Joe Biden won the US election, but Donald Trump refuses to concede. What’s going on? Help learners to explore the results and the questions they raise. **In part one: ** How do American presidential elections work? What made this election different from all others? How have the candidates reacted? **In part two: ** What might be the consequences of Trump’s actions? Why was the election record-breaking? What’s been the reaction to the result?

The Economist’s cartoonist, Kal, guides you through his creative process explaining how he takes on the role of journalist, satirist, commentator and artist before challenging young people at home to get drawing. These activities encourage learners to: Explore the aims of cartoons Understand the different audiences of political cartoons Discover the importance of “four hats” to the design process Plan and draw their own political cartoons Cartoons are also a great discussion starter, generating questions about purpose, meaning and interpretation - perfect to use alongside a written text. A classroom version of this resource is also available to download.

These activities challenge learners to think about where they get their news from and to question what they are reading. It’s pakced full of questions like: What are the best and worst ways to get news? When can we trust what we read in the news? Why might news matter more to some people than others? What makes a story hit the headlines? We suggest supporting your child to complete the activities. We have developed this resource from a previous classroom version, available here:economistfoundation.org/resources

A hula-hooping girl appears on a wall in Nottingham, England. What happened next? This week, download a resource that tells the story of Banksy’s latest mysterious mural and gets learners thinking about the questions it raises. Use this resource to help learners: Identify key information from a piece of text View a situation from different perspectives Use evidence to support their own opinion Study different examples of Banksy’s work Find out what the law says about graffiti Consider the impact of Banksy’s murals

This resource is in support of an issue that students cover in the Burnet News Club (www.burnetnewsclub.com) ----------- Students are introduced to some of the complexities of the housing crisis through a fun activity. A balloon-debate style group activity that ask students to decide who should live in an apartment block. It encourages evaluation, communication and negotiation.

There has been a worrying increase in knife crime with young people being directly affected. Across two 20 minute activities, students will look at some statistics surrounding the issue and explore suggested reasons and solutions. THESE RESOURCES: – Look at the rise of knife crime in the context of general crime – Explore statistics from 2018 – Considers the reasons behind the rise – Structures research into possible solutions Everything is provided to run two short activities for students aged 11 to 16.

This unit of work covers understanding and analysis of this important and topical issue. Students are asked to evaluate the facts and give their opinion through a range of activities. This resource is an issue that students cover in the Burnet News Club (www.burnetnewsclub.com) ----------- INTRODUCTION TO THE ISSUE The UK is considering a new draft Investigatory Powers Bill. This is a really important law, because it would affect your rights. Your rights are the things that you are entitled to do or to have. This issue asks students to discuss and evaluate the implications of the Bill on our rights. It offers a great opportunity to explore British values as required in UK schools.

Safe and successful covid-19 vaccines have given hope to many, but who will benefit first? And how significant will these breakthroughs be? Help learners get to grips with the numbers behind this development. These activities help your students: Explore questions of fairness and responsibility about the vaccines Analyse evidence to identify opportunities and problems Consider their position in light of new scenarios

Is the coronavirus affecting men and women differently? This resource encourages learners to study this question from several angles: from death rates, to the impact of lockdown to numbers on the front line. The activities help learners use evidence to draw their own conclusions and to assess the limits of the available data. Weigh up the evidence on questions like: Is COVID-19 worsening gender inequality? Are women better leaders during a crisis? Does we think hard enough about gender during a pandemic? The reflection activity invites learners to write 100 words about why it’s important to think about gender equality during the current crisis.

This child-led learning resource is perfect for use at home independently, with a sibling or with adult input. The activities helps learners to think about what veganism means for society and lets them explore really interesting questions like: • Why do people choose to be vegan? • What factors are important when people make lifestyle choices? • Is a vegan society a better society? It will help learners to practise the critical-thinking skills which are important for understanding and discussing the news: reasoning, open-mindedness and scepticism, as well as the communication skill, speaking-up.

This year, the theme of International Women’s Day was “choose to challenge” encouraging people to speak out and challenge gender inequality. This resource helps your learners explore why we still having to fight for women’s equality in 2021.

This workshop challenges students to think about plastics, packaging and sustainability. They’ll explore interesting questions like: • What impact do plastics and packaging have on the environment? • Are all plastics bad? • Whose responsibility is it to make a change? Throughout, students will build essential Skills Builder skills: creativity, problem-solving, listening and speaking. The whole workshop is student-led, so perfect for independent learning or home education.

