Caucus 101
Linkage Institutions: Interest Groups: Option A
How are elections really run and won? Learn about special interest groups, super PACs, and lobbyists with an engaging lesson about the caucus process. Young voters research specific interest groups and analyze their part in previous and...
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Pay to Play?
Lead your class in a discussion about how they believe money influences politics. After reading "Go Ahead, Try to Stop K Street" from the New York Times, they evaluate the claims in the article about the current lobbyist scandal in...
School Improvement in Maryland
Evaluating Political Advertisements
How do interest groups try to influence elections? As part of their study of the election process, groups view 30-second advertisements produced by advocacy groups and use the provided worksheet to evaluate these ads. They then craft...
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Cartoons for the Classroom: Attacking All Those Attack Ads
In this symbolism worksheet, students analyze political cartoons about political campaign attack ads. Students then respond to 5 short answer questions.
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The Politics Of Taxation
Students explain that taxation involves a compromise of conflicting goals and that lobbyists can influence lawmakers' decisions about taxes. They can explain why people of similar incomes often pay different tax rates and work in teams...
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Lesson Plan 4: Political Advertising
Students observe a political advertisement and evaluate the views promoted in the ad. After exploring governmental policies, students create their own 30-second ad to promote a specified cause and publicize their views. Students share...
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Lobbying
Students examine the role of lobbyists in Washington, D.C. In this Legislative Branch lesson, students watch video segments and read excerpts about lobbying. Students write essays that explore the pros and cons of lobbying.
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Economics: Actions of Government
Students examine the susceptibility of legislators to agricultural lobbyists to support subsidy programs. In small groups, they role-play as members of interest groups that might be affected by inflation.
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Select-a-Lawmaker
Students are assigned a party faction, examine bills voted on by their party faction last year, and find a candidate with a similiar view of government.
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Government Lesson Plan: Lesson Plan 4
Students analyze how interest groups present their viewpoint to the public. They assess how media can influence public opinion by closely examining a political ad from the 1964 presidential election.
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Reviewing the Election Process by NOW Classroom for PBS
Students take a closer look at presidential elections. In this election process lesson plan, students discuss the roles of the primary, caucus, polls, Electoral College, delegates, and lobbyists in the process. Students then access the...
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Is Congress for Sale?
Students research web sites to measure the level of influence campaign donations and Political Action Committees have on their representatives and senators. They discover opportunities for private citizens to lobby elected officials and...
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The Energy Task Force
High schoolers simulate a meeting of the President's energy task force in order to observe how energy policy may be developed with the input of various groups. Students will form groups with the following roles: lobbyists, members of the...
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So, You Think You Understand Parliamentary Democracy ?
Tenth graders experience first hand the complexity of the political process. They analyze the relationship between party policies and the political spectrum and develop an understanding of how Canada's laws are debated and passed.
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Interest Groups in South Carolina
Twelfth graders explain the work of interest groups and give examples of South Carolina interest groups. They identify positive & negative influences of interest groups in U.S. & S.C. politics. They take and defend a position on...
Frontline
Obama's Deal
Government classes benefit from examining how a bill passes through Congress, while they focus on the compromises made by Obama's administration regarding health care reform. This includes an online video and a couple of handouts. The...
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Child Labor in Maryland: An Historical Investigation
Tenth graders, after reading two excerpts about contemporary child labor situations, discuss two broad questions in detail along with the industrial boom following the Civil War conditions in the United States. They investigate how the...
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Healthcare Reform Lesson Plans
Healthcare reform is a subject that students can debate, research, and analyze.
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Health - Lesson Plan on Prescription Drug Prices
Learners examine the issue of prescription drug prices in the United States. They discover how globalization impacts the available remedies to lower the costs to American consumers. They participate in a mock U.S. Senate Commerce Committee
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Government Bingo
Students play a Bingo game to review the facts and concepts of the Canadian System of Government.
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Globalization101.org Lesson Plan on Prescription Drug Prices
Pupils examine the issue of prescription drug prices in the United States. They research the issue and participate in a mock US Senate hearing on the subject.
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Lobbying for Passage of the National Suffrage Amendment
Students examine the lobbying involved in trying to pass the Nineteenth Amendment. They discover the relationships between women and the suffragists. They also examine the media's coverage of the event.