TEACHER MATERIALS
How do citizens solve problems democratically?
“Democracy in Quotes”
In this activity, the students will read a list of quotes about democracy from a variety of sources and choose the one that best describes their own personal understanding of what democracy is. At the end of the activity, you will reveal who said each quote.
“Exploring Democratic Principles”
In this activity, the students will compare the class definition of democracy to a list of democratic principles created by the Civil Liberties Union for Europe.
List of democratic principles (Civil Liberties Union for Europe)
“Ranking Democratic Principles”
In this activity, the students will take a survey about democratic principles. Then, they will compare the class survey to a similar survey conducted by Pew Research.
Ranking democratic principles survey
“American Interpretations of Democracy”
In this activity, the students will explore the nature and evolution of America’s democracy by interacting with a number of different sources. They may choose source packets to complete at their own pace.
- Source 1: Presidential Thoughts on Democracy
- Source 2: Timeline of American Democracy
- Source 3: The Origins of Democracy
- Source 4: Ranking Democracies
- Source 5: Democracy and Social Media
- Source 6: A Case of Democratic Failure
- Source 7: A Case of Democratic Success
“Democratic Principles – A Deeper Dive”
In this activity, the students will interact with primary sources to discover why a particular democratic principle facilitates and supports democracy. The students will choose a democratic principle, and then fill out the corresponding packet.
- Equality packet
- Political tolerance packet
- Free, fair, accepted elections packet
- Personal rights and freedoms packet
- See this document (Activity 2) for an alternative/additional activity that focuses on the mixed relationship between personal freedoms/rights and democracy.
“School Civics Scenarios”
In this activity, the students will begin to explore democratic solutions by analyzing a school-related scenario. They will read and analyze a story prompt that takes place in a school setting.
“Practicing Democratic Skills”
In this activity, the students will practice skills that will help them make democratic decisions. They will each be assigned a specific democratic skill to focus on, and they will complete an activity that will help them practice that skill. They will also give presentations based on what they learned.
Activities
“Addressing the Challenges of Democracy”
In this activity, the students will reflect on the challenges of democracy – obstacles they will have to face as democratic problem-solvers. As part of this activity, they will read what some of the Founding Fathers had to say about the challenges of democracy.
“Worth Fighting For?”
In this activity, the students will read opinion pieces that argue why democracy is worth fighting for, despite its flaws.
- George W. Bush Institute – Interview with Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
- Pew Research Study – Globally, Broad Support for Representative and Direct Democracy
- The Wilson Quarterly (Winter 2013) – Africa’s Long Spring
- MIT Study – Democracy Fosters Economic Growth
- Democratic Audit – Why Defend Democracy? Because the Job of Pursuing Justice Belongs to Everybody