Programs


Each year, the Ackerman Center sponsors programming that reaches thousands of students and hundreds of teachers in the state of Indiana and across the United States. These programs vary in length and intensity from Andy workshops to our week long Summer Institute, but ALL our programs are designed, either directly or indirectly, to "prepare students for the highest office in the land....CITIZEN!"
	The Ackerman Summer Institute: Integrating Technology in Citizenship Education Following a competitive application process, 20 teachers (in grades 4 - 12) are selected for a tone week Summer Institute. These Ackerman Summer Fellows develop skills needed to integrate Internet technology into citizenship education and participate in content seminars with well-known civics scholars. Participants will develop Internet-based lesson and case studies that will become part of a "digital library" of resources available to all teachers in Indiana. Participants will receive a $500.00 support grant from Ackerman Center to integrate technology and are expected to participate in project evaluation and follow-up activities.. (calendar of events)
	Project Citizen Based on the award-winning curriculum from the Center for Civic Education (Calabas, CA), Project Citizen is a civic education competition where teams of students address a local problem, develop an action plan to address the problem and then make a presentation on the plan. In the last three years, more than 800 elementary and middle school students from across Indiana have participated in Project Citizen competitions. The Ackerman Center is co-State Coordinator of this program and has sponsored the District finals for the last three years. (calendar of events)
	Holocaust Remembrance Conference: Student Program Over the last five years, the Ackerman Center has supported the annual Purdue University Holocaust Remembrance Conference, by sponsoring a program for middle school students and teachers. These one-day programs have drawn as many as 1,200 teachers and students. Past programs have highlighted Holocaust survivors as well as noted children's authors such as Johanna Rheiss, Lois Lowry and Ken Mochizuki. (calendar of events)
	We the People...The Citizen and the Constitution A high school level competition--co-sponsored by the Indiana Bar Association--in which teams of students role play a Congressional hearing on the U. S. Constitution. Judges question students about historical issues, civil rights and current events associated with elements of the Constitution. The Ackerman Center sponsors both the District level competition and the state finals. Tippecanoe County Court Judge Gregory Donat is the District coordinator for this program. (calendar of events)