson, students examine the power of writing using Dr. King's Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Middle schoolers will practice the technique of...
Curated OER
Them and Us
Students consider social class issues in Great Britain. In this current events lesson, students visit selected websites and participate in a classroom discussion regarding social justice issues and segregation of social classes in Britain.
Curated OER
Who’s Got Rights? An Introduction to Human Rights and Human Rights Defenders
Students explore human rights issues. In this social justice lesson, students examine human rights as they read segments of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights," discuss photographs with human rights implications, and play a human...
Curated OER
Injustice on Our Plates: Immigrant Women
Students investigate the plight of undocumented workers. In this social justice lesson, students research undocumented workers as well as consumer boycott movements and write about their impressions.
Just Health Action
Environmental Justice Matters: Mapping Cumulative Impacts (Part 2)
A case study enables class members to confirm whether different geographic parts of Seattle, Washington have disproportionate environmental burdens and benefits. Groups use the EPA's Cumulative Health Impact Analysis formula and...
K20 LEARN
Civil Rights for All: Civil Rights Movement
The Civil Rights Movement was only the beginning. Using images and a series of queries, learners consider current fights for equality. After viewing video clips profiling the women's rights movement, the American Indian Movement, and...
Curated OER
Black Skin, White Justice: Race Matters in the Criminal Justice System
Students examine the effects of race in the criminal justice system. As a class, they brainstorm a list of instances when the offender has been an African American and he is not treated fairly in court based on his race. They analyze...
Curated OER
Adult Criminal Justice System
Twelfth graders examine the procedures and protections involved in processing an accused person through the criminal justice system. They view a Powerpoint presentation, conduct research, and write a paper describing a crime they have...
Curated OER
Justice or Injustice?
Students participate in a human rights discussion and define the concepts of justice and injustice. They research the concept justice in order to create a Wisdom Wall identifying human rights issues. Students also participate in an Image...
Curated OER
Crime and Justice
Students investigate what happens when someone is arrested. They engage in a mock trial role play about a burglary. They engage in the process of the Criminal Justice System from arrest to sentencing.
Curated OER
Understanding Procedural Justice
Students analyze procedural justice by identifying unfair decisions by ruler in play, stating procedural guarantees that a Bill of Rights should include, and comparing their list of guarantees to those provided by the U.S. Constitution...
Curated OER
Art as Social Commentary
Students view artworks that make a statement about social conditions. They discuss the artworks, write about them and present their ideas to the class. They create socially conscious art pieces of their own.
Curated OER
Religion in Social Change: What's God Got To Do With It?
Students determine how religion influences social change. In this religion and social change instructional activity, students examine how the religious beliefs of Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. were inspirational as they...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Plyler v. Doe: Can States Deny Public Benefits to Illegal Immigrants?
Illegal immigration is an ever-changing source of consistent controversy. A reading passage about the rights of undocumented workers and illegal immigrants—and the lack thereof—guides high schoolers into a mock trial activity. Three...
Curated OER
The Media and Social Justice in the United States
Young scholars investigate why the hip hop is sometimes called the CNN of black youth. They explore the political themes in American hip hop. Students examine the connection between art, media and social justice in hip hop.
Curated OER
Man's Continuing Inhumanity to Man
Young scholars explore social justice issues. In this human justice lesson, students examine the meaning of words associated with minority groups and investigate genocide throughout history.
Curated OER
Ceremony
Students complete multiple lessons to identify the human rights and social justice for Native Americans. In this human rights lesson, students complete fifty one days of activities to a lesson titled "Ceremony" about the Native...
Curated OER
American Indian Civil Rights
Pupils examine social justice issues regarding American Indians. In this civil rights lesson, students investigate the Red Power Movement of the 1960's and 1970's. Pupils then roleplay interviewing Native American protesters.