The institute is divided into three levels, as follows:

101: This 40-hour training begins with an in-depth study of the Declaration of Independence. Participants will then be taken through the ancient and European origins of the U.S. Constitution, followed by the American origins. The training will continue with a famous Federalist debating a famous Anti-Federalist over whether a New York State convention should vote to ratify the Constitution in 1788.

Then attending teachers will be taken on a walk through the seven articles of the Constitution. The remainder of the time will be spent studying the First Amendment and famous Supreme Court cases on the First Amendment, including the current term cases.

The agenda is divided into blocks of time spent with scholars, followed by break-out sessions where activities are demonstrated on the curriculum covered in the scholar sessions.

201: Available to those teachers who have completed the 101 session, the advanced session begins with a look at the "Ladder of the Bill of Rights." The remainder of the three-day, 18-hour institute is spent studying Amendments Two through 10, along with Supreme Court cases decided under each of these amendments. Break-out sessions follow each scholar session with activities on the Bill of Rights.

301: The one-day, seven-hour Update Session is available to those teachers who have previously attended both 101 and 201. Participants will spend most of the time discussing Supreme Court cases that have been decided during the past few years with the scholars. They will also receive a new activity guide, which includes lessons on Federalism and writing.

This Institute will explore segregated education in Virginia and trace the efforts of African Americans who fought for quality schools in the years before Brown v. Board of Education. It will examine Brown and both efforts to implement and resist the decision in Virginia. Finally, it will look at the legacy of Brown. Participants will interact with historians and educators and will take part in lectures, discussions, and workshops and go on field trips to Farmville and the state capitol. They will work with Virginia Historical Society staff to explore teaching strategies and the Society's resources.

Designed especially for secondary school teachers of U.S. history, law, and civics/government, the institute will deepen participants' knowledge of the federal judiciary and of the role the federal courts have played in key public controversies that have defined constitutional and other legal rights. Participants will work closely throughout the institute with leading historians, federal judges, and curriculum consultants. Confirmed faculty include Michael Klarman, Kirkland & Ellis Professor, Harvard Law School and Jeffrey Rosen, Professor of Law, George Washington University.

To explore the theme of "Seeking Social Change Through the Courts," the institute will focus on these three landmark federal trials: Woman suffrage and the trial of Susan B. Anthony, Chinese Exclusions Acts and Chew Heong v. United States, and the desegregation of New Orleans schools and Bush v. Orleans Parish School Board.

This seminar explores the rise of Jim Crow in the United States and tracks it forward to its modern post-civil-rights manifestations. Seminar participants will work with a range of primary sources to interpret the shifting social, economic, political, psychological, and cultural trauma associated with this set of racial practices. Close attention will be paid to the effects of Jim Crow on both sides of the color line.

Ahimsa Center's 2009 Summer Institute for K–12 teachers—the third one in a series on Education about Nonviolence—will focus on Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) and Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68), the pioneers of nonviolent action for social transformation. Participants will work with expert faculty and scholars to learn, reflect, and critically assess the significance of Gandhi and King in their own times and their continuing relevance in our times as leaders of nonviolent mass movements, and also as thought-leaders who seem to have anticipated so many of today's critical issues and vexing problems. Themes and topics covered in the institute will provide a solid foundation for curricular innovations that will help students gain critical insights into the relevance of Gandhi, King, and their respective journeys of nonviolence.