Branches of Government

Digital Citizen, Knowledge Constructor, Global Collaborator

Overview

Students will use in-class notes to answer questions about each branch of government using Google Slides. Information can be presented with words or pictures. Students will be walked through a rubric and examples before starting the activity, and they will be encouraged to apply the positions to the real world (e.g., who’s the current president?).

Learning Objectives

Students will:

Demonstrate their knowledge of the three branches of government using Google Slides.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary Words:

Executive Branch: The Executive Branch is composed of the President of the United States, the Vice President, and the Cabinet.
Judicial Branch: The Judicial Branch includes the Supreme Court and other Federal courts.
Legislative Branch: The Legislative Branch is made up of Congress, which includes the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Pre-planning

To prepare for this lesson:

Have your list of websites ready for students to use, and make it readily available.
- Some ideas for Branches of Government are:
Be sure to know what features you want students to use in Google Slides - make a list and model them.
Check out this rubric. You can also download the PDF.

Note:

This can be modified to examine branches of state government, rather than the executive, judicial, and legislative branches. Students will have the option to use photos to show what they have learned about the three branches of government.

Notes/discussion on the three branches can be done in any format so long as the notes sheet has a majority of what students will need. An alternative is showing students how to research the components on their own, rather than using their note sheets and Google to fill in the rest of the information.

This doesn't have to be a solo assignment. If you're short on time, this can be done in pairs or groups of three, and divided up the work.

Accommodations

See the Accommodations Page and Charts on the 21things4student website in the Teacher Resources.

Steps

Directions for this activity:

1. Start by introducing the project and reviewing the rubric and examples with students.

2. As needed, model the tools that they will need to use in Google Slides - text boxes, inserting and manipulating images, etc.

3. After modelling and explaining the assignment, be sure to communicate the resources students can use.

4. This is up to you - you choose the websites you want to use and show them to the students. This may vary depending on whether you are a state or national government.

5. When they are ready to start, they can have free rein in their assignment. They can use the rubric to assist them.

Assessment Options

Different options for assessing the students:

Observations
Check for understanding
Rubric or download the rubric.

MITECS Competencies & ISTE Standards

MITECS: Michigan adopted the "ISTE Standards for Students" called MITECS (Michigan Integrated Technology Competencies for Students) in 2018.

Digital Citizen
1.2.b Online Interactions - Students demonstrate empathetic, inclusive interactions online and use technology to responsibly contribute to the communities.

Knowledge Constructor
1.3.c Curate information - Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.
1.3.d Explore Real World Issues - Students build knowledge by actively exploring real-world issues and problems, developing ideas and theories, and pursuing answers and solutions.

Global Collaborator
1.7.c Project Teams - Students contribute constructively to project teams, assuming various roles and responsibilities to work effectively toward a common goal.