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Check out these interdisciplinary activity ideas, TV programs, and online resources you can use to talk about good citizenship with your students. Return in November for content about Native American heritage and culture!
The Origins of Citizenship
The United States is synonymous with democracy, but it was not the first democracy. The ancient Greeks introduced the word democracy which means "people power" in Greek. In the 400's BC, the city-state of Athens was an extraordinary model of democracy in which voting was universal, at least for its time. All male Athenian citizens could vote (women, slaves, and foreign born residents did not have the vote). Similarly, Native Americans created a democratic form of government. In fact, the Iroquois confederation is a forerunner of American federalism.
By exploring the origins of citizenship in different cultures, students will gain a better understanding of American democracy. Ask students to read about the core values of American government (start with the Declaration of Independence and The United States Constitution). Then divide the class into groups and ask each group to research democratic values in Greek and Native American societies. Each group will report back on values Americans borrowed, expanded, or added.
Direct students to The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization and other sites for background about Pericles, the most important figure in Athenian democracy. Students can read the Great Law of Peace, the founding constitution of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy, and visit Web sites that describe Indian Nations today. For example, the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council provides background about tribal governments in Minnesota.
Sites about Greece:
The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization
http://www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/htmlver/index.html
The Perseus Project, Tufts University
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/
Greek Civilization for Middle Schoolers, Portland State University
http://www.greekciv.pdx.edu/default.htmSites about Native Americans:
Warrior in Two Worlds: The Great Law
http://www.pbs.org/warrior/content/modules/greatlaw.html
NativeCulture.com
http://www.nativeculture.com/home/
Great Law of Peace
http://sixnations.org/Great_Law_of_Peace/
Minnesota Indian Affairs Council
http://www.indians.state.mn/.Sharpen Your Skills For Good Citizenship
Two issues that affect young people in America are violence and drug use. What role can young people play as citizens who want to address both problems?
After the Columbine High School incident, the President asked the Federal Trade Commission to study the influence on young people of violence in the media. In September, the Federal Trade Commission released its report on marketing violent entertainment in movies, music and electronic games to children. Congress held hearings on the report and asked representatives of the entertainment industry to testify. For a report on the Senate hearing, visit Online NewsHour: Targeting Kids [September 13, 2000]. You might also preview and tape Frontline: Drug Wars airing October 9 and 10 at 8:00 p.m. MT/PT, a four-hour mini-series about America's war on drugs since 1968. Even though America's federal drug enforcement budget has grown from $60 million in 1968 to $17 billion last year, illicit drug use remains essentially unchanged.
View a portion of the program with your students and discuss whether they think media images influence drug use and whether violence and drug use are connected. With your class, brainstorm actions students can take to lessen violence and drug use. Ask students to write the testimony they would give before Congress on the impact of violence in movies, television, music, and video games. Students may then choose to express their opinions in a letter to their U.S. Senator, a guest editorial in their student or local newspaper, or a letter to the editor. For examples of student editorials in college newspapers, visit Washington Week In Review: Student Voices.
Other sites:
THOMAS -- U.S. Congress on the Internet
http://thomas.loc.gov/Federal Trade Commission
http://www.ftc.gov/
IdahoPTV and PBS Sites to See:
Government, Campaigns, and the Media
PBS Democracy Project
Get information about national and state candidates, dozens of lesson plans, online games for kids grades 3-6, and participate in a virtual campaign for grades 9-12.A Force More Powerful
Learn how groups around the world have battled brutality with nonviolence and won.Online NewsHour: Extra for Students
Political commentary and social issues reporting by teens, for teens.Great American Speeches: 80 Years of Political Oratory
Access scores of speeches and audio recordings on the site's archive, and learn the mechanics of political debate.American Photography: A Century of Images
Explore the media's role in twentieth century life, particularly in advertising, war coverage, and social journalism.Arthur: Arthur Goes to Washington, D.C.
Students create a virtual field trip based on their research. They develop an itinerary of buildings and landmarks and produce a brochure describing the trip.Affluenza
Affluenza examines advertising, the role of the media, consumption and standard of living through activities for different ages. Through classroom games, students learn about credit, advertising in schools, and capital.Frontline: Confessions of Rosa Lee
Students explore different forms of welfare and community responsibility through research on the history of welfare, discussion of current welfare controversies, and design of a new welfare system.Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
Celebrate the suffrage movement through articles, multimedia presentations, primary source documents, kids games and more.Media Matters
Analyze media coverage of current events through articles, viewer polls, and more.Online NewsHour: Media Watch
Get the latest analysis of political advertising and editorial coverage of the campaigns on the NewsHour site.Vote for Me: Politics in America
Get the lowdown on the campaign process at this lighthearted site.Community, Family, and Local History
Learning Adventures in Citizenship
Use New York City history as a springboard to get students investigating the history and habits of their own hometown. The site includes online games for kids grades 4-8, lesson plans, and a primer on using inquiry in the social studies classroom.Ancestors
Students learn about different kinds of genealogical research. Lesson guides introduce students to research using libraries and archives; military and census records; medical records; and genealogical resources online. The site also discusses the special challenges faced by African-American families reseraching their ancestors.Forgotten Fires
Follow one community's experience with hate crimes and their search for solutions.Frontline: What is a Community?
