Literacy

Symbols:

Students will use graphs, charts, and videos to convey facts and information about their form of government.  Students will search through data from various web sources (CIA Factbook, Wikipedia) to find facts about different forms of government.  Students will listen to videos and personal accounts from citizens that live under different forms of government.

Discourse Forms:

Students will role-play a proponent of their form of government when presenting to the class.  Students will display multimedia-based information related to their form of government during the presentation.

Students who are recieveing the information will verbally debate whether the presented form of government is value-added for the island nation.

When the form government for the island is finally selected, students will write summaries detailing why that form of government was/was not selected by the class.

Cognitive Processes:

Students will correlate the prosperity, stability, and opportunity in a form of government with countries that employ that form of government in today's world.  Students will use different methods of persuasion to convince others to vote with (or against) their ideas.  Students will use deductive reasoning to determine whether facts presented to them are truthful.  Students will be able to summarize the benefits and detriments of their form of government.

Problem Solving

Strategies:

Historical research, data analysis, information rearranging, role playing.

Authentic Anchored Problem:

Students must choose a form of government for their new island.  They will research whether their new island should have a direct democratic, representative democratic, theocratic, dictatorial, communist, or socialist government, and present their findings to the rest of the class.  

They will categorize the pros and cons of each form of government based on a citizen's: income, standard of living, and ability to modify their own government.

They will also categorize the pros and cons of each form of government based on the nations that have had (and still do have) that form of government today with respect to: societal longevity and fiscal success.

Knowledge

Disciplinary structures:

(real-world background knowledge aligned with TEKS)

• Systems of world government. 

• National economics.
  

• Historical research. 

• Public relations.

Disciplinary processes:

(critical thinking skills needed to solve the problem)

• Data analysis. 

• Historical fact-checking. 

• Comparing/contrasting of directly opposing ideas. 

• Persuasive speech / debate. 

• Problem solving. 

• Crisis management.

   

Disciplinary discourses:

(stories or data that help students understand the underlying problem more effectively)

• Students will create multimedia presentations that will motivate their peers to vote for/against a particular form of government (direct democratic, representative democratic, theocratic, dictatorial, communist, socialist). 

• Students will create a (simplified) written constitution for their new island society.

• Students will encounter, analyze, and attempt to overcome a social, environmental, or governmental problem related to the island.

• Students will create a written summary on the success/failure of the island society at the end of the project.

Information

Students who take on the role of a wiki creator will:

• Differentiate between fact and opinion.
• Create citations and supporting evidence for their views.
• Recognize where government censorship of the printed word may or may not be applied.
• Create and present a digital product

Students who take on the role of a social services worker will:

• Research the effects that a government has in the private lives of its citizens.
• Empathize with the plight of citizens who require special assistance.
• Compare and contrast how different governments deal with social issues.
• Role-play a negotiation between social services and the public.

Students who take on the role of a politician will:

• Research how much influence citizens have on the political process.
• Categorize and document the lawmaking process.
• Role-play an actual vote.

Students who take on the role of a banker will:

• Research the financial histories of similar governments
• Categorize and display the financial histories.
• Decipher financial terms into simplified language that is presentable to those with a non-financial background.

Students who take on the role of a parent will:

• Research medical statistics.
• Categorize and display the medical statistics.
• Compare and contrast the powers and privileges of the state vs. the individual

Community

This project deals with three types of communities.

Group Community

The first is a sense of community between group members.  Teams of five (or more, depending on class size) research, decipher, coordinate, peer-review, and assemble a wiki 'product' together.  In addition, they present their suggested form of governemnt to the rest of the class, and may collectively argue for or against other forms of government together.

Class Community

The second is a sense of community between classmates.  When drafting a constitution and working through the 'obstacle' problem, the class will coordinate and contribute to a goal as a single, functioning society with a shared goal.

National Community

When the design module is finished, the students will have a much better appreciation for how the United States government was founded, and some of the obstacles that the drafters of our own constitution faced during their time.  Hopefully, they will look upon technological, social, financial, and societal issues that the United States faces on a daily basis with more clarity and understanding of how those issues are resolved in a large society.

§113.33. World History Studies (One Credit).

(c)  Knowledge and skills. 

• (15)  Government. The student understands the historical antecedents of contemporary political systems.
  

   

• (25)  Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of sources including electronic technology.
  

   

• (26)  Social studies skills. The student communicates in written, oral, and visual forms.
  

   

• (27)  Social studies skills. The student uses problem-solving and decision-making skills, working independently and with others, in a variety of settings.

§113.37. Sociology (One-Half Credit). 

