History and Social Studies Updates

This course is ongoing and will open on January 6. A summer version will open in the summer.

All ACEE’s PD opportunities can be found at https://azecon.org/

3/11/24 From Beaches to Budgets: The Economics of Spring Break

3/12/25 Tragedy of the Commons: A Systems Thinking Approach to an Economic Concept

4/1/25 Tips & Tricks: AP Micro and Macro College Board Test Review

4/2/25 Empowering Student Choice through School Participatory Budgeting

4/3/25 Tools and Resources to Build Your Confidence in Teaching Financial Literacy Topics

4/8/25 Entrepreneurship: Developing a Theme Park

4/22 Entrepreneurship: The Power of Productivity and Other Employee Skills

4/29 The Economics of Mergers and Acquisitions in Video Games

In person: 4/5/25 World History and Economics (w Dr Andrew Hill)

Join fellow educators and educational experts for webinars. Visit Current & Upcoming ⇽ Events | Econiful on Glue Up (or first join at Econiful)

March 12- Contemporary Economists on Women in the Labor Force

March 13- Journal of Economics Teaching Greatest Hits

March 19- Contemporary Economists on Inequality

March 25- Review Games for AP and On-Level Economics

April 2 - Contemporary Economists on Economic Development

April 9- New Lessons on Realities of Gambling

Teaching the New Tools of Monetary Policy
Learn about the Federal Reserve's ample reserves framework and classroom resources for teaching it to your students.

Inside the FOMC
Learn about the structure of the Federal Reserve's chief body for monetary policy, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC).

Personalizing Monetary Policy: How the Federal Reserve’s Monetary Policy Impacts Your Wallet
For financial literacy month, the Federal Reserve Education (FRE) team will briefly explain how monetary policy can affect spending, buying, and investing decisions.

Join the National Council for the Social Studies and inquirED for their spring webinar series, “Deeper Learning in Social Studies.” Each webinar explores strategies, tools, and research-based practices to engage students, deepen their knowledge, and help them form meaningful connections in social studies. Register today!

Thursday, April 10 @ 3:30 pm (CT)

How can we create classrooms where student thinking and learning are visible and accessible? What strategies can teachers use to display learning in ways that spark discussion, reflection, and deeper engagement? Join inquirED and NCSS as we explore practical strategies for making learning visible in social studies classrooms with LaKethia White, PD and Learning Lead at inquirED, and teacher guests.

Thursday, May 1 @ 3:30 pm (CT)

How can picture books spark inquiry and build knowledge in social studies classrooms? Join inquirED and NCSS to explore how to integrate picture books that inspire student curiosity and scaffold understanding across an Inquiry. Walk away with practical tools and examples to bring stories to life in your classroom.

Are you looking for engaging ways to bring American history, government, and civic education to life in your classroom? The ASU Center for American Civics invites you to participate in their upcoming Social Studies Teacher Workshops, designed specifically for grades 6-12 educators.

✅ Expert-Led Content .✅ Classroom-Ready Pedagogy ✅ $100 Stipend ✅ A Complimentary Meal

Workshop Topics

• Wednesday March 26th 4:30 to 9:00 PM - American Institutions at the ASU Chandler Innovation Center
• Thursday April 3rd 4:30 to 9:00 PM - American History at the ASU Tempe Campus
• Saturday April 19th 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM - American History at the ASU Chandler Innovation Center

Jewish Immigration

We’ll discuss the push and pull factors that brought Jewish immigrants to America, explore the challenges of assimilation, and grapple with the repercussions of the 1924 Immigration Act.

Environmental Cooperation as a Path to Peace in the Middle East

The Middle East is often viewed as a region fueled by conflict. In this session, explore environmental crisis points in the area, like climate change and water scarcity and how they are being addressed through peaceful transboundary collaboration.

