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An Accessible Interdisciplinary Civics Education For All
The Pardon of Susan B Anthony
What Happened?
On Tuesday, August 18th, 2020, the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment’s ratification, Trump announced that he was pardoning Susan B Anthony for voting...
Ad Hominem Arguments and the 2020 Presidential Election
What happened?
The 2020 presidential election has been one of the most politically charged elections in our nation’s recent history. Both candidates have been exceptional...
Quarantine Control: How Perspective Shapes Reality
What happened?
The global pandemic has caused many people to self isolate on their leaders’ orders. While isolation inherently may not be deemed a ‘fun’ activity, o...
Psychology
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Harlow’s Rhesus Monkey Experiments: Monkeying Around With Love
Have You Ever?
You’re helping your uncle Brian watch his children at an aquarium. A fire alarm goes off, and scares your youngest cousin Cordelia. Cordelia runs from your side to ...
The Marshmallow Test: You’re Hot Then You’re Cold
Have You Ever?
Picture yourself in a mall, staring at a very expensive product that you really, really want - maybe a piece of clothing from a high-end fashion designer, or a newl...
Planning Fallacy: Bit Off More Than You Can Chew?
Have You Ever?
Picture this: it’s 6 P.M. on a school night. Your favorite TV show is just about to air a new episode and you really want to know what happens, but you also have an...
Selection Bias: Don’t Forget About Me!
Have You Ever?
Have you ever wondered why some studies show results that just aren’t consistent with reality? This can happen for many reasons, and one of them is when the subject...
Status Quo Bias: If It Ain’t Broke, Why Fix It?
Have You Ever?
Ever heard the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”? As you probably well know, that saying refers to the idea that if things are fine the way they currently a...
Stanford Prison Experiment: Role-ing With It
Problem
Knock, knock. It’s late, but you open the door anyway and find police officers standing outside. They inform you that you’re under arrest for armed robbery. You try to ins...
The Bobo Doll Experiment: Kids See, Kids Do
Have You Ever?
One day, your uncle has to work late, so your dad volunteers to take care of both you and your younger cousin. All in all, besides the addition of another person, y...
The Asch Conformity Experiments: The Line Between Independence and Conformity
Problem
Your school is having students take their annual vision test, but to save time, they’re having multiple students go at once. In each group of four, students will go down a...
Learned Helplessness Experiment: Doggone Attitudes
Background
Your coach has introduced a new training method: at practice, you’ll jump hurdles while wearing weights on your legs. The idea is that after training for a while, you’l...
Philosophy
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Thomson’s “A Defense of Abortion” : What’s Meant by “Right to Life?”
Background
The debate over abortion, whether you’re speaking from a legal, religious, or moral perspective, is far from new. A large chunk of the arguments centers around whether ...
Metaphor & Simile: A Piece of Cake and Easy As Pie!
Have You Ever?
“That test was a piece of cake,” Madeline says to Luke as they walk to their next class.
“Yeah,” Luke agrees, “each question flew by as fast as an airplane.”
...
Thomas Nagel’s “War and Massacre”: Fighting Fair
The Problem
Let’s say your country has been at war with another country for a few years. Thousands of people have died in the conflict, and thousands more have had their lives fun...
Equity vs. Equality: Unequivocally Important
Introduction
You may be familiar with the classic image of three kids of different heights trying to see a baseball game over a fence. One version of the image gives each of the t...
John Rawls’ “Justice As Fairness”: Liberty Rarely Differs Among Equals
The Problem
What is justice? It’s often used in tandem with morality, goodness, legality, and order, but what distinguishes justice from these concepts? What factors do we take in...
Tu quoque: You Too?!?
Have You Ever?
You’ve probably had at least a handful of adults tell you not to do drugs or to never drink underage. Imagine that you found out your parents did all of these thing...
Non sequitur: Follow Along!
Have You Ever?
During lunch, you’re chatting with your friends about the latest blockbuster movie that came out. All of you are really excited to see it. The reviews are great, yo...
Argument From Repetition: It Works Again and Again
Have You Ever?
You’re hanging out with your friend Iggy and idly chatting about a new video game. Her brother Mark is familiar with the franchise and joins in the conversation. A ...
Allegory: More than a Children’s Story
Have You Ever?
Have you read George Orwell’s Animal Farm? At the beginning of the story, all the animals work together to overthrow their cruel farmer and run the farm themselves....
Economics
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The IMF: Protector of the World Financial Order?
Introduction
Did you know that the combined national debt of every country in the world hovers at approximately sixty-nine trillion dollars? This is a testament to just how compli...
Human Development Index: Quantifying Quality of Life
How Do You Quantify “Quality of Life”?
How are you doing, really? Beyond the knee-jerk reaction of “I’m fine, thanks,” if you pause and give this question some true consideration,...
The Federal Reserve and Monetary Policy: All the Money in the Economy
Have You Ever?
Imagine a world where money was free-flowing, and there were no rules on how to spend, borrow, or lend it. Sounds kind of nice, right? Well, hold on to your seat fo...
Prisoner’s Dilemma: It’s You or Me
Problem
Maggie and Lou are found at a crime scene. Given the physical evidence, they’re each looking at about one year in prison. However, the cops want more than that. They take ...
Introduction to Behavioral Economics: Acting Irrationally
Have You Ever?
Picture yourself at the mall. When you go shopping for clothes or electronics, how do you make the choices that you make? What’s influenced you to make these decisi...
