Opportunity

The opportunity was to create a lesson plan for a high school civics class that would be engaging and inspiring for students. The objectives included instructing students in how governance and the democratic process work and making it tangible and relevant to them, thereby creating a sense of empowerment and agency for the learners. The challenge was to design engaging activities that would help students understand the importance of civics, how democratic processes work, instruct them in news media literacy, and inspire them in ways to participate in local issues or governance. To fulfill this, we needed to create a lesson plan that included lecture, discussion, case studies, and civic participation opportunities.

Solution

Our solution involves using BingChat to create two 90-minute lessons that cover different aspects of civics education. A summary appears below and the link to the lesson plan is here: Bing Chat with GPT-4

Part 1: Understanding Civics and Its Importance - In part one we introduce students to what civics is and why it is important. We discuss the role of citizens in a democracy and teach students about the structure of the U.S. government, including the roles of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Additionally, we examine news media literacy with students so they can critically analyze news for bias, accuracy, and reliability.

Part 2: Making Civics Personal, we focus on how civics is personally relevant to each student. We lead a discussion on current events while encouraging students to share their thoughts and opinions. We also provide examples of civic participation including a case study of teenagers who stepped in to fill a void as EMTs in a rural New York town.

To demonstrate how students can participate, we provide two activities: writing a letter to a political leader and making a plan to attend a local meeting of town leaders. We ask each student to choose a topic of interest that they would like to focus on and finally, we ask for student reflection at the end of this 2-part lesson to synthesize what they learned and scope out next steps for their own civic involvement.

Impact

Provide students with an understanding of civics
Engage students through interactive activities and topics of relevance to them
Increase civic participation on the part of students

Team

Team Member #1 - Civics Educator
- Develop comprehensive lesson plans for Parts 1 and 2
- Lead discussions on current events at local, national, and global levels
Team Member #2 - Guest Speaker Coordinator
- Contact and schedule local town official(s) to speak to the class and suggest topic areas

Using AI to Create a Relevant and Empowering H.S. Civics Lesson