712 government-civics-us results | sort by:

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library - JFK Library
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
All of these topics are of interest to students doing research into 20th century US and international history, and might be particularly useful to students working on in depth projects for National History Day. After researching a specific topic, have students make a multimedia presentation using one of the many TeachersFirst Presentation tools reviewed here. Some tool suggestions are (click on the tool name to access the review): Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, Vevox, Animatron, Renderforest, and Microsoft PowerPoint Online.You must be registered and logged in to add items to your favorites.
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Hiroshima Peace Museum - Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Take your class on a digital field trip to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum to get a first-hand look at the effects of an atomic bomb. Display on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Provide students time to explore on their own. Have students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a survivor of the bomb. Have students create interactive timelines using Preceden, reviewed here, for events leading up to the bombing and following. Be sure to include a look at the museum during your World War II unit. This site would also provide good research material for a class debate about nuclear weapons.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Data USA - Deloitte, Datawheel, and Cesar Hidalgo
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark Data USA to use as a resource for finding and comparing U.S. statistics. Explore information about your city or state and compare to other locations. Show students a purpose for these facts by assigning different articles from the Stories section. Dig deeper into current events using this site. Explore the demographics and economy of any place in the news to help understand local issues. If your class has a partner class in another part of the country, Data USA is a perfect resource for sharing and comparing community information. Depending on the topic of study, after exploring this site, Redefine learning by challenging students to make a multimedia presentation such as a poster using Marq (was Lucidpress), reviewed here, infographic with Infogram, reviewed here, or a slide show using Google Slides, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Mapping History - University of Oregon
Grades
7 to 12In the Classroom
View modules together as a class on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Provide links to selected modules on your class webpage or blog. Use as one source for students to create their own maps. Using a mapping tool such as MapHub, reviewed here, to create a map of any specific time period or event. With Clck2Map students can include display markers featuring text, photos, and videos!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The President's Desk - John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
Grades
4 to 12In the Classroom
Use the President's Desk as a highly engaging resource for getting to know more about John F. Kennedy's presidency. Show on your interactive whiteboard or projector and include suggested lesson activities to accompany the site. Have students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about John F Kennedy. Have students create timelines (with music, photos, videos, and more) using Timeline JS, reviewed here). Be sure to add a link to the site on your class website for students to access on their own or from home. Have your class create a presidential desk for another historic leader, creating their own annotated photo of the desktop using Google Drawings, reviewed here, to explain the items on the desk. Google Drawings allows you to annotate an image with links to videos, text, websites, and more. Not familiar with Google Drawings? Watch an archived OK2Ask session to learn how to use: OK2Ask Google Drawings, here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Sojourner Truth Project - Leslie Podell
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Include information from this site as part of lessons on women's rights and slavery. Create an online course using eduflow, reviewed here, to guide students through their exploration of the work of Sojourner Truth. Include additional information for students to use for comparison, guide students through their comparison of the two texts, and add videos for students to view. eduflow offers tools for in-app recordings to use for student discussions. Use Edpuzzle, reviewed here, to add comments and questions into the videos to guide student thinking and focus on important areas within the speeches. Challenge students to explore and research other examples of revisions to history and share their findings through a multimedia presentation. Examples of presentation tools include Adobe Creative Cloud Express for Education, reviewed here, and Genially, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Evaluating Art as Historical Evidence - Digital Inquiry Group
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Bookmark and save this list for use throughout the year with many different history lessons. Include these art activities to provide context and visual perspective to important events. Use a curation tool such as Padlet, reviewed here, to create an ongoing resource for students to use for review and as a guide for understanding history through a wider lens. For example, when using Padlet, choose the timeline feature and add a piece of art onto the timeline. Upload videos, text, and additional images to create an interactive timeline that tells a story through art. As a final project, ask students to share their learning using Sway, reviewed here, to write a reflective piece on the use of art throughout any period in time. Have students include student work, images, links, maps, and more in Sway projects.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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TED-ED - Ted.com
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Choose a video or create your own videos for students to use for review. After students view a video that has the questions, show one that doesn't, and have students generate questions for it. Assign videos for students to view at home or in the computer lab. Use them as a springboard for engaging writing prompts or to spark a discussion connected with a unit of study. Challenge students to do a compare/contrast activity using an online Venn Diagram tool, reviewed here. Most of the videos are less than twenty minutes, which makes it realistic to use them in a one-period class lesson or if you are implementing blended learning or flipped learning in your classroom or school (leaving class time for asking questions and clarifying).Show a video or two with your class and discuss the set up of the lesson. Discuss the difference between basic comprehension questions and open-ended questions. Show your students an inspirational video or two from TED reviewed here. As a class, pick out eight or ten of the TED videos and allow students to sign up to work on one of the videos. Have cooperative learning groups develop a TED Ed video lesson. You will need to proofread all work using a word processor, before allowing students to upload their questions on TED Ed.
