Judicial Branch of California
Public Service Announcement: Civic Responsibility
Get your message across. Scholars use their prior knowledge and artistic skills to create public service announcements. The project is designed to explain the importance of civic harmony and the responsibility of all citizens to...
Curated OER
"I'm Not Old Enough to Vote, but If I Was..." Creating Video Public Service Announcements
Students create a short multi-media public service announcement aimed at increasing voter participation after determining how the issues can impact their communities. They apply critical viewing skills while determining the effectiveness...
Annenberg Foundation
Service Learning in the Social Studies
Active Citizenship Today (ACT) is a "unique social studies service learning program" that requires students to learn about the public policy associated with community issues they identify in their local community. This web site provides...
Curated OER
“Pardon This Interruption-Columbus Has Landed!!!”
Students research, design, rehearse, record, and present a 60 second Public Service Announcement, based on Columbus' arrival in the America. The students, working in groups, utilize the design process in creating their PSA. This lesson...
Curated OER
Too Hot to Handle
Students read an online article and research the ten most active volcanoes in the world. They devise an independent public service announcement for evacuating people living near a volcano.
Curated OER
PSAs: The Way We See It - Uncommercials
Students work in groups to identify a topic or issue that they feel passionate about and produce a short PSA for the topic. In this PSA instructional activity, students select an issue or social problem to research. Students create a...
Creative Visions Foundation
Video Interpretations of the UDHR
How can people better understand their rights? Scholars explore the question with the second of four installments in the Introduction to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights lesson plan series. Learners watch and write descriptions...
Curated OER
Taking Action! Educating as a Form of Service
Students read the story Happy Hearts in Manabí by Peace Corps Volunteer Kristen Mallory to consider how educating others can be a form of service. In this health education and service lesson, students read the book and then prioritize...
Curated OER
Leadership & Public Service
Students read and discuss quotes from well-known public servants to generate a list of leadership qualities they value. They then view short video clips from prominent public and private sector leaders.
Teaching Tolerance
Voting in Your Town
A socially important resource focuses on voter turnout and roadblocks to voting. Scholars review resources on voting stats, watch a documentary, and participate in group discussion regarding voting in their local communities. Academics...
Curated OER
Call to Arms: A Service Project
Sick of selling candy and washing cars? How about hosting a Digital Day or a Learning Lunch? The suggestions here make fund raising fun and rewarding. Raise money to preserve important maps and other primary source documents.
Curated OER
Fancying the Full-Time
Students consider rights a worker deserves and research the impact of migrant workers in countries around the world. They create public service announcements to increase awareness and address letters to individuals capable of redressing...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Federal Policy and Immigration
How is federal policy established? To gain insight into this complex and often messy process, class members read an article that uses information on attempts to establish public policy in immigration to illustrate the role proposed...
Curated OER
Proud to Be of Service
Observe the National Day of Service and Remembrance with a service learning lesson plan. After discussing the events of September 11, 2001, learners plan and implement their own service learning project in honor of American heroes.
Curated OER
Conscience and Public Service
Students study conscientious observers (COs) in the Civilian Public Service (CPS) during World War II. They explore how the media sources influence public opinion and policy makers, and complete a writing assignment about the topic.
Curated OER
Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere
In this online interactive philosophy worksheet, students respond to 8 short answer questions about Habermas's Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Students may check some of their answers on the interactive worksheet.
Curated OER
Life Skills for Vocational Success: Transportation, Owning a Car, Topic 1: Purchasing a Car
Discuss things to consider when purchasing a car with high schoolers. They will use newspaper ads to locate a car in their price range. Then they use a "Loan Calculation Chart" to estimate monthly payments of their car. In the end, they...
Curated OER
Government Goods and Services
Fifth graders investigate the connection between taxes and government services. In this economics lesson, 5th graders discuss the process and benefits of paying sales and income taxes. Using calculators, students compute the amount of...
Curated OER
Home Away from Home
Second graders listen to stories about homeless people. In this public service lesson plan, 2nd graders recognize the problems of being homeless and the importance of community activities. Students listen to Fly Away Home and create...
Curated OER
Public Land
Learners examine the needs of their community for public space and determine the solutions to math problems related to planning landscape designs. They read and discuss an article from the New York Times, create their own designs for a...
Skyscraper Museum
Designing a Skyscraper
Besides serving as awe-inspiring monuments of human achievement, skyscrapers are built to perform a wide range of functions in urban communities. The second lesson plan in this series begins by exploring the history of the Empire State...
Constitutional Rights Foundation
The Declaration of Independence
Your class can write a PSA about the Declaration of Independence! They write public service announcements and present them to the class. They also engage in reading and discussion activities to further understand a challenging—yet...
Curated OER
Public Trust
Middle schoolers discover public trust. In this civics lesson, students explore how to promote public trust as they use their resources to support worthy politicians, athletes, celebrities, and corporations.
Curated OER
Making Public Policy
Eighth graders examine a Legislative website to view the biography of a member and a map of the district that the member represents. They are then visited by the member who engages students in a discussion about how legislators make...