Note: Instructor’s reflections are in red below.
Course
Interactive Lecture Lesson Plan Template
Preliminary Preparation Phase
Introduction to Political Science 01
Unit Title Unit Title &
End of Unit Assessment
Lesson’s Content Focus*
Conceptual or procedural knowledge
statement (not the task).
Essential Question
Question for reflecting on essential
content presented at start of lesson,
but answered in Phase 4.
The Constitutional basis of federalism
Write an essay contrasting at least three different elements of
federalism.
The United States has a federal system, which is a political system
that divides power between a central government with authority over
the whole nation and a series of state governments.
In a federal system of government who has legitimate authority; in
other worlds, who has the legal political power to make decisions
binding for the country?
Some of the students were confused about the role of the states
because of the supremacy clause or the law of the land.
Learning Outcome
Statement describing task requiring
students to demonstrate their
understanding by end of the lesson.
Task completed in Phase 3 below.
Given the PowerPoint presentation and the 20 minutes video
presentation (on the division of power in the US) students will be
able to assess the interaction between the powers of the national
government and the powers state & local governments (see table
attached).
Lesson Phases with Students
Phase 1: Introduction
Contextualize new content and
activate prior knowledge.
The U.S. Constitution is specific only regarding powers to be granted
to national and state governments. Together with your partner take
60 seconds and fill up the charter provide (see table 1).
It took the student longer than I anticipated. Some took as long as 3
minutes.
Phase 2: Presentation
a. Explain/demonstrate each new
content element to be learned.
Point
#1
b. Provide sufficient examples.
c. Insert “Quick-Thinks” that
function both as checks for
understanding and as brief student
engagement tasks.
a. The United States is one nation with many governments.
In a federal system, two or more governments exercise
power and authority over the same people and the same
territory. There have been many stages of federalism in the
United states:
(1) Dual federalism
(2) Cooperative federalism
(3) New federalism.
b. Trace the shifting balance of power between the national
and state governments in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries.
(1) Dual federalism (a layer-cake metaphor);
a. Enumerated Powers
b. States’ Rights
(2) Cooperative federalism (a marble-cake metaphor);
a. elastic clause (Article I, Section 8, Clause 18)
b. implied powers
(3) New federalism.
a. Devolution (Nixon and Reagan Era)
b. Unfunded Mandates
Point
c. Together with your partner, outline the shifting balance of
power between the national and state governments.
a. The critical difference between the three theories of
#2
federalism is the way they interpret two sections of the
U.S. Constitution: the Tenth Amendment and the socalled Necessary and Proper clause/ Elastic clause.
b. The supremacy of states’ rights is the major focus of
dual federalism. From this perspective, the U.S.
Constitution is a compact between sovereign states. Dual
federalism views states as powerful components of the
federal system. The Tenth Amendment, which says that
“powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved
to the States respectively, or to the people.
The cooperative federalism envisions the states and the
national government as intertwined, rather than as acting in
separate spheres. The constitutional sections that ignite the
federalism debate are Article I, Section 8, which enumerates
the powers allotted to Congress and includes the necessaryand-proper (or elastic) clause.
President Nixon implemented a New Federalism designed
to decentralize national policies (Devolution).
c. With your partner list several differences between each
stages of federalism (use table # 2 in the appendix).
Point
#3
Point
#4
a. The relationship between national and state governments
has shifted over time through national crises and demands
and the expansion of grants-in-aid.
b. The greatest changes in the strength of the national
government have come during times of crisis and national
emergency:
During the class I did not give them examples—I assumed
that they read it but next time I plan to give them the
following examples:
1. The attempted secession of the southern states
from the Union was the greatest test of the strong
(states’ rights) position with regard to federalism.
2. During the Great Depression, the Congress
enacted a number of emergency relief programs at
President Roosevelt’s request, but the greatest
transformation with respect to federalism was the
change in the public’s view of what the appropriate
role of the national government was.
3. After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
we saw another widespread increase in the national
government’s power through the enactment of
legislation such as the U.S.A.-Patriot Act.
c. List other events that have contributed to strength the
powers of the national government. Share with the class.
I removed this session of the lecture because I did not have
time to cover it in one lesson. I transformed it into the
second lesson plan.
a. Incentives granted by the national government can also
shift the balance between nation and state.
b. 1. A grant-in-aid is money paid by one level of
government to another level to be spent for a specific
purpose. Such grants are often awarded on a matching basis.
2. The two forms of grants-in-aid are categorical grants and
block grants.
a) Categorical grants are targeted for specific
purposes, such as federal grants to states for
disaster assistance. Restrictions on their use leave
little discretion to the government receiving the
grant. These grants may be further divided into two
groups.
(1) Formula grants are distributed
according to a given formula, specifying
who is eligible and how much each
recipient will receive.
(2) Project grants are awarded on the basis
of competitive applications.
b) Block grants are awarded for more general purposes,
such as community development.
Phase 3: Guided Practice Statement
describing task requiring students to
demonstrate their understanding by
end of the lesson. Matches Learning
Outcome above.
Phase 4: Consolidation
Students answer the Essential
Question posed at start of lesson.)
Materials Needed
c. If you were a member of Congress, would you prefer
block grants or categorical grants? Explain your answer to
your partner and share with the class.
Independent practice task:
Which side more closely reflects your point of view: the supporters
of a strong national government or the advocates of states’ rights?
Why?
The student took more time that I expected. May be next time I will
assigned it as homework
Strategy for answering the essential question:
Students record answer individually and then compare with partners.
Videos, Newspaper clips and textbook.
*Conceptual and Procedural Knowledge
Conceptual Knowledge: Concepts are mental categories, sets, or classes with common
characteristics. A concept’s characteristics are its defining features. When learners construct
understanding of a concept, they generalize from the characteristics. By generalizing from specific
examples to describe broad categories, concepts help us simplify our world; we remember the
categories instead of each individual instance. Concepts (with their definition and critical features) are
learned through the process of generalization and discrimination using contrastive analysis of example
vs. non-example or strong vs. weak example) and involves pattern recognition.
Procedural Knowledge: Procedures are demonstrated when we perform a series of mental or physical
steps in a specific situation. Procedural knowledge reflects the expert’s efficient approach to a problem
or task; when novices learn the procedure, that expert’s approach is made explicit and serves as a guide
to allow students to independently apply a skill.
Concepts generally precede procedures in an instructional sequence. For example, the concept of
editorial and its critical features with a strong and weak example would be presented prior to the
demonstration of the procedure of how to write an editorial. When procedural knowledge is taught
without prior related conceptual understanding, instruction lacks meaning and context. The content
focus in a lesson plan will state the learning that is intended by the end of the lesson. If the endpoint of
a lesson is procedural knowledge, the related concepts that first need to be addressed will be placed in
the instructional points sections of the lesson plan template.
Appendix A
Table 1: Division of authority (powers) between the States and Federal Government
Powers reserve to the
Concurrent Powers
Powers reserve to the
National Government
(Shared)
States
(Enumerated)
(Reserve)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Table 2: The relationship between national and state governments has shifted over time:
Dual Federalism
Cooperative Federalism
New Federalism
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.