AP Government: Demographics and Public Policy

We have started a unit on public opinion and political participation in my AP Government class.  The chapter begins with an examination of current demographic trends in the US.  Pew Research has some really cool interactive graphics on their website that ties in very well with the chapter.  I assigned pairs of students demographic topics and had them research the trend and make predictions about how it will impact politics in the future.  Students eventually presented their predictions, and they came up with some great answers.

This activity is a great way to introduce the many ways that demographics and public opinion shape politics.

These are the websites I had students use:

The Next America
Pew Research Center

This is a downloadable version of the graphic organizer I had them fill out for their initial research:

Graphic Organizer

Let me know how it goes!

Ukraine Crisis and Foreign Policy

We're studying the President's role in foreign policy and recently covered the different ways the US interacts with foreign countries.  We discussed the following:

• Militarily
• Foreign Aid
• Sanctions
• Embargos
• Advice
• Treaties

We also discussed the various reasons the US would want to engage in foreign policy.  Some of the reasons discussed were:

• Promote economic growth
• Foster democracy abroad
• Protect national security and interests
• Protect human rights

The crisis in Ukraine is a great current event to get students to try and apply this knowledge.  I created this simple activity to reinforce these concepts above.

Lesson

First we reviewed the crisis with these YouTube clips to get an understanding of the conflict:

Why Russia is invading Ukraine, explained in 2 minutes
Why are Russia and Ukraine Fighting?
How Powerful Is Russia?

Following the video clips I had students work in groups of 4 to discuss the possible actions the US could take to address the crisis.  I had groups use this discussion guide to help guide their group work:

Discussion Guide

Commander in Chief Lesson

Well this was a tough one.  The President's role as Commander in Chief is constantly changing and there is so much grey area with regards to his war powers.  I tried to go over just the basics and left some room for students to research and go into more depth if they choose.  Let me know what you think or if I should modify it.



Student Video Guide

Video Lessons

The school I work at is a 1:1 laptop school, so I have been experimenting with blended learning.  I have created a few video lessons for my government class so that students can work at their own pace.  My goal with these videos is not to create a content related video, but to create a shareable lesson.  There are tons of great content related videos out there from places like Ted Ed and Crash Course History, but the videos alone are a passive way to learn.  I've built activities around these content videos so that students are actively engaged with what they are watching.

Feel free to use these in your class or modify them to fit your needs.  The videos are just directions to the lessons.  The student work comes in with the lesson guide, which is attached to each video.

Powers of the President

 

Lesson Guide


The Electoral College


Lesson Guide


The Powers of Congress




Lesson Guide