Teachers | iCivics

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DBQuest

Kids Making a Difference - Garden Edition

Do you ever wonder how kids can make a difference? In this DBQuest, young people from three different periods in U.S. history share, in their own words, how they helped their communities and country…
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DBQuest

Policy, Public Interest, and... Margarine?

Laws are put in place. Sometimes, they are amended. Sometimes, they are repealed. Sometimes, we forget all about them! So what changes? We do! Public policy is just that– a series of laws,…
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Lesson Plan

Do I Have a Right? Extension Pack

Make your students’ gameplay more meaningful by using our constitutional rights activity and assessment set designed specifically for Do I Have a Right?. We included tips and practice that help make…
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Lesson Plan

Argument Wars Extension Pack

Make your students’ game play more meaningful by using our activity and assessment set designed specifically for Argument Wars. This easy-to-use Extension Pack helps you give context and purpose to…
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Lesson Plan

Executive Command Extension Pack

Make your students’ game play more meaningful by using our activity and assessment set designed specifically for Executive Command. This easy-to-use Extension Pack helps you give context and purpose…
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Lesson Plan

LawCraft Extension Pack

Make your students’ game play more meaningful by using our activity and assessment set designed specifically for LawCraft. This easy-to-use Extension Pack helps you give context and purpose to the…
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Lesson Plan

Step 1: Change the World?

Kick off this project-based unit by asking students to examine what it means to make change in the world. Students think about why people are motivated to advocate for change, what kinds of issues…
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Lesson Plan

Step 2: Find What You Need

Do your students breeze through internet search results, easily weeding out irrelevant results and finding exactly what they need? No? This step offers a detailed look at how to search for and find…
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Lesson Plan

Step 3: Become an Expert

In this step, students read and annotate the sources they identified in Step 2. The lesson discusses investigative reading and offers strategies for staying organized when faced with a large amount…
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Lesson Plan

Step 4: Consider the Context

No issue exists in a vacuum, so in this step, students examine the factors that contribute to the circumstances surrounding their issue to gain a deeper understanding of the issue and its interplay…
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Lesson Plan

Step 5: Identify Your Stakeholders

In this step, students figure out who’s got a stake in their issue. They learn what stakeholders are and how to identify them, as well as why the power of numbers is important and how to leverage…
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Lesson Plan

Step 6: Plan Your Attack

Armed with information and a deep understanding of their issue, students shift into action mode in this step by writing an action plan for “moving the needle” on their issue.
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Lesson Plan

Step 7: Fill the Holes

Students take a “step” back in Step 7 and identify gaps in their information: What pieces of the puzzle are still missing? What information is important to have before going on? To fill those holes,…
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Lesson Plan

Step 8: Talk It Up

To get support for an issue, you have to be able to talk about it—and in this step, students learn how to do that effectively. By developing and practicing both an elevator speech and a set of…
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Lesson Plan

Step 9: Grab People’s Attention

In this step, students get creative by developing “swag” to promote their cause. They learn principles of effective attention-grabbing that they apply to their own swag designs, including how to…
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Lesson Plan

Step 10: Make Your Pitch

In the culminating lesson, students learn how to design and deliver an effective slide presentation to gather support for their issue, create a 5-minute presentation targeted to a specific…
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Lesson Plan

Washington's Water

Water rights are a big deal for many reasons. In this lesson, students learn where water comes from, what water rights are, and how a variety of competing interests factor into managing water…
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Lesson Plan

Immigration Nation Extension Pack

Make your students’ gameplay more meaningful by using our immigration lesson plan designed specifically for Immigration Nation. This easy-to-use Extension Pack helps you give context and purpose to…
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Lesson Plan

Foundation Basics

Meet your PALS—Power, Authority, Legitimacy, and Sovereignty! In this lesson, students are introduced to these characteristics of government and consider how governments establish and maintain these…
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Lesson Plan

NewsFeed Defenders Extension Pack

Make your students’ game play more meaningful with activities designed specifically for NewsFeed Defenders. This easy-to-use resource set means deeper learning for students and best practices around…
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