The American Federation of Teachers maintains a Web site about child labor within the United States. It provides first-hand documents to help students research the causes and consequences of the issue with a public-policy exercise to help them use the resources. The Web site, www.ourownbackyard.org, also has an accompanying poster and DVD that can be ordered at the AFT Store (select "special resources").

The American Labor Studies Center Web site, www.labor-studies.org, has an excellent resource for the classroom: "Bitter Harvest, Child Labor in Agriculture." It is one of the many rich curriculum resources for educators on the enduring problem of child labor in the United States and around the globe.

The problem is dire and topical: Current U.S. law allows children as young as 10 to legally work in commercial agriculture, while children of the same age are prohibited from working in nearly all other industries (with a few exceptions, such as delivering newspapers). An estimated 400,000 to 500,000 children work in America's fields, often for backbreaking shifts of up to 10 hours. The industry accounts for 40 percent of child-worker fatalities.

Also, the National Archives has developed a curriculum on the history of child labor in the United States, using the photographs of Lewis Hine. Hine's photographs impart a dramatic, personal relevance to the issue of child labor and illustrate the role of photojournalism in American history. http://memory.loc.gov/learn/lessons/98/labor/plan.html

The Child Labor Research Initiative at the University of Iowa has developed new curriculum modules on Child Slavery, Child Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation, Child Soldiers, Children Infected and Affected by HIV/AIDS, and Hazardous Child Labor.

These modules each contain between four and six flexible and adaptable lesson plans. The modules are designed so that teachers can teach a lesson within one or two class periods to introduce the subject or fully integrate the materials into the classroom throughout the year. Teachers can also combine different lesson plans or combine modules for a more comprehensive introduction.

A second organization, Youth Advocate Program International, has designed a set of curriculum modules with both teachers and students in mind. Each module contains all the materials a teacher needs to introduce an issue (teacher's guide, discussion questions, activity ideas, PowerPoint presentation). In less than an hour, a teacher can gain a clear, basic understanding of an issue, customize the lesson for specific classroom needs and be ready to explain the basics of the issue to students. YAPI has developed modules on Discrimination Against the Girl Child, Street Children, Refugee and Internally Displaced Children, and the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Both organizations' modules may be downloaded at no cost. The AFT encourages members to take advantage of these valuable resources to educate their students about some of the most pressing issues facing children worldwide.