Unit
Unit 6: Political Participation and Elections
Guiding question
How do we work through existing civic and political institutions to achieve a healthy civic society?
Guiding Question:
- How do we work through existing civic and political institutions to achieve a healthy civic society?
Objectives:
- Students will analyze the role of citizens in a democracy to understand their responsibilities and how their participation contributes to self-governance.
- Students will evaluate the functions of political parties, their platforms, and how the influence elections.
- Students will analyze the history of suffrage, voting trends, different voting systems, and how elections shape the country’s direction.
- Students will explore how local institutions function, the role of civil society organizations, and ways to get involved in their communities.
- Students will analyze how mass media shapes public opinion, the role of interet groups in representation, and their impact on political polarization.
- Students will analyze trends, polls, and other data to understand political behavior and decision-making.
Teacher resource
Unit 6: Political Participation and Elections Inquiry Organizer
How do we work through existing civic and political institutions to achieve a healthy civic society?
Lessons
Explore how practicing civic virtues reinforces the Founding principles and shapes political parties, voting, media, and civil society.
How can a community balance diverse needs and interests to achieve a solution that reflects the will of We the People?
Explore how modern campaigns utilize more than policies to elect candidates.
How do PACS and super PACs aid in financing political campaigns?
How do the components of the U.S. presidential electoral process function and rely on active political participation by citizens?
How do the different methods of federal elections work?
How has the expansion of voting rights helped shape and secure participation in democracy?
What factors influence voter participation?
Helps students explore how local associations and groups in civil society work together to solve community problems and encourage civic engagement.
Guide students understanding of who participates most often in the democratic process through voting.
How well do interest groups represent the voices, concerns, and needs of citizens while working to connect the people and the government?
What significant role(s) does the media play in democracy?
What impact do television and digital media have on presidential elections?
How have various forms of news media provided citizens with information necessary for self-governance?
Explore how the oversaturation of available information and likelihood of bias impacts how we should approach media.
How have various forms of media provided citizens with political information and influenced the ways in which people participate politically?
Are Americans polarized by political parties?
Unit resources
The text of the preamble to the Constitution and corresponding comprehension questions.
Help students understand why the rule of law is essential in a free society and the role individual citizens play in maintaining a self-governing society and institutions.
A primary source to explore the dangers of factions and how the Constitution was designed to limit their powers.
An interactive that engages students with the problems of factions and how the Constitution was designed to limit their powers.
The text pf Theodore Roosevelt's "New Nationalism" speech from 1910 and questions to guide students in examining how it influenced American political thought.
A primary source analysis of the various amendments to the Constitution that have expanded access to voting.
The text of the Constitution and corresponding analysis questions that explore it's provisions for elections.
Analyzes the Electoral College through primary sources, including Madison's Federalist #39, Article II of the Constitution, and the Twelfth Amendment.
Explore the modern and historical political parties to understand their foundational positions, key policies, and roles in American politics.
Excerpted text of Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America" with corresponding comprehension questions.
A look at this primary source that explores how a large country helps prevent a single tyrannical majority from forming.
The Supreme Court case Citizens United v. FEC (2010) serves as the primary source for this case study, providing a pivotal ruling on campaign finance and the role of money in elections.