Educator Workshops

Host us at your school/district site for in-person professional development workshops led by ASU faculty, experienced teachers, and other engaging guest speakers at no cost!

We are available to provide in-person professional development to support content knowledge and pedagogical strategies for teachers. Thanks to our generous supporters, we can do this at no cost to Arizona schools. Contact us using the form linked below to request a visit from our faculty and staff at an upcoming in-service or other PD time that is built into the schedule of your school or district!

Our workshops will follow a model where the first portion is devoted to strengthening content knowledge, led by the academic experts from our ASU faculty or other qualified guest speakers from partner organizations. The second portion is devoted to exploring and sampling pedagogical strategies utilizing an inquiry framework and primary sources, designed to provide some creative and engaging ways to teach Social Studies content, led by experienced Social Studies teachers who spent decades in the classroom. Explore the options below to see the available workshops!

Professional Development Workshop Options: Content Focus

• American History Content Knowledge (Faculty) - An ASU professor from the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership discusses major themes of the American Revolution and Founding, the Civil War, and the Progressive Era to deepen the content knowledge of K-12 teachers on these periods of history.
• American Institutions Content Knowledge (Faculty) - An ASU professor from the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership discusses major themes of Federalism, Separation of Powers, and Judicial Review, to deepen the content knowledge of K-12 teachers on these topics.
• Advanced American Institutions Content Knowledge (Faculty) - Designed as a follow-up to the American Institutions Content Knowledge workshop, an ASU professor will dive deeper into the themes addressed in the first session.
• Arizona History and the Arizona Constitution and Government (Faculty) - An ASU professor from the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership tells stories of Arizona's development as a state, and explains how that history shaped the constitution of Arizona and the structure of our state government to deepen the content knowledge of K-12 teachers on these topics.
• The Cold War (Faculty) - an ASU professor from the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership explains the roots of the early Cold War period, utilizing primary source material from Western governments and internal memos of the Soviet Union to show the events and motives that led to a polarized global conflict.
• Oral Histories of Oppressive Regimes - Utilizing our partnerships with The Dissident Project and/or The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, hear the stories of a person who lived under an undemocratic oppressive regime about their experiences, and how they came to escape to the United States.
• The Greeks, Romans, and the Founders - the American founders were driven by values and principles directly imparted by an education in the classics. This session will explore such things as the Roman concept of civic virtue, various Roman and Greek biographies that influenced the Founders, and other writings as part of a tradition that greatly impacted the creation of the United States.
• Comparative Institutions - What must exist within a society for human flourishing to occur? This session will examine the key institutions of the American founding in comparative perspective, while providing tools that students can use to assess why some countries maintain economic and social flourishing while others experience social unrest.

Professional Development Workshop Options: Pedagogy Focus

• Structured Academic Controversies - SACs are a useful pedagogy where students consider a controversial prompt, read and analyze source material to develop arguments, and engage in civil dialogue with one another through the controversy. SACs are a proven research-based inquiry approach to teaching many subjects.
• Introduction to CAC Resources - A walkthrough of the various resources offered by the Center for American Civics, including but not limited to our Civic Literacy Curriculum with over 500 lesson plans for K-12 teachers developed by our cohort of 28 teachers from across the country.
• Enhancing Argumentative Writing in Social Studies - Helpful tips for integrating inquiry and writing into Social Studies classes, including how to help students analyze sources, use them as evidence, and construct a valid thesis statement utilizing the evidence.
• Document-Based Questions - Explore how DBQs can be used for instruction, formative assessment, and summative assessment to strengthen student engagement, critical thinking, and argumentative writing skills.
• Using Primary Sources - Various ideas are presented for integrating more primary sources into teaching Social Studies in engaging and innovative ways that will provoke curiosity and critical thinking in students.
• Lesson Ideas for Content of Choice - Identify any content topic area in History or American Government that you would like support in (for example, "The Great Depression," or "The Legislative Branch."). CAC will present a wide variety of applicable lesson ideas and resources to make that content more engaging and accessible to your students.
• Civic Education Through Literature - Strategies and specific literary works are presented to give teachers creative ways to discuss principles of American civics while reading stories that are accessible to students.
• Symbols and Monuments - Discussion of how to use national/state symbols and monuments to provoke curiosity and help students explore how history is remembered, and the changes that can occur to historical memory and legacy over time.
• Using Biographies for Civic Education - Explore how biographies of specific individuals can be used to talk with students about the choices we make as civic participants, and how we can learn about ourselves and our society through their stories.
• Implementing the Socratic Method in Your Classroom - Developed by the Greek philosopher Socrates, this method informs class discussion with cooperative dialogue. Students make statements and are asked by the instructor to investigate the underlying assumptions of those statements. This process is fundamental for teachers to investigate the perspective and worldview of their students.
• Creating and Utilizing Games in the Classroom - Once key concepts and principles are taught, games present an opportunity to solidify those concepts for students. Explore methods to create and implement game activities in your classroom, with examples from economics and U.S. History.

Request Form

As an instructor, I highly valued the engaging format of the lessons and I felt like I could be a real facilitator of the learning experience rather than just a lecturer.

-Workshop Participant

This was a much richer discussion than I have had in previous years and it was a discussion that was driven by the inquiry of the students based on the sources we were analyzing.

-Workshop Participant