NovaNEWS is an international current events forum that gives students the opportunity to discuss a variety of issues on a supervised bulletin board. This collaborative learning environment enhances students' critical reading and thinking skills by encouraging them to analyze, discuss, and debate recent events in the world of politics, national and foreign affairs, economics, the environment, and even entertainment. It also improves the students' ability to express themselves through the written word by prompting them to write responses to a variety of thought-provoking questions.

Each of the articles selected for NovaNEWS is followed by a series of questions designed to promote critical thinking about challenging issues of the day.

This month's edition is titled "Raid in Abbottabad." It includes articles that describe the raid by the United States on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The articles discuss al-Qaeda and the key issues surrounding the raid, including the death of Osama bin Laden. Students will explore these issues and then draw their own conclusions.

The article "U.S. Calls for Check on bin Laden Allies" discusses how the raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad may affect the relationship between the United States and Pakistan. Questions have been raised about whether or not Pakistan knew of bin Laden's location. The article also includes conflicting assessments of the Abbottabad compound provided by terrorism experts.

The article "Questions Swirl on bin Laden's Control" describes how some people have raised questions regarding bin Laden's role in al-Qaeda at the time of his death.  Some people believe that bin Laden's compound was an operational center for al-Qaeda, while others question how much influence, communication, and planning came from bin Laden toward the end of his life.

And finally, the article "Kerry Talks of 'Make or Break' Ties" describes how the United States' raid on Abbottabad has created tense relations between the United States and Pakistan. The article explains how the relationship is at a "make or break" point. The article explains the importance of the United States and Pakistan maintaining good relations with one another.

NovaNEWS resides as a lesson in every social studies alignment, as well as in the Additional Areas folder under Student Forums in the All Curricula location. NovaNEWS can be assigned alone or as part of a course. As with NovaKEYS, you might want to make NovaNEWS an initial assignment for your students. Once NovaNEWS is assigned, it is always available to students.