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Race to Ratify - iCivics
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
Demonstrate the basic concepts of the challenge on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Then allow students to play on their own on the whiteboard or classroom computers, keeping a log of their actions and results. Enhance learning by having students share interactions from the game in comic form using ToonyTool, reviewed here. Ask students to use ToonyTool to create a conversation with the game's character trying to persuade an anti-Federalist or another opponent on the virtues of the Constitution. Use the game as inspiration for students to extend their learning by creating their own history game using Scratch, reviewed here. For ideas and inspiration, use the search feature in Scratch to find examples of history games created by other users.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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LibreTexts - LibreTexts
Grades
10 to 12In the Classroom
LibreTexts is a bonanza for AP and teachers of gifted students. Take advantage of the free texts, course outlines, and homework resources to differentiate instruction and provide lessons for advanced students. Choose resources from LibreTexts for use in any classroom to supplement current materials. As part of career-planning activities, ask students to browse through topics that interest them. Encourage students to collaborate with others with similar career interests, both in the classroom and globally. Extend learning by suggesting that students participate in Ted-Ed Clubs, reviewed here. These Clubs allow participants to share in global meetings with peers that have a common interest. As students learn more about their chosen field, encourage them to interact with members of your community to ask questions and perhaps job shadow as a way to understand the career through personal experience. If using course materials and textbooks found on LibreTexts, this is the perfect opportunity for students to ask clarifying questions from their mentor. Enhance learning by making students the experts. Ask them to present their career findings using a multimedia tool like Sway, reviewed here, to share the information learned with peers.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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OECD Better Life Index - OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
A great classroom discussion starter, and perfect for displaying on an interactive whiteboard, the Better Life Index allows students to consider and debate what makes for a "better life." And once (or if) they can reach a consensus on those factors, where could that life be found in the world? Of course, once you discover that people are healthiest, for example, in Australia, what does that mean? Why are they healthy there? What community, government, and institutional factors make Australia healthy? Do they make choices other countries don't? This is a wonderful tool for guiding discussion about the public policy decisions made by citizens and governments, and how those decisions affect the quality of life. It would also provide powerful information for persuasive writing or debates. If you talk about utopias and dystopias, this is another way for students to decide what the criteria are for each. If you study world cultures, this site can provide a whole different lens to promote crosscultural understanding. Assign students to compare and contrast factors that matter most to them across multiple countries. Gifted students who are designing an "ideal civilization" can find meaningful data here to use as part of their plans.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Ford's Theatre Abraham Lincoln Teaching Resources - Ford's Theatre
Grades
3 to 12In the Classroom
Use the materials found on this site to supplement your lessons on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. Find additional Lincoln and Civil War materials at Actively Learn, reviewed here. Lessons on Actively Learn include embedded questions correlated to Common Core Standards for developing reading and comprehension skills. Organize your entire Lincoln unit and share materials (including videos with embedded questions) with students using Canvas Free LMS, reviewed here. Create an entire learning path with all of your materials using Symbaloo Learning Paths, reviewed here. Symbaloo Learning Paths includes options for embedding videos, texts, quizzes, and more. In addition, Symbaloo Learning Paths allows the creator to create optional paths for participants to follow allowing for differentiation of activities. Modify older students learning by having them create their own Learning Path as an alternative to a research project to share information they learned and create quizzes for fellow students.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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The Lowdown: The Obama Years, A Retrospective Lesson Plan - PBS Learning Media
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
As you explore the interactive timeline together as a class or with small groups, use a simple polling tool like SurveyPlanet, reviewed here, to assess student understanding of the different events on the timeline. Use SurveyPlanet to add each event to a poll and ask students to weigh in on their opinion on if the event was an accomplishment or a setback to the Obama administration. Use an online curation tool such as Padlet, reviewed here, to organize and share additional resources with students to enhance learning. For example, create a Padlet with columns for each year of the Obama presidency and add online articles from different resources that discuss each event. Extend learning by asking students to apply their knowledge of the Obama presidency and compare it to another president's term in office using one of the storytelling tools found at Knight Lab, reviewed here. Scroll down Knight Lab's main page to find options that include a Storyline to tell the stories behind numbers, StoryMap - maps that tell numbers, and a timeline creation tool.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Civil War Interactive Poster - TeachingHistory.org
