Brief Description Objectives Materials and Resources Activity Description

• Grade Level: Middle School, High School

• Subject Area: Social Studies

Brief Description

    As part of their studies of modern American history, students will use various news sites to gather information on current events.
Objectives

    Students will:

• Identify important issues that persist in modern American history.

Materials and Resources

    In developing our lessons and activities, we made some assumptions about the hardware and software that would be available in the classroom for teachers who visit the LETSNet Website. We assume that teachers using our Internet-based lessons or activities have a computer with the necessary hardware components (mouse, keyboard, and monitor) as well as a World Wide Web browser. In the section below, we specify any "special" hardware or software requirements for a lesson or activity (in addition to those described above) and the level of Internet access required to do the activity.

1. Special hardware requirements: None.
2. Special software requirements: None.
3. Internet access: None.

Activity Description

• As part of their regular curricula in courses like American history or Civics, students talk about important historical issues that are central to American life. Develop this discussion more formally by having students outline a number of important issues that persist in American history. Such issues might include the interaction between the economic and the political realms, the role of the President, and social issues such as the debate over welfare and other entitlement programs.