Resources for Students

Webcasts

FPRI conducts webcasts for high school students several times a year. Students can participate live either online or in person, and submit additional questions to the presenters. Video of the webcasts is made available on FPRI’s website. To view the video of past programs, or for more information on upcoming webcasts please click here.

  • What Students Should Know about 9/11, Two Webcasts Designed for Secondary Students, September 8, 2011
  • Webcast on War, 2/25/2009
  • Webcast on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 11/18/2008
  • Webcast: What Students Should Know About 9/11 and the War on Terrorism, 9/11/2007 and 9/11/2008
  • Answers to Students’ Questions from “Webcast on Innovation and Entrepreneurship”, 11/18/2008
  • Answers to Students’ Questions from “What Students Should Know About 9/11 and the War on Terrorism,” 9/11/2008

 

Books for Middle and Secondary Schools

The Mason Crest volumes are beautifully designed, including numerous maps and photos, and the content, while accessible to students, is neither “dumbed down” nor subject to the “political correctness” characteristic of college campuses. They are sophisticated enough that adults profit from reading them. The School Library Journal wrote that the Modern Middle East Nations volumes, particularly the volumes on Israel and the Palestinians, were “the best introductions to the political conflict currently in print for this age group.” And one reviewer wrote of Alan Luxenberg’s more recent The Palestine Mandate and the Creation of Israel, part of the Making of the Middle East series:

The reader will be treated to a clarity of writing rarely seen in social studies series books for pre-college age students. S/he will also meet with a striving for objectivity that is the hallmark of the discipline of historical writing. From the Ottoman background to World War II’s aftermath, from modern Zionism’s origins to the development of Arab nationalism, the author chronicles the attempts, successes, and setbacks in the effort to satisfy the nationalistic drives of the two nations—Arab and Jewish—of Palestine. Trivia is excluded while the essentials of the historical record are told; the glossary and timeline entries are concise and devoid of propaganda…. This imprint has succeeded in setting a standard that puts to shame the amateurish, error-ridden, biased work one too often finds in other publishers’ social studies series. Includes an index, glossary, timeline, short bibliography and list of Internet resources plus maps and archival photographs. (Association of Jewish Libraries Newsletter, May-June 2008)

For the complete review of these books and other books in the series, visit www.ottnpublishing.com/mideast.htm.

Currently under development or discussion are joint FPRI-Mason Crest series of volumes on Islam and terrorism, as an update of the Modern Middle East Nations series.

Read More…

 

Special Events

Occasionally, FPRI also sponsors national essay contests and periodic events at local high schools. Past events have included

  • lectures on the premises of La Salle College High School, Saint Hubert Catholic High School, Germantown Academy, and Cherry Hill High School West (occasionally, we’ve hosted entire classes from Lower Merion High School and Neshaminy High School)
  • internships for students at Barak Hebrew Academy, The Shipley School, Olney High School, Germantown Academy, Bodine High School, and St. Joseph’s Academy
  • a teach-in on U.S. Policy Toward Russia, the 1998-99 National High School Debate Topic, co-sponsored by La Salle College High School.
  • an Innovation Essay Contest on “The top 5 innovations developed in the U.S. since 1945, ranked from #1 to #5.”