What We Believe: We believe K-12 students across the country have the power to shape America into the true democracy it has consistently aspired to become. We also believe that, rather than simply sharing knowledge about justice and human welfare with students, we must view them as active learners. We must consider and use developmental science to leverage students' capacity for understanding complex issues and provide them the opportunity to work collaboratively to solve them.
What We Do: Educating for Democracy is a transdisciplinary initiative focused on supporting K-12 teachers and students grappling with civic issues in their classrooms.
Our resources focus on dialogue because we are living during a time when people are increasingly polarized. Dialogue is underutilized, and differing perspectives are often ignored or dismissed. Central to any democracy is substantial space for engaging in generative conversation about contentious issues between people who hold differing views, so they may find effective solutions for complex problems.
This initiative is framed by developmental science and is grounded in history and culturally responsive teaching practices. Our goal is to encourage K-12 students to engage in developmentally appropriate peer-to-peer civic discourse based on rich historical content. We are also committed to helping teachers nurture in students the skills needed to address today’s most pressing issues.
What We Create: Educating for Democracy resources include individual lesson plans, integrated units, independent activities and teacher professional development materials. Elementary school lessons rely on fiction and nonfiction literature to engage students, while middle and high school units use primary sources and extensively researched secondary sources to investigate complex topics. All lesson materials have been reviewed by historians and experts in developmental science.
These instructional resources are designed to be flexible, so teachers can meet the needs of their unique classroom environments. Resources can be used as supplementary materials or integrated into existing curricula. Instructional resources have additional extension activities for social and civic engagement.