Monday, March 10

Civic Learning Resource Slam - Explore civics resources from leading education organizations. Register HERE

Tuesday, March 11 - 7 PM ET

America 250 and the Landscape of History Education - Register HERE

Wednesday March 12 - 7 PM ET

The American Revolution and Civic Learning: A Conversation with Filmmaker Ken Burns, PBS LearningMedia, and iCivics - Register HERE

Thursday, March 13 | Hoover Institution, Stanford, CA and livestreamed 9 AM PT

National Forum: Civic Learning: Many Voices, One Nation - Learn MORE

Friday, March 14 1 PM ET

Featured Conversation with Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States - Register HERE

In recent years, calls to limit, regulate, or ban social media platforms have escalated from all corners of the political spectrum. These concerns have been as varied as national security, foreign ownership, and the danger of disinformation in a divided democracy. Yet perhaps the most cross‐​partisan concern has come from increasing evidence of social media’s detrimental impact on youth mental health. Join Sphere Education Initiatives on March 10 from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. for a timely webinar on social media and youth mental health

Join Facing History and Ourselves and KQED during national Civic Learning Week to explore ways students can identify, research, and communicate about issues they care about.

Join the National Liberty Museum and the National Constitution Center to explore how museums can serve as trusted partners in classroom civic learning. Museum professionals will share actionable, nonpartisan approaches to support teachers through co-curating and co-producing educational resources. Educators, in turn, will hear from their peers about how they've used museums as trusted partners in civic learning.

March 11 - The Bill of Rights Protects You (Gr 6-12)

March 12- Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (Gr 3-5)

March 13- The Constitution Rules! (Gr K-2)

March 14- Happy 250th Birthday, America! (Gr K-2)

March 24, 2025 at 4 PM ET Register here

Course Dates: March 10-April 6 Learn more here

Course Dates: March 17-30 Learn more here

Join members of the Museum of the American Revolution's Education team to explore a new teacher resource guide based on the Museum's past special exhibit, "When Women Lost the Vote: A Revolutionary Story, 1776-1807." Using primary source documents, original artifacts, and an interactive document viewer, this free workshop for educators will investigate this lesser-known moment in American history when women and people of African descent could exercise their right to vote in New Jersey and consider what it can teach students about the significance of voting in Revolutionary America.

Wednesday, March 12, at 5pm AZ

During these sessions, you will experience a model lesson, receive access to new curricular resources, and identify strategies for integrating proven digital literacy approaches into history instruction.

Come learn with DIG—at your own pace—about instructional strategies to improve students' ability to sort fact from fiction online. The course will take approximately 10 hours to complete. Learn more here

Want to learn best practices in digital literacy instruction but looking for a shorter time commitment? Enroll in their 1-module course. Learn more here

Increasingly, students are bringing “facts” from social media into school, and teachers are left to navigate these misleading and false narratives in the classroom. In this Share My Lesson Virtual Conference session, the Digital Inquiry Group and CFR Education will unpack how to build global and digital literacy skills to prepare students to evaluate claims about international issues

Join this FREE webinar to help students think before they buy! Let your students experience how to avoid FOMO and buyer's remorse! (Learn about the DIMS- Does It Make Sense? Score Calculator)

Civic Learning Institute (CLI) at Harvard Graduate School of Education. CLI offers professional learning in history and civics for K-12 educators of all roles and grade levels. These four-week online courses are taught by content experts with live sessions and teacher coaching. Participants who complete the $15 course will earn a certificate of completion from Harvard Graduate School of Education.

• Student-led Civics Projects: Using Project-based Learning to Develop Civic Knowledge, Skills and Dispositions (registration closes 3/6)
• Superpower: The US and the Vietnam War (registration closes 3/13)
• A More Complete American Story: The History of Jim Crow (registration closes 7/1)
• Digital Competency in the Age of AI (registration closes 7/1)
• Difficult Conversations in the Classroom (registration closes 7/1)

Join NCHE for a webinar on place-based, social studies teaching and learning! Discover how to use this innovative pedagogical approach to immerse students in your own community.