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
This site is perfect for students to emcee on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Open up each quadrant to view images and documents provided. Have students discuss their reactions and thoughts on each of the representations before clicking on the asterisk to find specific information. Use the teaching resources and ideas provided to add context to Civil War lessons. Challenge students to create a talking avatar using a photo or other image (legally permitted to be reproduced). The avatars can be used to explain information provided by one of the images. Use a site such as Blabberize, reviewed here. Blabberize allows you to add speech and annotate images. To find Creative Commons images for student projects (with credit, of course), try Vecteezy, reviewed here. Challenge your students to use a site such as Timeline Infograhics Templates, reviewed here, to create an interactive timeline of information from this interactive poster along with other information learned during your Civil War unit. With Timeline Infographics Templates you can include text, images, and collaboration.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Open Yale Courses - Yale University
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
This is an excellent resource for gifted students as well as students interested in viewing high quality college level course material. Browse through topics of interest for your AP or IB classroom and use selected videos for viewing on your interactive whiteboard (or projector). Share a link on your class webpage for students to view at home. Teachers of gifted may want to suggest that students form small cohorts to explore one of the course of particular interest to them. Music and art history teachers will find rich materials to include in their high school courses, as well.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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OpenStax - Rice University
Grades
9 to 12In the Classroom
Use OpenStax textbooks to dig deeper into core subjects such as math, science, and social studies. Use materials to differentiate instruction based on student abilities and interests. If your current textbooks are older, find newer books on OpenStax and adopt them for your curriculum. Take advantage of the search feature of online books to find supplemental material for your current instruction. Find teaching materials for gifted students using OpenStax textbooks.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Founding Principles: American Governance in Action - Bowdoin College
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Watch videos together as a class, or flip your class and have students watch at home before introducing lessons on the government in class. Allow students to watch videos at their own pace on 1:1 devices or at home, then create a simple infographic sharing their findings using Infogram, reviewed here. Challenge cooperative learning groups to create podcasts demonstrating their understanding of one of the concepts of American Governance. Use a site such as podOmatic, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! - National Public Radio (NPR)
Grades
6 to 12In the Classroom
Subscribe to this podcast and listen together as a class. This format provides many opportunities to develop listening and problem-solving skills and also provides an opportunity to teach skills for recognizing "fake news." After listening to several podcasts encourage students to create their own programs using a similar format. First, replace paper notecards and pen and have students plan out the podcast using Notejoy, reviewed here, where students can collaborate on the script and move the notecards around until they have their podcast just right. Strenghten learning by recording and publishing their podcast using Buzzsprout, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Electoral College - The Lou Frey Institute of Politics & Government
Grades
5 to 12In the Classroom
View this video together on an interactive whiteboard to illustrate the impact of the Electoral College voting on the election of the US President, both today and in the past. Alternatively, embed it in your class web page for the duration of your elections unit. Have students create their own "in plain English" video about a topic in government using Typito, reviewed here, and share them using a tool such as SchoolTube, reviewed here. Use an online tool such as Interactive Two Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, to compare and contrast differences between the popular vote and Electoral College votes. Add questions to this video for students to explore further using a tool such as EdPuzzle, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Digital Civics Toolkit - MacArthur Research Network
Grades
8 to 12In the Classroom
Save yourself some time, and use these excellent free modules on this site during online safety lessons. Share this site with your school's counselor for use during digital awareness activities. Instead of using paper and pencil to record ideas during brainstorming sessions, use an online bulletin board like Padlet, reviewed here, to organize and record student responses. Padlet offers tools for participants to share links and add comments to posts. As students develop responses to prompts, replace paper and pencil and ask them to create simple web pages to share their ideas and include support for their position using a simple webpage creation tool like Jimdo, reviewed here. Add a link to each student or group's web pages onto your class website to share the variety of ideas and resources shared by the class. Enhance learning and use Acast, reviewed here, to create podcasts featuring student's sharing tips for being digitally aware and share with your school community.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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