What lessons about democracy can you apply from history to help your Civics Club?
DEMOCRACIES CAN WORK WELL, BUT THEY TAKE WORK.
Ms. Walters is the advisor for your school’s Civics Club, an after-school activity about government, service and the responsibilities of citizenship. She’s had about enough of the club’s crazy antics, because you all can’t agree on anything!
“This is getting out of hand!” she says one day.
There are separate mini-groups within the club that never want to compromise. So when Ms. Walters has you vote on activities you’d like to do… well, it turns into one more screaming match where you guys can’t make a group decision.
You really want to make things work, though, especially because you’re hoping the club can come together around a voter registration project (actually going out and getting adults to register to vote) before the upcoming election.
You’re worried that there may not even be a Civics Club much longer. The final straw came when one of the many screaming matches turned into a WRESTLING match and Ms. Walters had to get TWO gym teachers to put an end to it!
Now she’s saying that she’s not so sure that she wants to be the club’s advisor anymore. And in your school, no advisor means no club. How in the world can you get the Civics Club to not only study democracy, but to practice it?
Your Challenge
Democracy isn’t easy. But you’re thinking you can find historical examples of how democracy can work - and work well - to get the Civics Club back on track. Investigate the primary sources. What lessons about democracy can you apply from history to help the group? Make your case.
Teachers
Have your students take this challenge and make their case! To begin, send your students to this website with this challenge’s code.
Democracy is a form of government in which people choose leaders by voting.
Democracy isn’t easy. But you’re thinking you can find historical examples of how democracy can work - and work well - to get the Civics Club back on track. Investigate the primary sources. What lessons about democracy can you apply from history to help the group? Make your case.
individual and group actions taken to improve or identify areas of concern or causes to address
conservation
using natural resources in a responsible way
D
discrimination
unfair treatment of people based on something like race, gender, or age
disenfranchisement
the practice of not allowing, or depriving, someone of their rights
F
federal oversight
the responsibility of the federal government to keep a close watch on organizations and make sure they are following specific rules
federalism
a system of government that divides power to make laws between the national, state, and local levels
freedom of press
the right of newspapers, magazines, websites, and other publications to report news without being controlled by the government
freedom of speech
the right to express your opinions without government interference. This right is protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution
I
immigrant
a person who comes to a country to live there
immigration
the act or instance of coming into a foreign country to live
indigenous
the original or earliest known inhabitants of an area, with their own culture and language, before colonists and settlers began to occupy the land
Industrial Revolution
the period of time in the 18th and 19th century when machines were widely used to produce goods
internment
the act of putting someone in a prison for political reasons or during a war
J
Jim Crow laws
race-based laws to force the legal separation of African Americans and white people in public places in southern United States
P
political protest
a public demonstration of disapproval related to the actions or policies of the government
political speech
a statement made by a candidate for office about how government should be run, and any other opinions of the political process or social issues
preservation
setting aside the land and protecting it as is
propaganda
information, primarily biased or one-sided, that is used to promote or publicize a particular cause or point of view
R
representative democracy
a system of government where all eligible citizens vote to elect people to pass laws for them
S
segregation
the separation of people based on their race, ethnicity, gender, or religion
sovereignty
the right to “to have control over your own lands, and resources, and assets, and to have control over your own vision for the future, and to be able to absolutely determine your own destiny.” Wilma Pearl Mankiller (Former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation)
V
voter suppression
the act of preventing a person or groups of people from voting even when they are eligible to vote
W
worker protection laws
laws designed to protect workers from conditions that are harmful to employees’ life and health
Your Challenge
Democracy isn’t easy. But you’re thinking you can find historical examples of how democracy can work - and work well - to get the Civics Club back on track. Investigate the primary sources. What lessons about democracy can you apply from history to help the group? Make your case.
To get started, give your folder a title and description, save, and then click the blue + box to take notes on a primary source.
CREATE NEW FOLDER
Case Presentation URL
To view or present your case in a non-editable mode, go to the URL below.
