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Shot Down
students examine a Maine law concerning the destruction of guns used in homicides. They explore the advisability of destroying these guns and whose responsibility it is to notify families about what happens to these guns.
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Contemporary Mexican and Puerto Rican Immigration
Students in an ESL classroom compare and contrast Puetro Rican and Mexican cultures. In groups, they research the reasons why people leave one country for another and how to obtain a visa. As a class, they brainstorm a list of the...
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A Cold Reception: Anti-Immigrant Sentiment in the United States
Students compare anti-immigration movements in United States history. In this immigration lesson, students participate in classroom activities that require them to analyze music, images, and videos that reveal the immigration debates of...
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Democracy Lesson Plans: History And Political Protest
Technology, and democracy lesson plans can help students understand recent events in Iran, and their link to such sites as Twitter.
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American Civil War Lesson Plans
Civil War lesson plans can get students thinking about, and discussing issues related to history, politics, and even photography.
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The Red Scare in the 1950's
Students can learn about the Red Scare, McCarthyism, and other related topics with lesson plans that focus on the 1950's and communism.
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Clash of the Titans Lesson Plans
The new movie "The Clash of the Titans" is a great way to learn about film making and Greek Mythology.
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Cultural Patrimony: What Belongs to Whom?
Cultural patrimony is a fascinating topic for your students to explore.
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Five Summer Projects to Keep Students Learning
With the right projects, summer learning can be fun and motivating.
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Bioethics: Debates in the Science Classroom
Students defend one side of a genetics ethics argument. They pull together a portfolio of human genetics and decision making skills. Students are allowed to prove what he/she has learned and express a personal opinion. They also are...
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Was the Iraq War a "Humanitarian Intervention?"
Students debate the intent of the Iraq war. For this humanitarian intervention lesson, students each research a view point and defend it in a class room debate. Students defend the views points of Terry Nardin or Fernando Tesón.
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Problem-Based Research Lesson: Wal-Mart Debate
To prepare for class, students will read several articles (links included). Students discuss the articles, and ways to deal with the proliferation of big-box stores in rural areas. The class takes two minutes to generate a research...
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The Great Spider Debate
Learners study about the survival and hunting strategies of several different kinds of spiders. They also be introduced to scientific classification of spiders and write a brief report about one of the spider families they observe.
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Representation: Majority rule
Students explore various forms of decision making including majority rule, executive, consensus and autocracy (as well as exploring the power of veto), when they debate a bill in a class parliament.
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Over the Borderline?
Young scholars study President Bush's proposal for immigration policy in the US and examine various perspectives on immigration that are currently being debated. They read and discuss an online New York Times article.
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Get Smart
Students discuss the definition of intelligence and the possibility of measuring intelligence. They consider the elements of intelligence by reading and discussing the article "'Jeopardy' Millionaire is Smart, but Is He a Genius?They...
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The Bill of Rights
Students examine the intent Bill of Rights. In this American government lesson, students watch segments of the Discovery video "The Bill of Rights." Students discuss and debate the 4 Supreme Court cases featured in the video.
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Lone Wolves
Students examine the reasons why some people do not support the protection of the wolf on the Endangered Species list. After reading an article, they discuss the controversy of delisting the wolves. As a class, they debate this issue...
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Sand Dollars
Students debate the issues of economic prosperity, cultural preservation and environmental preservation by examining the development of land in the Bahamas.
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Defining Terrorism
Students explore the debate over legitimate and illegitimate uses of force and differentiate between terrorists and freedom fighters. They read articles, participate in class discussion and write an essay with their observations.
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Running Rings Around the Competition
students explore the debate behind Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Olympics from the perspectives of different groups involved. They then 'cast votes' as members of the International Olympic Committee as to which city should be chosen.
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Media Literacy Discussion Guide
High schoolers examine and analyze visual media and its messages critically. They determine whether specific media messages inform, entertain, or persuade and what factors influence the media. Using primary sources, they participate in...