The Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy was established in 2015 to carry on the legislative oversight legacy and vision of Carl Levin, Michigan’s longest serving senator. | Wayne State University photo
Wayne State University has launched an effort to strengthen the way civics and U.S. history courses are taught in Michigan high schools.
“Learning by Hearings”, which was developed by teachers in the civic education team at the university’s Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy aims to provide classroom resources.
The institution is named after the late Carl Levin, a Democratic U.S. senator from Detroit who served on Capitol Hill from 1979 to 2015. He died in 2021.
Developed with support from the state of Michigan and Michigan Department of Education, the resources bring “high-quality, inquiry-driven educational materials to high school civics and U.S. history classrooms,” according to Jim Townsend, a former state lawmaker who is currently the Carl Levin Center’s director. The free package includes six inquiry-based lessons, four video resources and four stand-alone snapshots.
“It has never been more important than now to offer new and innovative ways to engage students with civics and U.S. history,” said Townsend, a Royal Oak Democrat who served in the Michigan House between 2011 to 2017, which included a stint as Democratic vice chair of the chamber’s Oversight Committee, “Our democratic system relies on an electorate that embraces the duties of citizenship, so we must help students develop the skills and values to participate in the political process they will inherit.”
The education materials use the “lens of legislative oversight to enable students to take the lead in the classroom by inviting them to ask questions, interrogate materials, and interpret history from their own point of view,” according to the center’s website. “We want to inspire students to value fact-finding, good governance, and bipartisan cooperation as well as to sharpen their investigative skills and their ability to engage in public policy debates with civility.”
Resource topics include:
Defining Congressional Oversight
Ferdinand Pecora and the 1929 Stock Market Crash
The 14th and 15th Amendment: Congress Investigates the Ku Klux Klan
Food Safety Reform in the Progressive Era
Enumerated versus Implied Powers
Simulation of a state-level oversight investigation
General St. Clair’s Defeat in the Battle of the Wabash River
Ferdinand Pecora and the 1929 Stock Market Crash
The Teapot Dome Scandal
“We are proud to offer resources that are both relevant to students and will save teachers valuable time and energy in their day,” said Lauren Jasinski, Levin Center civic education specialist. “Learning by Hearings gives students the chance to dive into history and current events, role-play a legislator engaged in fact-finding, and see themselves as active participants in our democracy.”
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