Teach Democracy’s Civic Action Project (CAP) is a great way to integrate project-based learning into your social studies classes and to help your students find out what it takes to do government and to engage with economic and other kinds of public policy.

Through CAP, students in all 50 states are identifying issues that matter to them, connecting those issues to public policy, and taking civic actions to address the issue and shape policy.

Students in California have tackled gentrification and issues of affordable housing. Students in Michigan raised awareness about the importance of properly handling battery toxins.  Students in Colorado testified at the state capitol to make policy recommendations on making college tuition more affordable.

By registering for CAP here, you will get access to FREE curriculum materials, which include:

Engaging, standards-aligned lesson plans

All it takes is doing Lessons 1-3 to get your students’ projects off the ground. Don’t wait to assign CAP projects until the end of the course! Your students will need some time to think about and implement civic actions. In addition to the core lessons, you’ll find enrichment lessons focused on key civic skills and strategies.  If you are teaching economics, there is a CAP lesson on Economics and Public Policy to get students started.

Student Planners

A set of handouts to help kids prepare and document their civic actions (and to help you assess their progress!),

Student Toolkit

Full of concrete ideas and how-to guides for your students, so you don’t have to keep answering the question, “Now what do I do?”

And when you register your students, they can:

• Troubleshoot with students from across the country and our CAP Youth Board on the student discussion board as they identify issues and take civic actions,
• Share their work in national contests, and
• Complete and receive feedback about their Planners online.

Questions? The CAP team at Teach Democracy is here to help! Contact us anytime.