When you want to continue editing your case, come back to https://mycasemaker.org and enter the code below.
Case code copied!
Create My Case
Copy this Challenge to Edit
Help
This view shows a Single Challenge. Each Challenge is a scenario based on a real civics issue. There are additional thoughts to help you consider the scenario in the blue Ideas tab along the right side of the screen.
Teachers
Use this view to find a Challenge to give to your students. Read through the entire Challenge scenario to get a feel for not only the issue at hand, but the angle this scenario wants students to take in making a Case.
After you’ve read the Challenge scenario, be sure to check out the Primary Sources your students will use to find Evidence when making a Case.
And carefully read the Challenge directive students will use to formulate their Case idea.
When you’re ready to give this Challenge to your students, simply click the Challenge Code button to find this Challenge’s unique code.
Then, send your students to this website and tell them to enter the Challenge code you’ll give them and they’ll be on their way toward making a Case.
Customize this Challenge
If you are logged in with a free teacher account, you can customize any Challenge. Just click this button to get started.
Students
Use this view to review the Challenge scenario given to you by your teacher. Read the story and imagine the lives of the people involved. Think about how you would react if you were in the same situation.
Pay special attention to the directions in Your Challenge. This tells you how to think about making your Case.
Be sure to check the Primary Sources tab. The items you find there are critical because you will be using them as Evidence to piece together your Case.
For additional ideas as you consider how to make your Case, take a look at the blue Ideas tab , along the right of your screen, just under the Help tab.
Finally, when you’ve reviewed everything and you’re ready to make your Case, click the Create My Case button.
When you create a Case, you are presented with a window where you can enter a title and description, as well as your name and email.
Your name is used to help identify you if you are using presentation mode (a PowerPoint-like online presentation of your case directly from this site, like you would use to present in front of your class), and in a listing to your teacher privately if you are working from a teacher-made custom Challenge. Your email is optional and will only be used once to send you information about your Case so you can easily retrieve it. Your personal information will never be shared with any third party, and your email is not stored in the system.
What do I do here?
Read the challenge and look over the primary sources.
If you want your students to work on this Challenge, click on the blue Challenge Code button. Copy and share that code with your students. They just need to visit this website and enter the code to begin.
When you’re ready, click on the blue Create My Case button to begin. Then you’ll investigate the primary sources and add your own notes to build your case.
If you’re stuck, check the blue Help tab on the right side of your screen. Plus, the challenge and each primary source has specific tips to help you along, available from the blue Ideas tab that appears just below Help.
Thinking Questions
What are some ways that people can make compromises in a democracy?
What are some compromises that you’ve made with your family or friends?
What can be some of the obstacles to a well-functioning democracy?
Help
This is a collection of Primary Sources for the Challenge you’re reviewing. These are documents, photographs, videos, political cartoons, and more, from the Library of Congress, selected to help you make your Case.
To investigate any Primary Source, simply click into it to see it in detail.
Teachers
Review these Primary Sources so you understand what your student will be working with. Students are able take entire sources, or parts of a source using cropping tools, and make notes to serve as Evidence when they make their Case.
If you are logged in with a free account, you can also customize your Challenge, including the ability to change Primary Sources that are includes, and to put your own notes on any Primary Source, as a way to give direct and specific instruction to your students.
Students
Along with the Challenge scenario, review these Primary Sources carefully. Think about what each one means in relation to the issues of the Challenge. You’ll be using these sources to make Evidence that forms your Case.
Help
Using the Challenge scenario and the Primary Sources association, it’s time to make your Case. A Case consists of one or more folders, each of which can contain Evidence you find within the available Primary Sources. If you’re having trouble visualizing what you will be making, jump down to the Presentation section below first.
First, notice that you can change your Case’s title or description at any time, right from the top of the view.
Below that, you’ll see your first folder, but it will be empty. You need to fill it in.
