Every year on January 16, Washington public schools participate in Temperance and Good Citizenship Day (TAGCD) in accordance with Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 28A.230.150. On this day, Washington social studies teachers must provide instructional time for high school seniors to register to vote. The Office of Superintendent of Public…

This article outlines a series of lessons the author led to help students understand gerrymandering, which is the practice of drawing district boundaries to favor a particular group or party and which undermines the fairness of a representative democracy. These lessons were developed to capture student interest and engagement by linking…

This paper explores how PurpleState, a political simulation designed to foster skills and knowledge for informed civic participation, develops students' abilities to counter or resist the effects of political polarization and partisanship. Throughout the simulation, which has been implemented in Virginia and Wisconsin, students are asked to…

Purpose: The aim of this research is to investigate youth understandings of citizenship against the dual backgrounds of inclusive citizenship education and exclusionary discourse in the public sphere. Design / methodology / approach: The topic was explored through group interviews with 10th grade students, while the emergent theme of material or…

As American politics becomes more polarized, it is increasingly necessary for teachers to understand the relationship between education and partisan behavior. Using data from a 2012 CIRCLE survey of 18-24-year-olds, I examine the relationship between students' educational experiences (focusing on exposure to high-quality civics instruction and…

The College, Career and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards published by the National Council for the Social Studies advocates the need for students not just to acquire and produce knowledge, but also to live a life of active engagement in the workings of our democracy. Dimension Four of the C3 Framework articulates this…

Take a minute and imagine the ideal classroom learning environment. What would it be like? How would students learn? What would they be doing? Certainly, each student would be actively engaged in the lesson, exploring and discovering the key points. Perhaps students would work collaboratively, discussing various concepts and figuring out central…

The use of electronic voting systems (EVS) in teaching at all levels is increasing as the technology becomes cheaper and easier to use. Although many educators initially take a cynical view of the educational value of such technology, many of those who use EVS express a very positive view of their experiences. This article aims to share these…

The 2008 presidential election is a great backdrop for analyzing graphs, learning about population distributions, and studying the effect on the electoral voting process. To take advantage of the enthusiasm surrounding the election, the authors conducted two activities in the months leading up to the 2008 presidential elections with several groups…

The recommitment of public education to its civic roots has revived discussion on how to engage younger generations of citizens in electoral politics and civic life. This randomized trial of 1,670 high school students in 80 social studies classrooms evaluates the impact of an election-based civics program on students' civic knowledge, skills, and…

This comprehensive resource is an invaluable aid for adding a global dimension to students' understanding of American history. It includes a wide range of materials from scholarly articles and reports to original syllabi and ready-to-use lesson plans to guide teachers in enlarging the frame of introductory American history courses to an…