The Sam Hilton Holocaust and Genocide Teacher Training Workshop - Friday April 4 9 AM - 3 PM

MORNING: Antisemitism: Understanding and Countering this Hatred Today

AFTERNOON: The Assyrian Genocide

-Substitute pay available to the first 30 teachers

FILM SCREENING OF “HIDDEN MAP” - Friday, April 4 | 6 PM

In partnership with the idea Museum, ACEE and the Arizona Geographic Alliance would like to invite you to a fun-filled evening of learning and exploration. Lesson demonstrations aligned with Arizona K-12 academic standards along with new ideas for integrating the study of geography, economics, and art will be shared. Dinner will provided to all participants in addition to a tour of the newly renovated idea Museum.

This academy will provide educators with the foundation to implement Mock Trial in the classroom. Conducting simulated trials in the classroom is an interactive way for students to learn about the judicial system and improve public speaking, writing, critical thinking, and research skills. Lessons and activities will provide a starting point for teaching courtroom knowledge including the steps in a mock trial, roles of courtroom personnel, rules of evidence, and the trial process.

*This Academy is for educators who serve a middle/high school population.

The Bill of Rights Institute is seeking teachers to teach a lesson from their brand new BRI Jr. resources and participate in a national study on their effectiveness between now and May 2nd, 2025.

Teachers will teach either their Immigration and Industrialization or Expansion lesson in their classroom between now and May 2nd, 2025. All materials will be provided digitally.

BRI will pay $200 for the completion of this study as well as recognition of teachers who participate on the Institute's social media and website. This is a special opportunity that can help you build your resume.

Join us for the 9th Annual Mining Day at the Capitol, where we celebrate Arizona’s rich mining legacy and explore the future of sustainable mining. This event offers a unique opportunity to engage with industry professionals, legislators, and community members, experience cutting-edge mining simulators, and ask subject matter experts your most pressing questions. See firsthand how mining continues to shape our state and economy.

Learn More

Started in 2004, this Gilder Lehrman program recognizes excellence in the teaching of history at the K–12 level. Each year, thousands of teachers are nominated by students, parents, fellow teachers, and community members, shining a light on the important work they do.

C-SPAN's 2025 Teacher Fellowship application is now available! Educators in grades 6-12 can apply to collaborate virtually with the Education team this summer to create educational resources that will be hosted on the C-SPAN Classroom or StudentCam websites.

Arizona State University Teachers' College is currently offering free vouchers for microcredential courses through Project ACCLaIM: Advancing Civics Curriculum Learning through Instructional Microcredentials. This professional learning program is focused on history, civics, and media literacy. The program is intended for current K-12 teachers, instructional coaches, and paraprofessionals of all levels and subjects. Apply here.

If you have been implementing the Project Citizen program and your students have created an electronic portfolio, don’t miss out on registering your students at https://lawforkids.org/programs/project-citizen/team-registration. Your students will have the chance to win $250 for their class and be invited to the Arizona State Showcase in May 2025!

The Arizona Bar Foundation is hosting the 2025 AZ Law Day Contest to celebrate Law Day and encourage civic participation. Empower your K-12 students to use their imagination and creativity! This year’s theme is “Out of Many, One…” and highlights civic responsibilities. One winner in each grade division will win an iPad! Learn more about the contest rules at https://lawforkids.org/contests/az-law-day-contest.

Camp O’Connor USA is a free, merit-based summer program for middle school students with a mission to educate, encourage and inspire the next generation of leaders. Participants in our civics day camp gain a deeper, experiential understanding of our nation's democracy, branches of government, and the duties and responsibilities of citizenship.

Monday, June 9 - Friday, June 13, 2025

ASU Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law

National Council for the Social Studies is pleased to announce that they are now accepting submissions to The 1787 Prize, an annual essay contest for high school students in grades 11-12, created in observance of Constitution Day. Submit a Student Essay More About the 1787 Prize

2024-2025 Essay Prompt: The concept of Judicial Review, let alone Judicial Supremacy, is thinly proscribed in Article III. With the benefit of hindsight, how would you modify Article III to directly address the role of the courts in settling issues of constitutional interpretation?

