Classroom Subjects

Social Studies

Greenland: Languages on Thin Ice

In the arctic, warmer weather has already reshaped fauna and flora zones, and sea ice melted last year at the highest levels in modern history. In fact, some scientists believe that if such thawing continues, North Pole summers will be ice-free by the end of the century.

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Bangladesh: The (Un)Power of Women

As U.S. citizens missed their chance to elect a woman for president for the first time in 2008, Bangladeshis elected a female prime minister past December for the fourth time. Sheik Hasina is currently one of 11 female heads of state worldwide according to the Council of Women World...

Education in Afghanistan: Opportunity in Peril

If a strong educational system is key to a country's success, there is every reason to worry about Afghanistan's future. Decimated by decades of war, Afghanistan has one of the world's lowest literacy rates. According to UN estimates, 90% of women, and 63% of men in rural areas are...

Iran on the Edge

After a hotly contested presidential election that resulted in street riots and a disputed claim to a renewed mandate by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran stands at a crossroads: between reformist and conservative leadership, between its revolutionary past and its post-revolutionary future.

Ahmadinejad's claimed landslide was met with...

Somaliland: A Land in Limbo

Somaliland, a breakaway region of Somalia, is Africa’s only fully unrecognized country. After breaking away from Somalia and claiming independence in 1991, the Somaliland government, in stark contrast to the failed state of Somalia, has constructed many facets of a functioning, stable state. Somaliland has carried out several Presidential elections and peaceful transfers of power.

Guinea-Bissau: West Africa's New Achilles' Heel

An international network led by Latin American drug cartels and the Lebanese Islamist group Hezbollah has chosen West Africa, among the poorest and more corrupted corners of the world, as the nexus for illegal trade in cocaine, oil, counterfeit medicines, pirated music and human trafficking. International law enforcement officials...

Latvia: Coping with Economic Collapse

For more than a decade the ex-Soviet republic of Latvia was a poster child of seamless transition to a prosperous post-Communist world. It entered the European Union in 2004 and for several years thereafter posted one of Europe's highest growth rates, fueled by access to cheap credit and domestic...

South Asia's Troubled Waters

The majority of India's water sources are polluted. A lack of access to safe water contributes to a fifth of its communicable diseases. Each day in the booming, nuclear-armed nation, diarrhea alone kills more than 1,600 people.

The regional scenario is even more grim given the projected...

Run or Hide? Seeking Refuge in Tanzania

When Bill Clinton Hadam's refugee family was approved for resettlement in the U.S., the boy's parents faced a "Sophie's Choice" dilemma: him or his sister. After escaping slaughter in Congo and Rwanda, the family waited in a Tanzanian camp for nearly a decade. Rape was common there, and Bill's teen...

Afghanistan: Civilians Under Siege

In 2008, there were over 2,100 civilians casualties across Afghanistan. US airstrikes accounted for 552 deaths, up more than 70% compared to the year before. Militants were responsible for more than half the overall total. The bitter truth is that most of these incidents could be avoided. And yet they...

Altar, Sonora: The Business of Smuggling

Once a sleepy agricultural town, the entire economy of Altar, Sonora is, at this point, based on human smuggling. Sitting just an hour drive south of the Arizona-Mexico border, Altar is the last and most critical stop before migrants take to the dangerous desert crossing. Sacha Feinman and David...

Cuban Youth

Students investigate and discuss the impacts of recently restored relations between the United States and Cuba by analyzing reporting from journalist Tracey Eaton’s project “Cuban Youth: A New Dawn?”

Underrepresented Voices from Syria

This lesson plan asks students to explore three stories on underrepresented communities in Syria and think about how journalism can be used to bring attention to local underrepresented communities.