Explore local and global issues| Researching and Developing Legislation| 9-10, 11-12

Instructions

Teachers will instruct students to research and understand topical political issues and legislation and draft proposed legislation based on their research.

Step 1: Instruct students to explore websites that list and provide information about trending political topics. 

When working to locate a political issue, students can use the I Side With… website to review trending issues. After identifying the issue, students then use a search engine to locate additional information about the topic.

When locating political issues, students can view this political issue resource list from the Pew Research Center. When they come across an issue of interest, students can click on it to access additional information.

After students have identified an issue, they can locate additional information about it by entering key terms into a search engine, like Google.com, and then reviewing the results.

Step 2: Put students in small groups and ask each group to do the following:

• Describe the issue using their own words;
• Summarize at least two perspectives about the issue; and,
• Draft a piece of legislation that expresses the group’s take on the issue and that the group sees as being a reasonable compromise.

While in small groups students can create a Trello board, so each group member can be assigned specific responsibilities for completing this project.

Step 3: Students create presentations and share their proposed legislation with the class.

In the presentation, the group will have to share their issue and two or more perspectives about the issue before proposing their legislation. In response, the class can ask the group questions. When finished, the class can then vote in favor or in opposition to the legislation.