Civic Design Lab
The Civic Design Lab brings together history and civics curriculum units created by Philadelphia-area educators through the “Educating for American Democracy (EAD)” Professional Learning Community. The educators taught across a range of schools, grade levels, and learning needs, but shared a common goal: helping students develop a deep understanding of history and civics and become confident, capable, and engaged participants in constitutional democracy. Each unit includes learning goals, central themes, Pennsylvania standards, and a culminating project that puts learning into practice. The lessons span grades 4–12 and explore history and civic participation through engaging, student-centered experiences.
The EAD Roadmap is a national push to teach American history and civics through inquiry and discussion rather than rote facts, so students grow into engaged, informed citizens.
We The Students
Why and how do people take action in order to solve problems that affect them and others?
Voices for Change
Why and how do people take action in order to solve problems that affect them and others?
The Palm Oil Puzzle: Sustainability and Our World
What should we as consumers do, if anything, to encourage companies to use sustainable resources in their products?
Choconomics
What roles do workers and consumers play in creating economic fairness in society?
Writing Civic Arguments about Space Junk
What should we do—if anything—about space junk? How can we make sure our ideas and other people’s ideas are honest and based on good information? If you want to fix something, who in the government might you talk to?
Civic Theater
What is the role of groups without formal decision-making power in U.S. government and civic life?
Mapping Our Neighborhood
How do the places we walk through every day shape who gets heard in a community?
Constitutional Conversations
What does it look like to disagree about the Constitution without losing sight of one another?
Who Runs the City?
Who makes decisions in a city, and how can students find a way into that process?