What is a community--Who Belongs? Who Decides? Students define community and look at their own school as an example. Students will discuss collective memory, the rules of community, and the role of the physical environment in determining community.Frontline: Building an Oral History
Students team up to develop oral histories about significant events in the community. Afterwards, they discuss the idea of 'truth' in storytelling and the role of the interviewer in shaping the story.Not In Our Towns
The Not In Our Town Campaign promotes public dialogue and provides a model for community response to hate crimes and other associated problems.Wannabe: Life and Death in a Small Town Gang
Read an interview with the director/producer of this documentary which aired on PBS in the summer of 1999.The Environment
NOVA: What's Up With the Weather?
Learn about the controversy surrounding the greenhouse effect, and calculate your family's "carbon diet" in an online game.Newton's Apple: Garbage
This site gives an overview of the waste disposal problem and recyling alternatives, and asks stuents to investigate ways they might cut back use of non-recylable products.Newton's Apple: The Greenhouse Effect
How does loss of ozone affect our climate? Students learn about carbon-producing pollution and use vinegar to test for carbonates.Journey to Planet Earth
Investigate the effects of human activity on the world's farms, cities, rivers, and air.Newton's Apple: Hazardous Waste
What is a hazardous material, and how are hazardous materials cleaned up? Students inventory their own households for hazardous materials and build a simulation of a hazardous waste spill along a lakeshore.Newton's Apple: Drinking Water
How do we get the impurities out of drinking water? Students design solar stills, locate the source of their drinking water, and calculate the energy needed to distill water.NOVA: Can Buildings Make You Sick?
Students follow a team of environmental investigators to learn about the elements of sick buildings, and then conduct their own investigation of the school building.Six Billion and Beyond
IdahoPTV & PBS Programs
Explore population growth in several regions of the world and learn how population issues affect people's everyday lives.Don't miss these programs airing in October!
Frontline: The Choice 2000
Airs Monday, October 2 at 8:00 p.m. MT/PT
This program presents a dual biography of George W. Bush and Al Gore, two of the men who are competing to become the next president of the United States. The two-hour documentary goes beyond the political rhetoric to explore how the candidates and their values have been shaped by family background, history, victory and defeat.Livelyhood: The Work Day That Wouldn't Die
Airs Friday, October 6 at 8:00 p.m. MT/PT
This show and Web site explore the traditional 8 hour work day and what it means to different professions. From operating tables to construction sites; from Hollywood movie sets to Silicon Valley start-ups; from factory floors to the White House—each has a different set of rules that govern the amount of time employees work. With the eight-hour work day a seeming thing of the past, this episode looks at the effect this trend has on workers, business and the economy.In the Mix: Political Literacy Seeing Thru the Spin
Airs Sunday, October 8 & 22 at 12:30 p.m. /11:30 a.m. MT/PT
Teen reporters show how candidates use the media to convey their positions on issues and where students can get more information about the political process. The companion Web site www.pbs.org/inthemix features discussion guides and additional information for teens about the media and politics.Frontline: Drug Wars
Airs Monday-Tuesday, October 9th and 10th at 8:00 p.m. MT/PT
Despite the United States' vast efforts during the past three decades to stop the flow of illegal drugs, the use of heroin, cocaine and other illicit drugs remains essentially unchanged. Frontline opens its 19th season with a special four-hour report led by journalist Lowell Bergmann examining how America's 30-year "war on drugs" has affected American society.I'm On The Ballot
Airs Friday, Oct 13 at 8:00 p.m. MT/PT
This new program from Award Productions is a primer on the third-party candidates from the upcoming elections. Candidates highlighted come from the Green, Libertarian, Natural Law, Socialist and Reform Parties, among others.The Idaho Debates for 1st and 2nd Congressional District Candidates
Airs Sunday, October 15 at 8:00/7:00 p.m. and
Friday, October 20 at 8:00 p.m. MT/PT
Students will have the opportunity to be part of the political process by submitting questions for the debates via our Web site.PBS Debate Night 2000
Airs Sunday, October 15 at 7:00/6:00 p.m. MT/PT
Three Congressional Democrats and three Republicans will face off on the key campaign issues. Regardless of who becomes the next president, viewers can find out where the Congress will stand.Critical Condition With Hedrick Smith
Airs Wednesday, October 18 at 7:00 p.m. MT/PT
This three-hour special covers many of the challenges in health-care that are faced by the general public, health-care providers, managed-care plans, standard insurance plans and public-policy makers.The Great Campaign of 1960
Monday, October 30 at 8:00 p.m. MT/PT
Paul Duke, former moderator of WASHINGTON WEEK IN REVIEW, examines how television and religion affected presidential politics in The Great Campaign of 1960. This face-off between Democratic candidate John F. Kennedy and Republican candidate Richard M. Nixon featured two firsts: the first national election campaign in which television played a major role, and the first Catholic to run for president.
