Teaching Primary & Secondary Sources in K-12 - Open Resources: US Government & Civics
This was designed to be a complementary resource for the 'Teaching with Primary Sources' workshop run by Dr. Juan Walker. But it can also be used as a stand-alone resource to aid you in your preparation for teaching with primary sources!
"Constitutional Rights Foundation (CRF) is a non-profit, non-partisan org. dedicated to educating young people about civic participation in a democratic society."
Access free lessons and materials on the government, U.S. history, and world history, which "promote critical-thinking development, open discussion of issues, and interactive activities to heighten learning" [from webpage].
Provide your students, from K- College, with a rich learning experience in civics and government by enrolling your class, school, or district in the NSPME. Students, parents, and teachers have their voice heard 5 days before the actual election (from FAQ page).
Games and Interactive Websites or Apps for Students
Suitable for high school students, "the Redistricting Game is designed to educate, engage, and empower citizens around the issue of political redistricting" [About page].
Suitable for high school students, in this game, players play the role of the president of the European Nations. They must tackle climate change while remaining popular enough with the voters to remain in office [from webpage].
Suitable for middle and high school students, players play the role of the president, where they set an agenda which they try to accomplish while juggling the challenges and responsibilities that come up along the way.
More online activities than games, students learn about the three branches of the government -Executive, Legislative, and Judicial - and the system of Checks and Balances in the U.S. Government [from homepage].
A game developed by Indiana University "that uses primary source documents, photographs, political cartoons, maps, and other items to explore the challenges of sustaining representative democracy in our complex and diverse nation today." [description]
This app both desktop and mobile-friendly, "features a series of interactive episodes where children can observe primary source photographs from the Library of Congress, explore the concepts of government and civics, and connect this information back to their own lives" (Roddy, 2017, para. 6)
This digital learning app both desktop and mobile-friendly, "teaches middle and high school students how to analyze sources of information and apply historical data to events, building the students’ civic understanding and historical thinking skills."
A virtual resource center for anyone exploring the web for US government information, GovSpot.com makes it easy to find the best government websites and documents, facts and figures, news, political information and much more [About page].
