Ideas, Lessons, and Resources for Civics Education

Not confident teaching government? Discover how to teach civics at home, explore political issues with your kids, and learn alongside them.

Give students $10 million to run a fictional town. Can they balance the budget, satisfy residents, and handle an unexpected emergency?

Can citizens neglect their civic responsibilities and still demand their rights? Explore two scenarios that challenge students to consider both sides of the debate.

Discover why teaching active civics is completely different from government, economics, and history, and why it is exactly what students need right now.

How do voters choose when they don’t know every candidate? Explore the shortcuts voters use and how to teach students when it pays to look deeper.

How do you teach kids that voting matters when so many adults don’t bother? Start by taking their skepticism seriously.

What can a President actually do? Explore presidential powers, their constitutional limits, and what happens when Presidents push those limits.

Who actually decides? Explore the levels of government, what each one controls, and how federal, state, and local decisions shape students’ everyday lives.

How does a bill become a law? Follow a bill from idea to introduction, debate, voting, and the President’s desk – and see where the process can change course.

How do we teach kids to disagree without shutting each other down? Explore practical ways to build respectful discussion, active listening, and civil discourse in middle and high school.