Old Method

A typical unit on United States civics would give students a general overview of the various rights and obligations that come with democratic citizenship. Students would read in their textbooks about American democracy, the Bill of Rights, the means by which these rights are secured, and civic responsibilities such as voting, jury duty, military service, and observance of the law. They may even watch some videos or documentaries that discuss these topics. Students would then be quizzed or asked to write a short response to demonstrate their understanding of what citizenship entails. There is often reliance on short-term memorization and minimal personal interest or depth of learning resulting from broad, surface-level connections to the material and the brevity of such a unit.

Overview

It is not uncommon for school districts to state that part of their mission is to graduate students who are prepared to be "civically engaged" or "civically responsible members of society." What better way to see that through than to embed an opportunity for students to meaningfully apply their civic literacy in their senior year as they prepare to graduate, and as their social studies classes focus on the founding and guiding principles of our society. This unit utilizes the design thinking model to enhance the knowledge-building experience and integrates principles of American democracy with an opportunity for students to make a real-life impact on their community. Students are invited to explore, understand, and contribute well to their community by proposing a new solution or creating an opportunity for connection. Students will develop their civic literacy by analyzing primary and secondary sources, examining systems of government and their functions, and discussing the various influences on political life in the United States. The teacher and teacher-librarian both play an integral role in implementing this unit as they introduce students to new concepts and mentor students in their individual civic engagement pursuits.

Major Objectives

Content Objectives

History Social Science Content Standard

12.2 .4. Understand the obligations of civic-mindedness, including voting, being informed on civic issues, volunteering and performing public service, and serving in the military or alternative service.

Common Core State Standards

Literacy in History/Social Studies

Key Ideas and Details:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2 - Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.

Craft and Structure:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.4 - Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).

Writing

Production and Distribution of Writing:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.11-12.6 - Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information.

Research to Build and Present Knowledge:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.WHST.11-12.7 - Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

C3 Framework

D2.Civ.2.9-12. Analyze the role of citizens in the U.S. political system, with attention to various theories of democracy, changes in Americans’ participation over time, and alternative models from other countries, past and present.

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE)

Empowered Learner

• 1a - Students articulate and set personal learning goals, develop strategies leveraging technology to achieve them and reflect on the learning process itself to improve learning outcomes.

• 1c - Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.

Knowledge Constructor

• 3a - Students plan and employ effective research strategies to locate information and other resources for their intellectual or creative pursuits.

• 3d - Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories and pursuing answers and solutions.

Process Objectives

• Discover an issue, area of interest, or opportunity to create within their community

• Clearly communicate reasoning for selecting their topic

• Demonstrate advanced researching skills

• Analyze information sources and create "follow-up" questions to be addressed

• Identify realistic assistance practices for their community topic

• Present assistance strategies to both class and community members

• Reflect upon the process and determine how effective/ineffective their strategies are/were

Co-Assessments for Each Objective Outlined in Design Thinking

Formative

• Student input in discussions

• Participation in meetings and shared collaborative tools

  • Mentimeter polls

  • Nearpod activities

  • Padlet posts

  • Google Forms, Docs, etc.

• Teacher and librarian check-in

• Research logs

• Commenting on other students work

Summative

• Seesaw portfolio & proposal

• Discussion with mayor/community member

• Big Think activity

Other Objectives to Watch

Learner Competencies

• Respect peers and adults throughout the learning process

• Abide by class procedures and standards

• Develop and demonstrate the following intellectual virtues:

  • Growth mindset

  • Open-mindedness

  • Curiosity

  • Tenacity & Perseverance (willingness to embrace challenges)

• Exemplify ongoing pursuit and practice of civic-mindedness

• Reflect on personal learning goals

• Practice digital citizenship and technological responsibility

• Initiate and participate in collaborations and communication well

How does civic engagement lead to flourishing communities?

What needs exist in our community?

How can we meet these needs through civic engagement?

Step 1: Empathy & Awareness

Students will begin this unit by gaining awareness of the topic of civics and an initial understanding of what it means to be civic-minded. Additionally, students will begin to develop empathy for their community and consider their potential for making a difference.

The teacher and teacher-librarian host a Zoom session with the class to introduce the topic of civics using the hook activity on the home page. First, the students will be asked to respond to the following questions in their reflection journal:

• What makes our community unique?

• What departments, groups, and resources exist to help our community function?

• How can members of our community make changes?

• What are some ways you would like to see our community improve?

