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A newly revised and expanded edition of the We the People: The Citizen & The Constitution Level 3 text for high school students is now available with updated lessons and additional cooperative learning activities for students.
Introduced for the 2008–09 school year, the civics text recommended for grades 10–12 offers “a balanced approach to the three branches of government,” according to Charles N. Quigley, the Center’s executive director.
“The previous edition focused primarily on the role of the judicial system and the courts in the protection of individual rights,” he said. “This edition gives more balanced attention to the role of the legislative and administrative branches in the protection of individual rights.”
Deanna Morrison, Colorado's District 7 coordinator for We the People, said, "The new Unit Four contains the whole spectrum of government from the three branches to bureaucracy, to federalism, and to state and local government.... With the additions to content made here, this text is adequate preparation for the AP exam or any other American government exam. You won’t need another text."
Other changes include more emphasis on the role of the United States in shaping the ideals and institutions of other countries and how they have, in turn, influenced the United States. There is also more attention given to the role of political parties in civic society and to the civil rights movement.
“There was heavy emphasis in the original text on the civil rights movement in the Martin Luther King era,” said Margaret Branson, associate director of the Center and co-author of the revised text—with Sue Leeson, adjunct professor at the University of Oregon School of Law and former Associate Justice of the Oregon Supreme Court, and Scott Casper, associate professor, University of Nevada. “There have been a lot of changes since then, so we wanted to reflect that.”
Branson said that the addition of more cooperative learning activities seeks to enhance the aim of the We the People program to get students to think together and to discuss the ways in which they can use the ideas that they acquire and can engage in civil discourse.
“I think it’s a very fine step forward,” she said of the new text. “I hope this expanded text will become the standard for high school students across the country.”
A companion website for the text, wtpcompanion.civiced.org, features unit and lesson purposes, terms and concepts to understand, a complete glossary, biographies, and an annotated bibliography. It is updated regularly so that the text remains current. The website also contains links to Supreme Court cases and opinions, primary sources, and relevant websites, videos, and podcasts.
An expanded teacher's edition is available. In addition to extended footnotes, it contains an array of enrichment activities and critical thinking exercises, as well as reading lists and tests.
A limited number of free sets are available in each congressional district every year. To inquire about the availability of the free sets, visit wethepeople.civiced.org. To purchase a set, email sales@civiced.org.
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