The 2025 Arizona Geographic Information Council (AGIC) ArcGIS Online Student Competition challenges students across the state to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to create and share ArcGIS StoryMaps focused on some topic about Arizona. They will use GIS to explore, analyze, and feature a topic with cultural, environmental, or other significant impact on the state.

The Competition is open to all Arizona students from Kindergarten through 12th grade. Students will analyze, interpret, and present data through one or more maps and deliver through an ArcGIS StoryMap. Students must have an adult sponsor, either a teacher, a mentor, a parent, or other adult involved in the student’s education.

America250 just launched America’s Field Trip for the 2024–2025 school year! America’s Field Trip is a nationwide scholastic contest that invites students in grades 3–12 to share their perspectives on what America means to them through artwork or essays — with the opportunity to earn an unforgettable field trip experience at some of the nation’s most iconic historical and cultural landmarks.

This contest from the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History—split into Grades 3–8 and Grades 9–12 divisions—allows students to showcase their understanding of American history and civics by suggesting a relevant and insightful question to be added to the Citizenship Test. Students can submit their suggestions via a short essay, mini-podcast, or short video entry.

We will award ten $500 prizes to the winning students and feature the winners on our Citizenship Test: Civics and American History homepage.

MyImpact Challenge is a civic engagement contest hosted by the Bill of Rights Institute. Submission is open to US citizens and US-based young people who are between the ages of 13 and 19 and enrolled in middle or high school on January 1, 2025.

All high school students in Gilder Lehrman Affiliate Schools are eligible. You are invited to submit an original essay—written independently or for a 2024–2025 class—that has been revised, expanded, and adapted to conform with the McCullough Prize specifications.

Looking for an engaging, hands-on activity to help your students understand economic, personal finance, and entrepreneurship concepts? Students in grades K-12 are challenged to create an original illustration representing their interpretation of various topics. Six students will win $500 cash prizes! Bonus: Rural schools and first-time participating teachers will be entered into a drawing for one of three $50 gift cards. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity!

Entries due by October 10, 2025

Registration is now open for the 2025 Arizona History Convention being held in Tempe on April 4-5.

Friday evening, April 4, will feature a talk by Dr. Tyina Steptoe of the University of Arizona at the Arizona Heritage Center, followed by a reception hosted by ASU's Public History Program.

All day Saturday, April 5, will feature sessions and posters at the Tempe History Museum, followed by a pizza party at Fate Brewing Co.

At this free, virtual conference, discover the latest practices in accurate, meaningful teaching about the Holocaust with leading historians and educators. Bring the Museum's collection into your classroom with instructional strategies and resources. These materials highlight survivor testimonies, artifacts, diaries, and historical documents to support instruction across subject areas and inspire all students to think critically about how and why the Holocaust happened.

Across time and place, history has shown that conflict has been a catalyst for cooperation. Unlikely alliances have been forged within wars, solidarity amongst divergent groups has supported revolutions, political disputes have been resolved through consensus-building, and processes of negotiation and peacebuilding have become enduring legacies of global conflicts.

ACHE encourages you to consider sharing an innovative lesson, activity, or teaching strategy by submitting a proposal to present at our annual conference. They welcome presentations that explore histories of unlikely allies, international cooperation, or political rivalries. Let your work inspire fellow educators and bring this year’s theme to life! Submit your proposal here.

The Sandra Day O’Connor Institute for American Democracy, in collaboration with the National Constitution Center and the Organization of American Historians, is pleased to present information about a forthcoming week-long educator intensive. Held at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia and sponsored by the O'Connor Institute, the workshop is open to social studies educators who currently work in sixth–12th-grade classrooms and is geared toward educators interested in learning more about the history of the U.S. Constitution.

Educators working with grades 3–12 are invited to apply to attend the 2025 Civics for All of US Teacher Institute with the National Archives in Washington, DC!

The institute will be offered twice: July 14–July 17 and July 29–August 1. Sessions will run from 8:30 am to 4 pm on the first three days; student voices in the Archives that demonstrate how civic participation can happen at any age.