Appreciating Legislatures
Lesson Plans for High School Teachers of Civics, Government, and U.S. History
These lesson plans, designed--at least in small part--to build on one another are mainly for civics, American government, and history courses taught at the high school level.
The project is sponsored by several organizations that are collaborating on the teaching of civic education on representative democracy and legislatures: the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), the Center for Civic Education (CCE), and the Center on Congress at Indiana University (CCIU), all of whom are joined in the Representative Democracy in America project.
This lesson is designed to teach students to appreciate the most basic practices of democracy in the United States: first, that people have different values, interests, and opinions; and second, that these differences are often settled in legislative bodies by means of deliberation and negotiation, with compromise and a majority vote as key elements.
The lesson can be taught in three or four 45-minute class periods. At the heart of the lesson are three easy-to-teach activities (or simulations). (The current version was completed in September 2003.)
Appreciating Representation
This lesson focuses on how, to what degree, and on what issues people’s values, interests, and priorities get represented in the legislative process. (The current version was completed in November 2005.)
This lesson on is designed to give students a sense of what lawmakers are really like and, in particular, what motivates them as public officials. (The current version was completed in April 2007.)
Updated June 1, 2007
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