Once students have finished writing, both adults facilitate a discussion with the students about their responses, Then, students participate in a Mentimeter poll, which will measure students' prior knowledge and personal interests regarding the topic. Lastly, students are given time to complete a simulation game from iCivics that displays key features of a county and how its citizens demonstrate civic-mindedness. Students then complete a Google Form where they can upload their certificate for completing the simulation and reflect on what they learned about civics from it.

Step 2: Introduction to Design Thinking

This step will further familiarize students with the goals of this unit as well as the steps they can take to practice civic engagement. During this Zoom workshop, the classroom teacher and teacher-librarian will introduce students design thinking by exploring various models, then discussing the model used for this unit. Both adults will take turns guiding the students through a Nearpod activity that will allow in-depth explanation, practice, and discussion about the functions of a design thinking project.

After completing the Nearpod lesson segment, the classroom teacher and teacher-librarian will conduct a station-teaching segment in which each adult will host a breakout room with half of the students, then switch. The classroom teacher will focus on explaining different models used by experts to solve problems and how new models can be created upon the basis of pre-existing ones, while the teacher-librarian will provide links to videos and reports regarding hot topic community issues and ways in which these issues are being handled. Students are encouraged to consider whether they would implement these strategies, or invent their own, in order to solve a problem in their community, and what the unintended consequences might be.

To finish this workshop, students will be gathered back to the main session, where they will be given instructions for how to set up their research log on Google Docs, and how to create their own Design Thinking Roadmap to determine their next steps and brainstorm potential ideas for how they want to engage with their community. Both adults will have access to this shared document in order to provide feedback and to be readily available for student questions.

Step 3: Continue Engagement

Students will further develop empathy and press in to civic engagement by exploring the needs in their own community. Then, students will identify the particular issue that they would like to solve/need that they want to meet.

To begin the search for needs in the community, the teacher and co-teacher host another Zoom session where they model a discussion in which ideas are shared about groups, members, or places within the community that may be in need of help and what a possible solution could be. Then, the librarian will assist in breaking students into small groups to participate in this discussion on their own. Students will then be brought back to the main group to create a collaborative list of issues in the community that they feel need to be addressed, accompanied by potential solutions to these problems, using Padlet.

Some aspects of their city/county that the students might look into:

• Economics (taxes, government spending)

• Environment (parks, recreation, animals)

• Libraries/Museums

• News/Media (local stations, social media)

• Politics (city council, political party divisions, Constitutional issues)

• Public Safety (crime, human trafficking, homelessness, mental health, first responders, crises)

• Religious Organizations

• School District(s)

• Senior Homes

• Small Businesses (ethical production, community support)

• Special Needs Organizations

Step 4: Define and Ideate the Problem

The focus of this step is for students to develop questions and acquire additional tools and support needed to continue their inquiries/research.

Now that the students have generated ideas, identified problems to solve, and learned the basics of civic engagement, they will be asked to share via Padlet any areas that they feel stuck or seem to be lacking the necessary tools for continuing their project. The teacher-librarian will lead an interactive Zoom workshop using Nearpod to direct students towards community resources, research tools, and other aspects of this Learning Commons to assist in their exploration and initial research phase. This workshop will also include a discussion with the teacher-librarian about evaluating sources and determining which sources are most appropriate for certain topics, and a discussion led by the classroom teacher about the importance of considering the context of issues, encouraging students to analyze the relationships among influences of their issue. Both adults will utilize InsertLearning to guide students through various webpages and articles that support these discussions.

At the end of this workshop, students will be given time to consider the essential questions for this unit as they formulate their own question(s) to drive their project, which will be added to their research log on Google Docs. At this point, students will also begin to ideate their particular problem by determining who is directly involved with their issue: those affected, supporters, opponents, etc.

Step 5: Continue to Ideate and Prototype

Part I - As students continue to learn more about their community issue and consider possible solutions, they will schedule and participate in regular meetings with teacher and teacher-librarian to share ideas, get feedback, and identify areas needing clarification or new directions. These meetings will vary between individual conferences, small group discussions, and whole-class check-ins. During these meetings, the teacher will assist students in establishing their goals/plan of action using the SMART goals method, and the teacher-librarian will continue to offer tools and suggest strategies the students can utilize.

Part II - Students are encouraged to begin volunteering at, or at least communicating with, a particular member of the community who is directly involved in the issue they are seeking to solve (a city/county supervisor, a founder of a local non-profit, an expert, etc.). This will help students gauge whether their solutions are applicable or may need revising.

