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U.S. Policy in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is one of the most daunting challenges facing the United States. President Obama and his advisors are reassessing U.S. policies in Afghanistan, a task complicated by a flawed presidential election. In this free two-day lesson, students debate three possible options for U.S. policy in Afghanistan and articulate their own views on the issue.

The U.S. and Iran: Confronting Policy Alternatives

News about the U.S. relationship with Iran and Iran's uranium enrichment program appears frequently in the headlines these days. There is much debate about how to respond to this issue. The U.S. and Iran: Confronting Policy Alternatives is an interactive lesson plan that engages students in consideration of divergent policy alternatives concerning U.S. policy on Iran. This current issues lesson is an excellent follow up to Iran Through the Looking Glass: History, Reform, and Revolution

A Nuclear North Korea?

In this free online lesson students view videos from our Scholars Online video library and think critically about the issues surrounding North Korea and nuclear weapons.

Globalization and the Economic Crisis

News of a global economic crisis has dominated the headlines in recent months. Reports of the effects of this crisis come from as far as Iceland, Japan, and Brazil, with reports of unemployment rates spiking across the world. But the roots of this crisis are in the U.S. economy. In this one-day lesson, students explore a series of political cartoons and consider the relationship between globalization and the economic crisis.

Conflict in Iraq: Confronting Policy Alternatives

Conflict in Iraq: Confronting Policy Alternatives engages students in consideration of a balanced range of views on the question of U.S. policy in Iraq. What is our purpose? Who should be involved in solutions? Are our troop levels right? How long should U.S. troops stay? What does this mean for the larger question of America's role in the world today? This online resource is drawn from Conflict in Iraq: Searching for Solutions

Terrorism: How Should We Respond?

This online lesson plan invites students to explore four divergent policy options on the question of how the United States should respond to terrorism and then to articulate their own considered perspective. This 2-day lesson is available at no charge from the Choices web site.

This material is drawn from Responding to Terrorism: Challenges for Democracy.

Violence in Darfur, Sudan

Sudan has been embroiled in internal conflicts since independence in 1956. Most recently, a violent conflict between the central government and several opposition groups has devastated Darfur, the westernmost region of Sudan. This online lesson can be used as a supplement to Confronting Genocide: Never Again? or as a single lesson.

U.S. Role in the World

An important debate is taking place in the United States concerning America's role in the world today.The U.S. Role in the World includes a lesson plan involving discussion of four distinct alternatives - or Futures - that frame the current debate. This activity features an online student ballot that allows your students' opinions to be included in a nationally distrubuted report. The material is available at no charge from the Choices web site.

The material is drawn from The U.S. Role in a Changing World.

Nuclear Weapons: What Should Our Policy Be?

Nuclear Weapons: What Should Our Policy Be? engages students in consideration of a balanced range of views on the questions that surround the future of nuclear weapons. The material in this 2-day lesson is drawn from The Challenge of Nuclear Weapons.

Global Environment: Considering U.S. Policy

Climate change is a central focus of policy discussions in the U.S. and around the world. What should U.S. policy be concerning global environmental issues? This 2-day lesson plan invites students to explore four divergent policy options and then to articulate their own views. This online resource is available free from the Choices web site.

This material is drawn from Global Environmental Problems: Implications for U.S. Policy

Interrogation Tactics in the News

On April 22, 2009 The New York Times reported on the CIA's adoption of the Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) program as an interrogation technique. Stories on this topic are headlining major media sources around the country and the world. The documentary film, Torturing Democracy, tells the inside story of how the U.S. government adopted these techniques as official policy in the aftermath of 9/11. The Choices Program has developed an accompanying study guide to this film as well as a media literacy activity to help students think critically about this complicated and politically-charged issue.

Dangerous Music

Choices Program has developed the lesson Dangerous Music to help students explore the effects of drug violence on Culiacán, a city in northwestern Mexico, and on popular songs known as narcocorridos. The lesson is built around a video from Foreign Exchange and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Looking at the Tank Man: The 20th Anniversary of Tiananmen

In this free one-day lesson, students analyze an image from June 5, 1989 from multiple perspectives and consider the effect that censorship can have on the understanding of an event.

India and Pakistan in the Wake of the Mumbai Attacks

Today, India and Pakistan face each other with hostility and suspicion heightened by the terror attacks in Mumbai. Both countries have nuclear weapons. Some experts think that the nuclear face-off between India and Pakistan makes the region the most dangerous place in the world. How has it come to this? Resources are provided to help students understand the historical context of the forces at play in the region today.

India: Conflicts Within

Choices has developed lesson plans to accompany the Pulitzer Center's Global Gateway on India. Multiple lessons are available.

Water Wars: Lesson Plans

While Americans fret over rising gas prices and global tension over oil, the world's poor are struggling to secure access to another, even more basic resource. Choices has developed lesson plans to accompany the Pulitzer Center's Global Gateway on Water Wars.

U.S. Immigration Policy: What should we do?

The Senate and House of Representatives are considering changes to current immigration law that will fundamentally change the rules on immigration. U.S. Immigration Policy: What should we do? enables students to consider U.S. immigration policy within the context of long-term goals for the country. This 2-day lesson is available at no charge from the Choices web site.

The material is drawn from U.S. Immigration Policy in an Unsettled World

Castro's Legacy and the Future of Cuba

On February 19, 2008, Fidel Castro announced to Cuba and to the world that he would not be a candidate for Cuba's presidency. In this lesson students will explore the reaction to Fidel Castro's decision, categorize competing perspectives on Castro and the future of Cuba, and consider the international response to Castro's resignation and assess possible consequences.

A full unit on the future of Cuba, Contesting Cuba's Past and Future, is new from the Choices Program.

Are We Winning the Global War on Terror?

Students consider whether and how the United States can determine the success or failure of our efforts to combat terrorism.

This lesson is a supplement to Responding to Terrorism: Challenges for Democracy.

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Resources that work well with all Teaching with the News activities:

• Guidelines for Deliberation
• Deliberating "Pros" and "Cons" of Policy Options
• Scholars Online video resources.

Contacting Elected Officials: Encourage your students to communicate their views on international issues to elected officials and in public spaces such as letters to the editor. You can find contact information for the White House at www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ and your U.S. Senators and Representatives at /thomas.loc.gov/.