Toolkit
Democracy and Current Events
This toolkit provides lessons and strategies for helping your students make sense of issues in the news related to democracy.
Subject
- Civics & Citizenship
- Social Studies
Grade
6–12Language
English — USPublished
About This Toolkit
We live in a time of great tension and conflict in democracies around the world. Elections in recent years—both inside and outside of the United States—have revealed and exacerbated deep divisions within many democratic societies, raising fundamental questions about the strength and fragility of democratic institutions. The resources in this toolkit can help your students learn about the concept of democracy, the forces that strengthen or weaken it, and make connections to issues of democracy in the present.
A Note to Teachers
Before teaching with the resources in this toolkit, please review the following information to help guide your preparation process.
Assessing the Strength of Democracy in the United States
This mini-lesson provides students with an opportunity to deepen their understanding of democracy and reflect on the strength of our democracy.
Free and Fair Elections
This Explainer describes the standards that governments need to meet before, during, and after an election to ensure that the election is "free and fair."
Free and Fair Elections: Why Do They Matter?
This mini-lesson uses our Free and Fair Elections explainer to help students reflect on the importance of elections, define the phrase “free and fair elections,” and learn about electoral systems in their region.
Political Polarization in the United States
This Explainer defines the term political polarization and provides information on how it impacts US politics and society.
Voting Rights in the United States
In this mini-lesson, students learn about the history of voting rights in the United States and consider how current voting laws in different states impact voters today.
A New Generation of Young Voters Emerges
Explore why young people tend to vote at lower rates and how they can get more involved in elections.
What Happened During the Insurrection at the US Capitol and Why?
This mini-lesson guides students to use an iceberg diagram to synthesize the events of January 6, 2021, and outline the complex array of causes at work.
How to Read the News Like a Fact Checker
Reading “laterally” is a key media literacy strategy that helps students determine the quality of online sources. This mini-lesson trains students to use this technique to evaluate the credibility of the news they encounter on social media feeds or elsewhere online.
Where Do We Get Our News and Why Does It Matter?
Explore media bias using recent news coverage of controversial events and help students think about what healthy news habits they want to adopt.
News Article Analysis
Help students identify and analyze the key characteristics of the three most common types of news articles.
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Students identify strategies and tools that Parkland students have used to influence Americans to take action to reduce gun violence.
The Power of Images
Students examine how identity and biases can impact how individuals interpret images and experience the challenge of selecting images to represent news events, particularly connected to sensitive issues.
Preparing Students for Difficult Conversations
Students establish a safe space for holding sensitive conversations, before introducing the events surrounding Ferguson, by acknowledging people's complicated feelings about race and creating a classroom contract.
Social Media and Ferguson
Students explore the role of social media in Ferguson, apply information verification strategies to social media posts, and develop strategies for becoming critical consumers and sharers of social media.
Verifying Breaking News
Students evaluate the differences among news accounts about Ferguson, develop strategies for verifying news and information, and understand the challenges facing journalists as they cover complex, fast-moving events.
Facing Ferguson: News Literacy in a Digital Age
Help students become informed and effective civic participants in today's digital landscape. This unit is designed to develop students' critical thinking, news literacy, civic engagement, and social-emotional skills and competencies.
Standing Up to Hatred and Intolerance
Address today's global challenges with lesson plans focused on current events including the refugee crisis and contemporary antisemitism.
The Importance of a Free Press
Students review the First Amendment, understand the importance of a free press, and consider how that freedom can conflict with other societal needs through journalists’ experiences in Ferguson.
Citizen Watchdogs and the News
Students identify the responsibilities of citizen watchdogs, summarize strategies for combatting confirmation bias and responsibly consuming and sharing news and information, and complete a culminating essay.
Confirmation and Other Biases
Students define explicit, implicit, and confirmation bias, and examine why people sometimes maintain their beliefs in the face of contradictory information.
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