Part III - By now, students will have completed most of their research, gained firsthand experience, and considered possible action plans, so the teacher and teacher-librarian will assist students in setting up their Seesaw portfolio, where they will transfer the information on their research logs and anything else they have collected to document their experience with actually engaging in their community issue (pictures, videos, notes, new connections).

Step 6: Prototype and Test

As the students begin to test their ideas for solving problems and/or creating opportunities for connection within their community, they may need assistance from the teacher and teacher-librarian to strengthen their communication skills in order to get their message across to the people they are working with, or members of the community they want to invite to participate as well. So, the teacher and teacher-librarian will host a Zoom session and conference calls to help students develop and practice talking points using the elevator speech approach. Additionally, the teacher-librarian will help students curate their contact list and help direct them towards community members who can help bring their idea to fruition. The teacher-librarian will also share resources students can utilize in designing attention-getting materials on the Resources Room page.

*Students will continue to document their experiences and build their proposals in their Seesaw portfolios.

Step 7: Implement Creations (if possible)

During this phase of the unit, students are able to share their proposal with members of the community. Their proposal may include a petition for a public works project to improve handicap accessibility in a certain part of town, an idea for collaboration between the school and a local library or museum, a project to create and send birthday cards to patients at a local senior home, or a solution to relieve the political tensions through relationship building.

The teacher and teacher-librarian will continue to act as mentors, assisting the students with recommendations or connections if applicable.

Students will give updates, share their creations, and provide feedback with each other via Seesaw.

Step 8: Culminating Activity

In the culminating activity for this unit, the students will, as a class, host a virtual event with the mayor to discuss what they've learned about civic engagement. The teacher and teacher-librarian will create a short video to highlight student projects for the mayor to see and react to, thus creating an opportunity to celebrate student achievements. This event will also feature an opportunity for the students and the mayor to ask each other questions about issues in their community and what is being done to solve them.

Step 9: Evaluate/Conduct a Big Think

The teacher and teacher-librarian will conduct a reflection seminar with the students, who will respond to the following questions in their reflection journals and then share during a class Zoom session:

• • • What did we learn about our community throughout this process?

    • What does it mean to be civically engaged, and how does this lead to flourishing communities?

    • How effective was the solution we implemented? or How effective do you think this solution will be?

    • After hearing feedback from experts, what are some ways we can improve upon this solution?

    • What are ways in which we can ensure this solution will remain sustainable?

    • What is next regarding this issue? What are some related issues this solution might also assist?

Design thinking can be a challenging model to use when planning a unit because it may become unclear whether the students are meeting all of the same learning goals when each student or class has such a unique experience. However, the adults that utilize design thinking will find that this model leads to both common and individual learning goal achievement when planned carefully. The design thinking process transforms learning into an opportunity for students to discover their interests, take personal responsibility for their learning, find new ways to put what they have learned into practice, and experience freedom/choices in their educational journey. Design thinking also transforms the role of the adults from dispensers of knowledge into mentors who are willing to embark on a learning journey together with their students. As mentors, the adults in this unit provide adequate structure and support to students as they engage in self-directed learning, which is equally important for both virtual and in-person learning environments. Regular check-ins, enthusiasm for student ideas, availability for questions, and accountability through formative and summative assessments are essential to successful mentoring.

Using design thinking, this unit transforms civics into a readily applicable concept for students and empowers them to create something new and useful with what they've discovered about civic engagement. Because it is geared towards developing civic-mindedness, rather than just students' mastery of content matter, this unit can be ongoing and consecutive with other units relating to American democracy. This quality allows students optimal amounts of time to engage, ideate, prototype, test, and reflect as needed. The nine-step process creates frequent and purposeful connection points for the teacher and teacher-librarian to mentor students as they pursue learning, develop expertise, and practice problem solving in their area of interest. Students are able to build collective and individual knowledge in their inquiries and implementation of ideas as they are given opportunities to collaborate, give/receive feedback, and learn in varying group sizes and combinations.

This plan incorporates the use of video conferencing, shared documents, and online learning tools so that both adults can effectively facilitate workshops and discussions, closely monitor student progress, and gather evidence of learning. For students, the technology used in this plan establishes clear expectations, frequent communication, opportunities for creativity, and access to all the materials needed for success. While this unit is designed particularly for an online learning scenario, it is certainly adaptable to in-person learning environments where the teacher and teacher-librarian can guide students in the classroom and library learning commons, or perhaps even host or support any in-person events that would bring the students' projects to life.