We all know about the amazing iCivics web-based curriculum, the generous endeavor founded by former Justice Sandra Day O’Conner. In fact, it seems to be recommended so much in Facebook groups that it can overshadow other amazing web-based resources. The iCivics simulation games are great to help students, especially middle schoolers, master big concepts, but it’s important to weave in other tools for a well-rounded Civics curriculum. Especially ones that provide students opportunities to deeply analyze a variety of real-world sources, to apply concepts to current issues, and to engage in meaningful inquiry.
These five favorite websites of mine will help you not only create a classroom that does those exact things, but they are also the perfect tools to help you strengthen your own mastery of American politics and government. With both of these goals in mind, you’ll definitely want to add these to your Civics bookmarks! And, trust me, you’ll end up coming back to them again and again. Even better, none of these require logins or accounts to access. To give you some starter ideas, I include a few examples of how I use each of these in my own classroom.
Pew Research Center Data Sets
If you aren’t familiar with the Pew Research Center, we need to change that! It is an essential tool for social studies teachers, but particularly for anyone who teaches Civics or Current Issues.
It is the most robust and well-respected non-partisan fact tank I have found that offers survey findings on nearly every social, political, and economic issue. Within each report there are multiple graphs, making it perfect for a small group or station lesson set-up.
Check out this one on political party affiliation to see what I mean. It contains two dozen graphs, breaking down which demographics lean Republican or Democrat. These are perfect for polling students first on their incoming assumptions, then having them compare those to the data Pew found and completing a simple T-chart.
In addition to amazing social studies rich content, these graphs are the perfect way to teach graph skills and research methodology because they are so thorough; with labels, descriptive text, and notes on how the research was conducted.
The Pew Research Center really sets the bar for proper and complete research in a visual and consumable way, making it perfect for students of all ability levels.
The lesson plans nearly writes itself when exploring this site. For example, one data set shares the results of a survey in which Americans were asked “What makes a good citizen?” What a great question to ask your students at the beginning of your Civic Participation unit or even on the first day of class, then compare with Pew’s findings.
During my Voting & Election unit, I have students look at various data sets that explore voter turnout. They are always fascinated by the percentages broken down by demographics as well as the reasons cited by survey participants for why they vote or not.
You’ll want to head straight to their Search by Topic page to start browsing their survey results. But trust me, it’s a rabbit hole of fascinating, and often surprising, discoveries!
Ballotpedia
As the name implies, Ballotpedia set out to be the web encyclopedia of up-to-date election information, but it has become a great source for all sorts of current status information for anything government related. Unlike Wikipedia, though, Ballotpedia’s content is entirely written by its own professional staff members and has a strong commitment to being non-partisan.
For years, I have had students use this site during election season as one of their tools to research ballot propositions and candidates, but every year I seem to find yet another topic on their website that I can send students to for research regarding our class’s current inquiries.
For example, for our 3 Branches unit I have just recently begun to have students use it to look up all sorts of Congressional and federal court data, like current and past members, district lines, vacancies, upcoming dockets, and voting records. Their state government section is also similarly robust.
When so many civics issues and questions involve the most current information, Ballotpedia will become your new go-to resource to consult too.
Civics 101 Podcast
I discovered this amazing podcast a year or so ago and knew I needed start incorporating it into my regular Civics class routine. Out of New Hampshire Public Radio, Civics 101 is a podcast that is both perfect for teachers who may be new to teaching Civics and perfect for students because of the lighthearted, casual conversations of the hosts on hundreds of topics. I find them more effective than the Crash Course video series, since that was created for AP government students and can be too much for on-level high schoolers. Also, on its website they have transcripts, downloadable audio files, and, for some episodes, simple graphic organizers.
Plus since it’s a podcast and not a video, it’s one less thing that involves students staring at a screen—always a bonus! These 15-or-so-minute episodes offer such a great replacement to lecture that during the 2020-2021 year of distance learning, I used/am using them as part of my flipped classroom experience.
I assign 2-3 episodes per unit and so I only need do a couple mini lectures to round out any remaining information that really is best delivered in lecture form. A few of my favorite episodes are the importance of the President’s approval rating, the history of American voting procedures, and the different scholarly interpretations of the Declaration of Independence.
Because of how perfect they are for the classroom, I put together podcast guided notes kits to pair with several common Civics units, which can serve as a great framework if you’re building a unit from scratch.
Cagle Political Cartoons
I came across Cagle Cartoons in my first year teaching and have never found a better place to browse the latest political cartoons from today’s news as well as to search for topic-specific cartoons to perfectly illustrate a concept. Over the years, I have even found a few favorite cartoonists I now narrow my searches by to find great cartoons even faster.
You can use political cartoons in all sorts of ways. They make great bell-ringers in a 90-minute block schedule. Or, find four cartoons that convey different points of view on the same issue and have students complete a 4 corners exercise and have students physically move to the cartoon with which they most agree. Or simply weave them into mini lectures to better cover a concept.
In another blog post, I share my go-to POPES Political Cartoon Analysis strategy or you can download my free Political Cartoon kit that completely sets you up to begin teaching tomorrow with the perfect cartoon from Cagle’s database!
Congress’ and the Annenberg’s Annotated Constitutions
There is no better textbook than the U.S. Constitution, but it is intimidating to have to explain its literal (and more nuanced!) meanings to your students with the precision of a political scholar.
Over the years, whenever I’m stuck or need a refresh on one particular clause, I head straight to both of these versions. These two complement each other in helping any Civics teacher understand exactly what those words mean at face value and what they have come to mean through court cases and legislation.
The U.S. Congress’s annotated version goes line by line and provides extensive historical background, sometimes more than you need! But it is a lifesaver for translating what those exact words and phrases mean.
The Annenberg Classroom’s Guide to the Constitution goes section by section, providing more digestible explanations, but still including the history of how those words have evolved over time.
In each of my Civics units, we examine only the relevant excerpts of the Constitution so by the end students will have essentially read and analyzed it in its entirety, which is so important when civic literacy rates perennially are so low in America (even if they have risen some in recent years).
I hope you found new bookmark-worthy tools to help you upgrade your Civics curriculum, especially to be more inquiry-driven and sourced-based. If you want to dive deeper into this approach, check out this blog post on simple-yet-impactful Civics project ideas.
Feature image photo credit: John Schnobrich
