ABSTRACT
Most schools teach “social studies” rather than “history” because the discipline includes a wider array of topics, such as geography, psychology, philosophy, current events, politics, economics, and civics. This chapter examines a variety of authentic assessments that allow students to engage with issues that matter to them, whether globally, nationally, or locally: a letter to a representative, leading a school teaching, planning a historical civic action, organizing a conference, advocating for a cause, a United Nations conference simulation, and design thinking for local issues. The usual recipient is the student’s congressional representative, although a strong civic action project should ask students to consider whether the issue is best addressed at the local, state, or national level. Most modern political history is about the civic action of ordinary people: the French Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, anti-slavery and abolition movements, suffrage, Civil Rights, feminism and anti-apartheid.