World Bank: The Purse Strings of Global Development
Introduction
Currently, about 10 percent of the global population lives in extreme poverty. This is approximately 700 million people living on less than $1.90 per day. To put this...
The Federal Reserve and Interest Rates
Have You Ever?
You’ve heard it before on the news: “The Federal Reserve lowers interest rates to 0.50 percent” or “The Federal Reserve raises interest rates to 3.0 percent”. All t...
The Role of the Federal Reserve: What is the Fed?
Have You Ever?
Have you ever thought to yourself, “Where does money come from?”, “Who produces it?”, and most importantly, “Who the heck controls it?” These are questions that mos...
Supply and Demand: I Want It, I Got It
Have You Ever?
Have you ever wondered about how companies decide on prices for their products? Well, if you’ve ever gone into a dollar store or a discount party shop, you have pro...
History
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The Roman Republic: Separation of Powers
Background
The Roman Republic began in 509 B.C. after Rome’s last king, Tarquinius Superbus, was expelled from the city. This event resulted from a number of abuses, the most prom...
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense: Call to Arms
Have You Ever?
Have you ever heard an impassioned speech that motivated you to action? Did you ever read an article that completely changed your perspective? Or maybe you listened...
Maximilien Robespierre: Beliefs vs Actions
Background
Take a moment to picture the ideal, perfect world. Odds are you thought about world peace, global health, the end of poverty, and an overall raised standard of living. ...
Boston Tea Party: A Brewing Cup of Rebellion
Have You Ever?
Your parents have always been fairly hands-off: they let you make your own choices and learn your own mistakes. Then one day, they start exercising some control ove...
Equal Pay Act: An Early Step Toward Reducing the Wage Gap
Introduction
Sofia and her friend Gabriel decide to start a lawn-mowing business. To start, they’ve decided they will each go to a few of their neighbors, offer to mow the lawn, a...
Susan B. Anthony: Pioneer for Women’s Rights
Background
The struggle for suffrage for African Americans and women was constant throughout the nineteenth century and lasted through the early twentieth century. African America...
The Equal Rights Amendment: An Ongoing Struggle
Introduction
Have you ever heard of the Equal Rights Amendment? The Equal Rights Amendment was the first and only piece of legislation proposed to assure equal protection under th...
Anti-Federalist vs. Federalist: The Debate Over the Constitution
Introduction
The Constitution is one of the most influential documents in American history. It outlines the government under which we live and details the rights each of us has. D...
Montesquieu: The Spirit of Separation – Enlightenment | Academy 4 Social Change
Problem
How do people generate new ideas and theories? How do you come up with good ideas when there are millions of people who probably already came up with better ones? How do y...
U.S. Government
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Electoral College Debate: To Keep or Abolish?
Introduction
Imagine you’re voting for class president. You would probably expect that the student with the highest number of votes would become president, and you’d likely be cor...
Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905)
Case
In the early 1900s, regulation over individual behavior was on the rise. Restrictions over contraceptives, abortion, alcohol, and drug use were supported by the federal gover...
Electoral College: The Race for 270
Introduction
It’s the second Tuesday in November: the day of the presidential election. You’ve done your research, chosen your favorite candidate, and you’re ready to go vote. Whe...
Gerrymandering: Manipulating Democracy
Problem
Do you know what your voting district looks like? If you aren’t a voter, and even if you are, why would you? It doesn’t seem important—which is why most people don’t under...
Lobbying: Lend Me Your Ear
Introduction
You’re waiting in the lobby of your government’s legislative building. Maybe you plan to convince your representative to vote yes on stricter environmental laws with ...
Amending the Constitution: Get With the Times
Problem
The Constitution of the United States has often been called a “living document.” Why? Labeling it a founding document makes sense - the Constitution outlines our current g...
Bill of Rights: Listed Liberties
The Problem
The year is 1789. The American Constitution has just been implemented, and it neatly lays out how the federal government should be run. However, it doesn’t say much ab...
Judicial Review: Checking the Other 2 Branches
Introduction
The system of checks and balances is one of the most important aspects of the U.S. government. Through this system, the three branches of government - executive, legi...
Brown v Board of Education 1954
Case
Linda Brown was a seven-year-old girl who became the face of one of the most impactful Supreme Court cases in United States history. Linda Brown attended an all-black Element...
Global Issues
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Carbon Neutrality: Narrowing in on Net-Zero
Introduction
Anna is in a class where the teacher assigns homework every day but doesn’t check it until the end of the month. Unfortunately, it is halfway through the month, and A...
Epidemics vs. Pandemics: Defining Global Diseases
Background
Did you know that diseases are spreading throughout the globe faster than ever before? You have probably heard the words “epidemic” and “pandemic” thrown around in the ...
Case Study: Ban of the Veil in France
Introduction
The world is full of different religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and more. People practice their beliefs in all different ways, like celebrating holi...
Dowry: The Price of Being a Woman
Imagine
Imagine a close family friend of yours is about to get married. Everyone is extremely excited for her, and the groom-to-be seems like a great match for her! Your family is...
World Health Organization: Who is the WHO?
Have You Ever?
Have you noticed that in today’s globalized world, it is very common for diseases to travel from one country to another? Did you know that people around the globe s...
Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Standards for the Entire World
Do You Know your Human Rights?
In the United States, we are familiar with the phrase “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” to represent our rights as citizens. However, ca...
Convention on the Rights of the Child: Children’s Rights are Human Rights
Introduction
Were you ever allowed to order off the kids menu at a restaurant because you were within the age limits? Believe it or not, that is not the only special right childre...