With a new school year underway and at a time when civics education is more important than ever, GBH Education, in collaboration with PBS, has produced a new resource for educators across the country: the Civics Collection on PBS LearningMedia. Created by veteran educators and educational media producers with input from an Educator Advisory Group, a Youth Advisory Group, and a multidisciplinary Civics Leadership Council, these free, media-rich resources are designed to help educators engage students in a more dynamic way.
Young people care about current events. They avidly consume news on social media and want to change the world around them, yet half of 18- to 24-year-olds didn’t vote in 2020 and less than one in four eighth graders demonstrate proficiency in civics. They don’t see themselves reflected in the curriculum and they don’t feel prepared to participate in civic affairs. Democracy doesn’t work without participation and we need informed citizens who understand their responsibility and their opportunity to participate in the democratic process.
“Students are struggling to acquire the civic knowledge and foundation necessary as they grow to be voting-aged adults,” said Seeta Pai, executive director of education at GBH. “The new collection draws on media to engage students, spark their interest in civics, and promote the active learning of skills by connecting the basic principles from the nation’s founding documents to issues they care about in their everyday lives.
”The Collection uses a robust set of media-rich resources to help educators teach students about American citizenship, constitutional democracy, and the complexities of our government, all aligned with curriculum topics found in a range of middle and high school civics classes. It includes interactive resources to facilitate student learning about multiple perspectives and diverse viewpoints, along with instructional support materials that provide a consistent user experience and connect with our nation’s founding documents. Teacher and student advisors participated in every step of its development, as did a Civics Leadership Council made up of civics experts.
“Being a well-informed participant in our democracy starts with getting a solid foundation of civics in the classroom,” said Susan Goldberg, president and CEO of GBH. “The Civics Collection provides the resources educators need to prepare a new generation to fully understand what it means to be an American.”
In an interview with CPB, Pai said, “We’re not aiming to replicate a civics textbook, but rather provide teachers with tools to engage students in civics education in a deep, meaningful, active way that builds civic understanding and instills skills that will help them become informed, empathic, media literate, and active participants in our democracy... I think it’s safe to say that civics is trending right now! However, we’ve built the collection to be “evergreen,” meaning we focus on fundamental skills and enduring topics designed to teach students how to think, not what to think.”
