Back to Standards Index: National Council for the Social Studies C3 Framework

Standards Index: D2.Civ.5.9-12.

Find lessons and videos that align with standards

Evaluate citizens’ and institutions’ effectiveness in addressing social and political problems at the local, state, tribal, national, and/or international level.

Image from Hurricane Katrina and Disaster Response – Mini Lesson
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Hurricane Katrina and Disaster Response – Mini Lesson

Students will learn about Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, examining the effects a major hurricane can have on communities.
Image from Why the Supreme Court Endorsed, Then Limited Affirmative Action
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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.
Image from The 1968 L.A. School Walkouts
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The 1968 L.A. School Walkouts

Students will learn about and analyze the events surrounding the 1968 East Los Angeles student walkouts.
Image from The Birth of Party Conventions: the Anti-Masonic Party (1831)
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The Birth of Party Conventions: the Anti-Masonic Party (1831)

Students will learn why the populist and conspiracy-obsessed Anti-Masonic Party held America’s first political party convention, a democratizing innovation that changed forever the way Americans choose their presidents.
Image from Brown v. Board of Ed and Busing Promised Integration. Why Are Schools Still Segregated?
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Brown v. Board of Ed and Busing Promised Integration. Why Are Schools Still Segregated?

Students will learn why much of the school integration achieved through cross-town busing has unraveled over the last few decades.
Image from The Environment and Natural Resources: Wild Horses
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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.
Image from Holocaust Survivors Fleeing Ukraine Find  New Home in Germany
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Holocaust Survivors Fleeing Ukraine Find New Home in Germany

Students will examine the history of the Holocaust in Ukraine, and compare and contrast the current crisis in Ukraine.
Image from Tracking the Python Threat in the Everglades
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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.
Image from How the Military Response to 9/11 Led to Two Decades of War in Afghanistan
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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."
Image from Whites-Only Suburbs: How the New Deal Shut Out Black Homebuyers
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Whites-Only Suburbs: How the New Deal Shut Out Black Homebuyers

Students will learn how race-based federal lending rules from New Deal programs in the 1930s kept Black families locked out of suburban neighborhoods, a policy that continues to slow their economic mobility.
Image from Ecology: The Yellowstone Wildfires of 1988
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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.
Image from How the U.S. Has Treated Wartime Refugees
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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.
Image from McCarthyism: Populism and the Press
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McCarthyism: Populism and the Press

Students will learn how Joseph McCarthy rode to power on a wave of anti-communist fears, and how television contributed to both his rise and fall.
Image from Labor Union Activism: Advocating for Worker Rights
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Labor Union Activism: Advocating for Worker Rights

Students compare and contrast the rise of union membership in the 1930s with the union movement of the early 2020s
Image from American Reckoning
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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.
Image from Vincent Chin and Asian American Civil Rights
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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.
Image from Transgender Rights, Won Over Decades, Face New Restrictions
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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.
Image from How a 1944 Supreme Court Ruling on Internment Camps Led to a Reckoning
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How a 1944 Supreme Court Ruling on Internment Camps Led to a Reckoning

Students will learn how the U.S. government imprisoned 120,000 people of Japanese descent, most American citizens, during World War II and the lasting impact of a related Supreme Court ruling.
Image from The Indian Child Welfare Act
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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.
Image from Protests For Racial Justice: A Long History
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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.
Image from  1976 Republican Convention: Ford vs Reagan
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1976 Republican Convention: Ford vs Reagan

Students will learn the context surrounding the battle between Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford at the 1976 Republican National Convention, one of the only party conventions in modern history in which an active contest for delegates at the convention determined the outcome.
Image from Unprepared: Lessons From Two Massive Oil Spills
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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.
Image from 2004 Democratic Convention: The Importance of the Keynote Speech
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2004 Democratic Convention: The Importance of the Keynote Speech

Students will learn how the communications professionals at national party conventions choose speakers and coordinate messaging, and how Barack Obama was chosen in 2004 to make the keynote speech that launched his national political career and changed the course of American history.
Image from Extremism in America
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Extremism in America

Students will explore the seeds of the extremist ideologies that continue to be influential today and the government’s failed attempts to stop the broader white supremacist movement.
Image from Facing Eviction
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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.
Image from Immigration in the 1990s: Proposition 187
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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.