You could begin by entering a title and description, but without Evidence in the folder, it might not be clear quite yet how you want to organize things. Instead, click the blue + box to add your first piece of Evidence.
Once you click that, you’ll be take to the Primary Sources listing for your Challenge. Select a Primary Source and inspect it, looking for clues. Remember, there are always ideas to help you in the tabs along the right side.
Once you’ve cropped an image to find a particular detail, trimmed a video, or whatever else you’ve selected as your Evidence, and added your own note, you’ll be returned to My Case with your piece(s) of Evidence in place within a folder. As you add Evidence, you can decide what your folder is about.
In this example image, we’ve decided our folder is about Opinions. You can enter a title and description, but always be sure to hit Save after you make edits to these folder details.
Of course, you’re not limited to just one folder. Your presentation can cover any number of ideas, and each can be a folder for organization. To make a new folder, just click the Create New Folder button.
When you have more than one folder, they simply line up one after the other within your Case. And each folder can have a title, description, and pieces of Evidence pulled from Primary Sources.
As you continue to add folders, and add Evidence into folders, you may decide things aren’t organized just how you’d like. That’s fine. You can always move things around. Simply drag and drop pieces of Evidence between folders, or to reorder them within a folder. And you can reorder your folders by drag and drop, too.
So, that’s how you put together a Case and keep it organized. What’s next?
Well, you can use your Case simply as a reference, like if you are writing a paper or having a debate. Or you can directly present your Case from this website, using your Case’s presentation URL.
A Presentation
You may want to present your Case directly from this website, like a PowerPoint slide show. You might even turn in your presentation URL to your teacher to complete your Challenge assignment. But of course, you don’t want to give away your Case edit code, since that’s lets anyone make changes to your Case. To keep your Case editing private for yourself, but allow others to see your Case online, share your Case Presentation URL.
When someone (including you!) goes to your Case Presentation URL, they’ll get to see everything you put into your Case, in a convenient slide show presentation.
This begins with your title screen.
From there, we see information about your first folder, to set the stage for Evidence that will appear.
After the folder information, the presentation steps through each piece of Evidence in that folder, in order, one at a time.
And then your presentation continues, going through each piece of Evidence and each folder, just as you’ve organized them, until it reaches the end.
So, that’s how you make a Case and give it as a presentation. Good luck!
Help
This is where you can Customize a Challenge. You’re able to modify the title, description, scenario, and more, as well as alter the Primary Sources, and leave notes specifically for your students.
There are a number of fields you can customize, but before you get started, it would be good to know where all of these things will end up. Here’s a handy reference, with customizable field names listed in orange.
At the top of the screen, you’ll see fields that allow you to edit the title and description, followed by fields for the full text, prompt, and highlighted text.
Below all of the above, you’ll see a space to enter three Challenge Prompts. These are little bits of extra information to help spur your students when they are making a case.
But where do those appear? They show up in the Ideas tab that sits along the right side of the screen when your students are working with your Challenge. Clicking that tab shows the prompts you’ve entered.
Customizing Primary Sources
You may want to change the Primary Sources being used for your custom Challenge. At the bottom of the Customization screen, you can do so.
For each Primary Source you have associated with your custom Challenge, you can enter a special teacher’s note.
These notes appear from the special teacher notes tab when students are looking at individual Primary Sources.
You can remove any Primary Source you don’t want to include simply by clicking the Remove This Source button associated with it.
Plus, you can add new Primary Sources from our pool of available options. [Ed. Note: There are approximately 120 sources currently in the database, with plans to add more.]
When you choose to add new sources, an overlay panel lets you scroll through available options, each of which can be viewed in another window. Select the one(s) you want with the available checkboxes, then click Add Chosen Sources.
When you have all the text fields updated for your Challenge and all the Primary Sources in place, click the Save Your Custom Challenge button.
You can always return to the Customize tab for this Challenge to make additional edits.
When you’re done and ready to share this new custom Challenge with your students, click the Challenge Code button, just as you would for any Challenge, and share that code with your students.