Economic and Social Justice: A Human Rights Perspective
Author: David Shiman
Source: Human Rights education Series, Univ. of Minnesota Human Rights Center, 1999
A full curriculum that provides an introduction to social and economic rights. Includes nine learning activities and resources.
Grade Level: middle – high school
Subject Area: social studies, economics
The Interdependence of Rights
Source: Human Rights: Yes!, 2012
Explores the interdependence of rights using an Effects Cascade. This is Exercise #2 in Part IV, Section 2.
Grade Level: middle school – adult
Subject Area: social studies
“Do All Children Have Sweet Dreams?”
Source: HRE USA
This lesson invites students to develop an understanding of the basic concepts of needs and wants, but bring their comprehension beyond their own world. Students will also question and discuss how some needs guaranteed in the Convention on the Rights of the Child are met and the difficulties guaranteeing these to all children worldwide.
Grade Level: elementary school
Subject Area: social studies
Human Rights, Civil Rights, and Civic Action
Source: HRE USA
Through primary source texts, students will apply their understanding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) to human rights violations in postwar United States and learn about historical examples of nonviolent methods of action that individuals and groups used to address these human rights issues. Students will apply their learning of the UDHR, of the United States’ legal framework (i.e. U.S. Constitution), and of nonviolent methods of action to address a current human rights violation in the United States and to develop an action plan to address this human rights violation.
Grade Level: high school
Subject Area: social studies
Human Rights & The South African Constitution
Source: HRE USA
In this lesson on the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, students will look at the Constitution of South Africa because it is the most pro-human rights constitution in the world, with guarantees for housing, healthcare, food, water, a clean environment, and many other rights. Students will then analyze the gap between the promise of these rights and the implementation of them.
Grade Level: middle school
Subject Area: social studies
The Industrial Revolution & Workers’ Rights
Source: HRE USA
The purpose of this lesson is to introduce students to the effects that the development of industrial capitalism had on industrial workers in Europe and the United States in the 19th century, to introduce students to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as an instrument by which they can understand and measure industrial workers’ rights with human rights issues, and to allow students to apply their understanding of workplace issues as human rights issues to contemporary scenarios involving workers’ rights.
Grade Level: high school
Subject Area: social studies
The New Deal and Human Rights
Source: HRE USA
This lesson invites students to identify what human rights through an evaluation and critique of the New Deal with a human rights lens. Students will first develop a working definition of “human” and “rights”, and then “human rights”; from there, students will review various New Deal reforms in order to decide whether or not human rights are being fulfilled by the New Deal or are being violated by the New Deal. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to assess the extent to which the United States was able to meet citizens’ basic human rights.
Grade Level: high school
Subject Area: social studies
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