Back to Standards Index: National Council for the Social Studies C3 Framework
Standards Index: D2.Civ.13.9-12.
Find lessons and videos that align with standards
Evaluate public policies in terms of intended and unintended outcomes, and related consequences.

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Why the Supreme Court Endorsed, Then Limited Affirmative Action
Students will examine contemporary and historical Supreme Court cases dealing with affirmative action.

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Public Policy: Welfare Reform
Students will learn how President Bill Clinton signed a welfare bill to reform a program created as part of the New Deal in 1935; and how the bill has reshaped the relationship between poor Americans and the government.

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The Environment and Natural Resources: Wild Horses
Students will learn about efforts in the early 1970s to enhance environmental regulation and species protections and what happens when those policies lead to conflict – in this case over the wild horse.

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Dr. Martin Luther King at Gee’s Bend
Students will learn the history of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s fight for voting rights in Gee’s Bend, Ala., a town whose status today shows both the achievements and unfinished work of King’s movement.

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The War on Terror and the Debate Over Torture
Students will learn about the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, focusing on the use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” and the ensuing calls for accountability.

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Why Supreme Court Confirmations Have Become So Bitter
Students will examine the nomination and confirmation process for Supreme Court Justices and learn why the judges often reveal so little.

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Emergence of the AIDS Crisis
Students will learn the historical context of the AIDS crisis in the United States in the 1980s, and where it stands today.

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The War on Drugs: The New Face of Heroin
Students will learn the origin and racial context of America’s multi-decade war on drugs, and the impact the changing demographics of heroin users have had on the debate and public policy.

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The Battle for Votes: Gerrymandering
Students will learn the causes and effects of gerrymandering, and how court decisions authorizing race-based gerrymandering have reshaped American politics and created complex legacies.

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Tracking the Python Threat in the Everglades
Students will learn how Burmese pythons have been multiplying unchecked in the wilds of Florida and what is being done to stop them from devastating the native wildlife populations.

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George C. Wallace and the Politics of Segregation
Students will learn how Alabama Gov. George Wallace’s evolving positions on race reveal both the intensity of the white backlash to desegregation during the 60s and the growing political power of the black community during the 70s and early 80s.

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Midterm Elections: 1966 Midterms Signal a Realignment, Shaping Today’s Parties
Students will learn how Southern voters, once loyal to the Democratic Party, elected Republican candidates in 1966 as the two parties began to sort themselves into distinctly partisan camps.

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The Moral Panic Over “Superpredators”
Students will learn how politicians of both parties used flawed predictions about the rise of a new class of youthful offenders known as superpredators to justify a series of dramatic changes to the nation’s criminal justice system during the 1990s.

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How the Military Response to 9/11 Led to Two Decades of War in Afghanistan
Students will learn how the U.S. military response to the 9/11 attacks led to decades of war and a chaotic ending."

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Aftermath of the War on Terror
Students will learn how the climate of fear and panic following the 9/11 attacks resulted in the arrest and imprisonment of innocent Arab immigrants.

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The Birth of the Environmental Movement: DDT and Rachel Carson
Students will learn how the U.S. government came to develop environmental protection policies and what that means today as we struggle to balance the risk between pesticides and disease.

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How Watergate and Citizens United Shaped Campaign Finance Law
Students will learn how the Watergate break-in changed the way political campaigns were funded, and what that means for today.

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Ecology: The Yellowstone Wildfires of 1988
Students will learn how the Yellowstone fires of 1988 created a national controversy that challenged long-held assumptions about the role that fires should play in forestry policy.

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Midterm Elections: How 1994 Midterms Set Off an Era of Divisive Politics
Students will learn how the midterm elections, often a referendum on the sitting president’s agenda, can set the stage for future policy debates.

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Atomic Fears and the Arms Race: Nuclear Testing
Students will learn how the nuclear arms race impacted different aspects of society – including soldiers who were exposed to radiation during early atomic testing – and how it continues to impact them today.

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The Korean War
Students will learn how President Harry Truman’s use of presidential power during the Korean War continues to influence U.S. foreign policy and military engagements around the world today.

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Sanctuary Cities: An Uproar That Began Long Ago - Mini Lesson
Students will learn about how as deportations of unauthorized immigrants rose under President Donald Trump, some churches and cities declared themselves sanctuaries and shielded migrants from immigration enforcement.

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Race, the Media and the Myth of the ‘Crack Baby’
Students will learn how the news media contributed to a false narrative about the fate of babies born to mothers with addiction problems, what that narrative teaches us about the role of perspective and historical context, and how that false narrative continues to influence us today.

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How the U.S. Has Treated Wartime Refugees
Students will examine the question of what obligation countries have to refugees. As Afghan and Ukrainian migrants settle in the U.S., this video asks whether refugee resettlement is better now than it was for the Vietnamese 50 years ago.

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The Cold War Space Race
Students will learn how the United States space program was fueled by Cold War rivalry, and how the U.S. government leveraged the program’s success in its public relations battle with the Soviet Union.

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The Minneapolis Bridge Collapse
Students will learn about the 2007 collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota and examine political decision-making as it relates to public works projects.

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American Reckoning
Students will learn about a little-known story of the civil rights movement told using excerpts from “American Reckoning," a Retro Report and PBS Frontline collaboration.

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Campaigns and Elections: The 2000 Election
Students will learn why the 2000 presidential election, a race between George W. Bush and Al Gore, was decided by the Supreme Court, and how that led to changes that continue to influence our elections today.

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Vincent Chin and Asian American Civil Rights
Students will learn about the case that set the precedent for racially motivated attacks against Asian Americans being prosecuted as hate crimes.

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Coronavirus: Lessons From Past Epidemics
Students will learn lessons from history for dealing with the coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic by understanding the connections to previous global public health campaigns to eradicate smallpox and polio.

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The Clinton Presidency: “Zero Tolerance”
Students will learn the social and political forces that led schools to adopt “zero tolerance” discipline policies in the 1980s and 1990s, and the racially unequal consequences of these policies today.

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Transgender Rights, Won Over Decades, Face New Restrictions
Students will learn about historical and contemporary demands for equality by transgender people.

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The Indian Child Welfare Act
Students will learn about how for generations, Native American children were removed from their homes and placed with white families. A recent Supreme Court ruling affirms the rights of Native families and tribes, giving them preference in adoption and foster care.

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Suffrage for Black Women
Students will learn how Black women have often been at the forefront of activism and advocacy relating to ballot access, voter suppression, and the right to vote.

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Protests For Racial Justice: A Long History
Students will learn how current protests against police violence and racial inequality are connected to the past, and about the White House commission that released a report in the aftermath of the major urban disorders of 1967.

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Poll Watchers and the Long History of Voter Intimidation
Students will examine primary and secondary sources related to voter intimidation to determine how integrity of elections can be ensured.

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Unprepared: Lessons From Two Massive Oil Spills
Students will learn about the Exxon Valdez and BP Deepwater Horizon oil spills, as well as examining the long-term effects on ecosystems and coastal communities.

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Why We Can't Have a Civil Conversation About Guns
Students will learn about the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan and how decades later, lawmakers and the American public continue a debate over gun control.

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The Cold War: From the Truman Doctrine to the Berlin Airlift
Students will learn how the Berlin Airlift helped protect Berlin from Soviet control, contributed to the rise of NATO and set the tone for the Cold War.

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Facing Eviction
Students will learn about housing insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic and how eviction outcomes often came down to what county, or even city, a tenant lived in.

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Immigration in the 1990s: Proposition 187
Students will learn about the anti-immigration movement in California in the 1990s, and why it is relevant today.