Learning Links
Police / Civil Rights / Armed Services / Taxes / Censorship / Eminent Domain / Voting / Impeachment / Vigilante / Lawsuit / Separation of Powers
Related Concepts
Justice / Equality / Authority and Power / Conflict and Consensus / Freedom / Privacy / Rights and Responsibilities / Pluralistic Society
Demonstrators should be read from bottom to top, but need not be demonstrated sequentially.
Elementary Demonstrators
• Identify sources of authority.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the development and purpose of rules and laws.
• Describe elements of familiar political systems (e.g., home, school, club).
• Explore the purposes and functions of local, state, and national governments.
• Participate in the political life of the school.
Middle School Demonstrators
• Compare democratic and non- democratic political systems (e.g., American constitutional government, parliamentary government, dictatorship, monarchy).
• Compare sources of authority and power.
• Analyze factors that account for continuity and change in political systems.
• Demonstrate civic participation skills.
High School Demonstrators
• Analyze the relationship between authority and power in political systems.
• Analyze the impact of ethical beliefs on political systems.
• Evaluate various processes for political change.
• Participate actively in a variety of civic and political activities.
Sample Teaching/Assessment Strategies
Collaborative Process: Cooperative Learning, Reciprocal Teaching / Community-Based Instruction: Field Studies, Service Learning / Continuous Progress Assessment: Portfolio Development, Self-assessment, Performance Events/Exhibitions / Graphic Organizers: Graphic Representations, Time Line, Venn Diagram / Problem Solving: Brainstorming, Inquiry, Case Studies, Creative Problem Solving, Future Problem Solving, Debate, Interviews, Oral History, Simulation / Technology/Tools: Computers, Interactive Video, Multimedia, Puppets / Whole Language Approach /Writing Process
These sample strategies offer ideas and are not meant to limit teacher resourcefulness. More strategies are found in the resource section.
Ideas for Incorporating Community Resources
• Interview community leaders (e.g., mayor, sheriff, civic club officers) to identify and discuss their job responsibilities.
• Invite a local representative of a political party to discuss the "give-and-take" of politics.
• Utilize the local newspaper in discussions about current affairs.
• Interview editorialists, former military officers, former protestors, religious leaders, or members of special interest groups to discuss their views of political systems.
Core Concept: Structure and Function of Political Systems
Sample Elementary Activities
• Record your activates for one day. Examine each and determine if there is a rule or law that governs the activity. Identify the source of each rule or law. OE, P
• Design and establish rules for a new game. Justify the rules in the game so the players will understand their purpose. PE, P
• Write and perform a puppet show explaining the need for and purpose of rules in school or in the county. PE, OE, P
• Organize a class campaign and elect a leader to oversee a scientific project. PE, P
Applications Across the Curriculum
Language Arts
• Write to a pen pal in another country and compare rules, rights, and responsibilities in your school with those in your pen pal's school. OE, P
Science
• Write a letter to your local government representative to discover local environmental regulations. Determine whether or not your school is in compliance. PE, P
Mathematics
• Compose a set of classroom rules, responsibilities, and consequences. Revisit the set after a period of time to determine needed adjustments in either the rule or behavior. OE, P
Practical Living
• Investigate the similarities between the way you provide care for your pet and the way your parents care for you. OE, P
Arts and Humanities
• Design a comic book which explores the relationship between power and authority. PE, P
Vocational Education
• Interview persons involved in law enforcement. Draw conclusions about the purpose of rules and laws and who shall be subject to their authority (e.g., "no person is above the law"). P
Sample Middle School Activities
• Plan a government for a colony on Mars. Design organizational diagrams. Present justifications for your government. PE, OE, P
• Write a constitution for your club or group. Compare your constitution to the U.S. Constitution to find differences and similarities. OE, P
• Study the effect of modern technology on political systems in the world. Determine if technology encourages or impedes democracy. OE, P
• Develop a list of statements under the heading "Why Can't I..." List rules or laws which regulate each concern. Investigate strategies which could be used to change one of the concerns. P
Applications Across the Curriculum
Language Arts
• Interview community leaders to identify common attributes of leadership. Compare these leadership attributes to school leaders. OE
Mathematics
• Analyze the frequency of females elected to office in world politics over the last decade. Predict trends in future elections based on your data. PE, OE, P
Science
• Investigate examples of scientific research developed to benefit people but which were taken over by a political system for its own purposes. Examine how scientists felt and reacted to the government's actions. Suggest ways in which the scientific community could have avoided this. PE, P
Arts and Humanities
• Create an artistic representation of how leadership can involve non-violent (e.g., passive resistance, hunger strikes) behavior. PE, P
Practical Living
• Examine leadership attributes of personalities in the news. Determine how these attributes could be utilized by leaders in a variety of political systems. PE, P
Vocational Education
• Design a flowchart showing the hierarchy of leadership in a workplace. Examine how the workplace resembles a political system. Determine which type of political system it most resembles. PE
Sample High School Activities
• Volunteer to work in the campaign of a candidate. Keep a journal of your activities. Evaluate your role and the outcome of the campaign. OE, P
• Develop and present a flowchart on a computer showing how a citizen's idea might become the basis of legislation at the local, state, or national level. PE, OE, P
• Analyze controversial issues surrounding Kentucky's constitution. Determine what revisions are needed (if any) and draft a new document or create a defense of the current constitution. Submit and defend these ideas to a panel of lawyers, officials, and educators in the community as a culminating activity. PE, OE
• Compose a musical piece which expresses the ideas found in the political system of the United States. Perform the piece and obtain responses from the audience as an evaluation of the piece's effectiveness. PE, P
Applications Across the Curriculum
Variations on a theme: Political Authority
Language Arts
• Write a short story about your community if it were to suddenly change its political system (e.g., monarchy, dictatorship, communism). Show how your life would be different. OE, P
Science
• Design a presentation which shows how scientific research is used by various political systems. PE, P
Mathematics
• Conduct a demographic study of the world to show populations living under authoritarian and democratic societies. Draw conclusions, explain the evidence, and make predictions about the future of democracy in the world. OE, P
Arts and Humanities
• Compare art and music from Nazi Germany to the United States during the Great Depression. Explain differences and similarities. OE
Practical Living
• Investigate how people living in various political systems might deal with controversial issues found in everyday life (e.g., censorship, education reform, homelessness). OE, P
Vocational Education
• Illustrate ways in which a political system influences the creation of job opportunities. PE, P