Help students move beyond memorizing branches of government with inquiry, civic reasoning, writing support, and a new unit on democracy today.
Why do societies need government? Who gets power? What happens when individual rights and public interest come into conflict?
Those questions are much more interesting than a vocabulary list.
Civics education is more important than ever. That’s why we’ve rebuilt our U.S. Government and Civics course, with generous support from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation.
It’s free, available now, and designed to help students understand how the government works, how decisions get made, and how they can participate in and strengthen our democracy.
What is included in the free U.S. Government and Civics course?
The rebuilt course includes:
- Lessons organized around guiding questions
- A new interactive learn-and-practice article in every lesson
- Scenario-based exercises that ask students to apply civic concepts
- Unit overviews for vocabulary and review
- A new Democracy Today unit
- Ten Writing Coach assignments, one for each unit
- Shorter, more focused lesson sequences with frequent checks for understanding
Teachers can assign a complete unit or choose a single article, video, exercise, or writing task that fits their current instruction.
Start with a question worth answering
Instead of beginning with a long list of terms, each lesson begins with a question.
Why do societies create governments? How should power be divided? How has the meaning of citizenship changed? When can the government limit an individual right?
Students learn about Congress, federalism, civil liberties, elections, and other core topics because those ideas help them build an answer.
That gives the content a purpose. Students are not simply memorizing what a committee does or naming the levels of government. They are using that knowledge to make sense of a larger civic problem.
The lessons are also divided into shorter sequences, giving teachers more natural places to pause, discuss, check understanding, or assign practice.
Practice how government works
Knowing a definition is one thing. Knowing what happens when a bill stalls in committee is another.
The updated course places more emphasis on civic reasoning using realistic scenarios. Students may need to determine:
- What could happen next in the legislative process
- Which level of government has authority
- How state and federal responsibilities overlap
- What questions a court might consider when a policy limits a right
- How citizens can influence a decision in their community
Every lesson now includes an interactive learn-and-practice article. Students encounter the main ideas and vocabulary, then check their understanding before moving into independent practice.
Unit overviews bring the most important ideas together in one place, giving students a clear resource for review without requiring them to search through every lesson again.
Explore the course
Civics isn’t simply learning about the government. It’s about understanding the issues and decisions shaping your community, figuring out what information you can trust, and knowing how to participate.
Get started!This work was made possible with generous support from the Andrew Carnegie Foundation.
