Civics Standard Two - Grades 9-12

Sample Activities

Students could pick a particular policy issue to follow during the year and track it though news accounts and research done in the library. As the year progressed, each student would be responsible for developing a position on the issue and a strategy for getting legislation enacted which was consistent with their views. This would include an examination of party platforms and the speeches of individual law-makers to see who would be sympathetic to their position and locating community or special interest groups which champion that cause. They would be responsible for creating a public information presentation designed to win other people to their position [Politics; participation]

If students were asked to consider the distribution of viewpoints on the issue though out the United States and present that information in geographic terms, or to pick an issue with an obvious economic impact, then this activity could be integrated across several standards.

Parent Partnership Project: Students might develop a questionnaire on controversial Supreme Court decisions, considering both opinions and impact, and use this survey to gather opinions from their families and neighbors [Politics].

to Civics Standard Two.