(c)  Knowledge and skills. 

• (16)  Social studies skills. The student uses problem-solving and decision-making skills, working independently and with others, in a variety of settings.

§113.38. Special Topics in Social Studies (One-Half Credit).

(c)  Knowledge and skills.

• (1)  Social studies skills. The student applies critical-thinking skills to organize and use information acquired from a variety of sources including electronic technology.
  

   

• (2)  Social studies skills. The student communicates in written, oral, and visual forms.
  

   

• (3)  Social studies skills. The student uses problem-solving and decision-making skills, working independently and with others, in a variety of settings.

Authentic

For each form of government (direct democratic, representative democratic, theocratic, dictatorial, communist, socialist), each student in the group of 5 will assume a singular role from the following list: 

A1) Webmaster creating a Wikipedia page explaining their form of government.

A2) Social Services worker explaining unemployment benefits to a citizen who has lost their job.

A3) Politician explaining the 'ins' and 'outs' of the job to a new college intern/clerk.

A4) Banker presenting a financial analysis of the country to stakeholders during the best and worst fiscal years.

A5) Parents explaining how they raised their kids under that form of government.

Background Building

B1.1) Review Wikipedia's description of the selected form of government.

B1.2) Find one media source that agrees with a Wikipedia fact, and one media source that disagrees with a Wikipedia fact about that government.

B2.1) Select a country that practices this form of government, and find the name(s) of the agency(ies) that provide social services to citizens of that country.

B2.2) For that same country, research which social services (if any) are guaranteed by the constitution.

B3.1) Select a country that practices this form of government and view the (TBD) video on how elections are conducted.

B3.2) For that same country, research how national laws are sponsored and passed according to the constitution.

B4.1) Watch (TBD) video on how countries with this form of government have weathered the current financial crisis (2009).

B4.2) Research how those same countries (with same form of government) fared during the financial crisis of the 1990s.

B4.3) Consult the CIA World Factbook (or other world encyclopedia) for the unemployment rates and GDP for that country over the past 10, 30, and 60 years.

B5.1) If the form of government is represented by a country in the G8, look at international test scores to determine how that country's children fared vs. other countries during the past year.

B5.2) Examine the roles of parents in the society.  Determine who has more control over child birth and child raising: the parents, or the government.

B5.3) Research the birth and death rates from the Centers for Disease Control (or other world encyclopedia) for children and adults in two different countries with this form of government.

Constructing

C1.1) Create a wiki page that summarizes the form of government.

C1.2) Coordinate with the other members of your group to integrate their research into the wiki page.

C1.3) Create a bibliography of sources that supports the 'facts' on your wiki page.

C2.1) Consult the CIA World Factbook (or other world encyclopedia) for the top 3 social problems faced by that country.

C2.2) Choose another country that practices the same form of government, and determine whether the top 3 social problems are the same or different from the first country.

C3.1) Create a multimedia presentation (Flash, PPT, video, etc) that walks the viewer through creating or amending a national law.

C3.2) Create a chart or diagram that displays the percentage of citizens who voted in the last election in that country.

C4.1) Create charts or diagrams that illustrate the GDP of the country over the past 10, 30, and 60 years

C4.2) Repeat for a much smaller/larger country.

C5.1) Create a multimedia presentation that illustrates the life cycle of the 'average' child--from birth to death--under this form of government.

Sharing

D1.1) Have the other members of your group review and evaluate your wiki page.

D1.2) Determine who would have control over the content of your wiki page based on the form of government.

D1.3) Determine who would have access to the wiki page based on the form of government

D1.4) Write a 1-page conclusion on how accurate you deem the wiki information will be, and why.

D2.1) Present findings on social services under that form of government to other members of your group.

D2.2) Assign each member (or every two members) a class (upper, middle, lower)

D2.3) Role-play a social services worker interaction with each class segment, as if they had lost their job.

D2.4) Write a 1-page conclusion on whether the upper, middle, or lower class benefit most from the form of government.

D3.1) Hold a mini-vote in class using the voting process of the chosen government.

D3.2) After the vote, write a 1-page conclusion on whether the voting process was successful, and why.

D4.1) Explain the concept of GDP to the class.

D4.2) Display the charts/diagrams, and explain how the chosen country has fared in the current economy.  Repeat for a much smaller/larger economy

D4.3) Write a 1-page conclusion on whether this form of government would be suitable for creating a prosperous industry or trade on the island.

D5.1) Share child-related findings with the class.

D5.2) Write a 1-page conclusion on whether children born on the island under this form of government would prosper more or less than you have up to this point in your life.