How America Works: Understanding Your Government and How You Can Get Involved

Civics is taking center stage and educators need our support. Help students in grades 6-10 with this engaging and accessible, behind-the-scenes look at how the U.S. government works, why they should care and how they can get involved.

How America Works gives teens a fun, behind-the-scenes look at how the U.S. government works, why they should care and how they can get involved.

But this isn’t just any old civics primer. From the editors of Junior Scholastic and the New York Times Upfront, this engaging guide makes civics exciting and easy to understand for students in grades 6-10.

Whether you’re teaching a civics class or trying to squeeze civics into your curriculum, How America Works has everything your students need to know about government and civic engagement (and probably don’t):

Make Civics Exciting (Really)

Eye-catching graphics, enticing debates and political cartoons get students excited to participate and discuss. What teen wouldn’t want to talk about lowering the voting age or how Paul Revere would have live tweeted his ride?

Keep Lessons Fresh

How America Works features up-to-date topics you won’t find in any textbook. Explore the youth voting wave of 2018, whether social media is good for democracy and more.

Teach What You Want, When You Want

How America Works is organized into 11 non-sequential units. Each one is ready-to-go and self-contained, making them easy to add to your lessons in any order you wish.