Research & Analysis

Use the short evocative videos and films in this lesson plan to engage young people in conversations about identity, diversity, bias and social justice.

GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language SEL STANDARDS*: Self-Awareness, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, Responsible Decision-Making 7-Year-Old Morgan Bugg Advocates for More Diversity in Avatars In April 2021, seven-year-old Morgan Bugg of Tennessee was using an educational gaming app called Freckle, which is used by more than 900,000 teachers in the U.S. This app gives students a chance to win coins while…

GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language SEL STANDARDS*: Self-Awareness, Social Awareness, Responsible Decision-Making Baseball and Segregation In December 2020, Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that they will correct a longtime injustice in the game’s history by officially elevating the Negro Leagues (of 1920-1948) to “Major League” status. For historical context, in the…

Civics Lessons GRADE LEVEL: High School What are Anti-immigrant Bias (Xenophobia), Nativism and Nationalism? What are Historical and Current Immigration Policies? How Do Anti-immigrant Sentiments Impact Immigration Policy?   Immigration is a recurring topic in the current events cycle, and has been throughout this nation’s history. While immigration has been a central feature of America’s growth, it has also been a divisive topic, with differing views…

Civics Lesson GRADE LEVEL: High School What are Ways to Enter the United States with Documentation? What are the Experiences of those with Green Cards?   Against the backdrop of the recent refugee crisis and the overall increase in immigration, people have asked how one enters the United States with documentation. One way is to apply for a Green Card which leads to formal naturalization and citizenship in the United States if the application is approved. Gaining Green…

GRADE LEVEL: Middle School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Speaking and Listening, Language Seeing a Positive Reflection of Yourself in Media O’Plérou Grebet, a 22-year-old digital artist from the Ivory Coast, was recently in the news because he created his own emojis, reflecting life in contemporary West Africa. In an interview with CNN, he stated, "I noticed that media and most articles about Africa were talking about the bad sides of the continent only. They reduced the…

GRADE LEVEL: Middle School, High School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, Language Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric and PoliciesThe U.S. has a long history of anti-immigrant bias. Years of anti-immigrant rhetoric, bias, discrimination and policies have permeated our country. In August 2019, a deadly shooting that killed twenty-two people in El Paso, Texas highlighted this anti-immigrant bigotry. The suspected gunman drove more than 650 miles from his…

Teach students about the importance of diverse literature and engage them in a study on the diversity of books in their classroom or school library.

GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School, Middle School, High School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Language, Speaking and Listening In commemoration of Women’s History Month, this resource helps educators engage students in thinking broadly and critically about the experience of women and gender in all of its complexity. In highlighting the significant events as well as people that have made a substantial contribution to women’s experience, instruction should…

GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School, Middle School, High School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Language, Speaking and Listening Commemorating National Hispanic Heritage Month In commemoration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, we present this resource to help teachers engage students in thinking broadly and critically about the Hispanic American experience in all of its complexity. In highlighting the significant events as well as people that have made a substantial contribution…

Teach students about the refugee crisis in Europe and explore what nations around the world are doing in response to the crisis.

Engage students in activities that get them to think broadly and critically about the Black experience in all of its complexity.

GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Speaking and Listening The First Girl to Pitch a Shutout in the Little League World Series In 2014 Mo’Ne Davis, a 13-year-old girl, made news headlines as the first girl to ever pitch a shutout in the Little League World series. At that time she was considered the “most talked about baseball player on earth right now” according to many observers in the sports world. Mo’Ne (pronounced Moh-nay…

Bullying is a major problem in our schools. When it targets aspects of a person’s identity, it is called identity-based bullying, and may include bias about appearance, race, culture, gender and gender expression, language, religion, socioeconomic status, disability and sexual orientation. According to the Cyberbullying Research Center (Patchin & Hinduja, 2020), 49.8% of tweens (9 to 12 years old) said they experienced bullying at school and 14.5% of tweens shared they experienced…

GRADE LEVEL: Elementary School COMMON CORE STANDARDS: Reading, Writing, Language Using Poetry to Teach about Identity Reading and writing poetry can provide an opening for young people to explore the various aspects of their identity, including their name, race and ethnicity, physical characteristics and more. April is National Poetry Month, a good opportunity to explore poetry with your students. Because poetry does not require strict sentence structure or the usual grammar rules…