Download the first in our new series of resources designed for form/pastoral time. In this resource, learners investigate why Donald Trump seeks to ban the social app TikTok. Part 1: get thoughtful discussions going in as little as 20 minutes and develop key news-literacy skills: speaking, listening, creativity and problem-solving. Part 2: dive deeper. Expand student’s understanding of this topic; structure thinking using evidence and examples, and generate hypotheses based on what has been learnt. The download includes Part 1 and 2, sign up to receive them each week here.

In October 2020 the World Economic Forum released its most recent research into 300 of the world’s biggest companies. It showed that over 50% expect to speed up their plans for automation because of covid-19. With more robots in the workplace, who will be the winners and losers? Download these resources, supported by the Bank of England, to find out! Use these activities to help answer this question and others about automation: Why are business owners turning to robots? What are the reasons why they shouldn’t? What role might Artificial Intelligence play in the future of work? What kinds of jobs might be better suited to robots? How might automation affect your career plans? How would perspectives differ?

Six lessons to unpick numbers in the news. Created with support from data experts at The Economist, the 6-hour unit of work helps 10-16 year-olds explore examples in the news, hear from data journalists and interrogate the reliability of data across four lively lessons before reflecting on their learning. Students are encouraged to form their own conclusions and the final two lessons support learners to plan, create and share what they have to say about data decisions, presented in either audio, video or written format.

This scheme of work includes everything you need to run six one-hour sessions for key stage 2 or 3 students on the financial system ten years on since the crisis. It was produced by The Economist Educational Foundation, an independent charity set up by The Economist magazine. We combine The Economist’s journalistic know-how with teaching expertise, and we specialise in supporting teachers to facilitate high-quality classroom discussions about the news. As a teacher, do I need to know anything about this topic? Not at all. All the necessary information is provided! What are the objectives? To build students’ knowledge, skills and confidence. STUDENTS WILL… Learn about the financial system, how it affects them, and how people’s decisions determine whether it works well or goes wrong. Build essential critical thinking and communication skills: reasoning, scepticism, curiosity, open-mindedness and storytelling. All the Foundation’s resources are designed to build these skills, as we believe they are essential for the modern world. Develop the confidence to have their say. The six sessions will enable students to make well-informed, sound arguments for their opinions on this important and complex issue. WHAT’S INCLUDED? Multimedia news content Detailed session guides for leading fun, interactive activities – no planning required This scheme of work is supported by the Bank of England. The Economist Educational Foundation maintained full editorial control. The Bank contributed a video resource which explains what banks do, what the Bank of England does, what happened in the financial crisis and what is being done to make banks safer. We would like to thank the Bank for adding this resource and for helping to support our work.

Strict lockdowns have caused pollution levels in many countries to plummet. Yet, as activity returns to normal, so will emissions. Many see the pandemic as a huge opportunity to press the reset button and build back better. But how? Get students talking about the balancing act of boosting the economy whilst protecting the environment. Use this resource to help your learners: Develop the skill of forming and supporting their opinion and use data to strengthen their reasoning Improve their thinking by connecting one issue to another Practise viewing a topic from different perspectives Research the ways that disasters have led to positive change

Give students a great revision activity to help them to understand current affairs. This resource covers content from The Economist Educational Foundation’s home learning resources. Haven’t used all of our resources yet? No problem - they can all be downloaded here. There’s ten answers to find, all lurking within the resources we’ve sent out since the start of lockdown in March. Can your learners collect them all? This resource gives clues for where to find answers to questions like: What do you call someone who has been blamed for something that wasn’t their fault? What sport does Colin Kaepernick play? Which “hat” helps you create humour, according to Kal, The Economist’s cartoonist? To spice things up, why not add a time limit or make it a race?

This resource introduces students to the news and gets them answering key questions about where the news can be found and how the importance of a news story will differ from person to person. It could be used as part of PSHE, before looking at a particular story, to give students a better understanding of a news-report task. This lesson helps to develop the following news literacy skills: SCEPTICISM: Questioning information to find the truth REASONING: Justifying a viewpoint This resource was produced by The Economist Educational Foundation, an independent charity that was set up by The Economist magazine. Combining The Economist’s journalistic know-how with teaching expertise, we specialise in supporting teachers to facilitate high-quality classroom discussions about the news.

Download Part 2 of our activity pack on whether sport and politics should mix. Through this activity, learners can hear from a range of perspectives on this question and stage their own radio debate! This resource investigates several pressing questions: Should sport and politics mix? What are the arguments on either side of the debate? Why is it important to hear from several perspectives? This resource encourages learners to support their views with evidence but doesn’t need lots of prior knowledge about sport. These activities build on the resources in part one which you can download here.