The Constitution Lesson Presentation Project
PROJECT OVERVIEW
 Essential Question: How do governments change?
 Project Goal: To learn the key components of the U.S. Constitution and the basic principles reflected in the
document. Students will research one part of the U.S. Constitution, demonstrate an understanding of its
main ideas and guidelines, located related images or multimedia, and explain the basic principles found in
that part of the document in a mode of the student’s choosing.
SKILLS ADDRESSED
 Collaboration; responsibility and accountability; decision making
 Information and communication technologies literacy; creating presentations
 Historical interpretation; analyzing primary sources
 Making comparisons; drawing conclusions
MATERIALS NEEDED
 Discovering Our Past: A History of the United States Student Edition
 Access to computer for esearch
 Project plan sheets
DURATION
 This assignment is due Tuesday 11/17
 You will work on it on your own time.
Project: You will be creating a presentation on the main parts of the U.S. Constitution for your classmates. You
will be placed in groups of 6-7 people. Each person will be assigned a different part of the U.S. Constitution; you
will create a presentation of your choosing (including the required information) and present that information to
your group members. Your group members will be required to take notes on the information presented. Your
project/presentation should be no longer than 5-7 minutes.
What type of visual can I create? This will be completely up to you. Suggestions might include: Glogster,
PowerPoint, Prezi, posters, websites, etc. Whichever method you choose, it must be typed and or written
extremely neatly.
What are the topics?
 Article I
 Article II
 Article III
 Articles IV-VII
 Amendments I-X
 Amendments XI-XXVI
(If you are in a group of 7, two people will each do one of the topics).
Tasks
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Read about the U.S. Constitution in your textbook.
Conduct personal research on your assigned topic
Find photos, drawings, graphs, multimedia, or links for your topic
Create your project
Add any clever or creative touches to make the project more authentic.
Review your project against your rubric
Turn in your project on time and be prepared to present on the due date. If you are not prepared to
present, your group won’t get the information they need to know.
Suggested sources:
 National Constitution Center: Interactive Constitution
o http://ratify.constitutioncenter.org/constitution/index_no_flash.php

National Archives: Constitution of the United States
o http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html

Center for Civic Education: Multimedia Resrouces
o http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/revolut/jb_revolut_2ndcong_1.html
Requirements
You must include the following:
 Article or Amendment
 An excerpt of what the article or amendment says.
 A summary of the main ideas in your part of the Constitution
 Identify one basic principle you think is illustrated by the part of the Constitution and an explanation how.
 Visual images or multimedia elements that will help describe/represent your part of the Constitution.
 Provide a link to an outside resource. You must provide the title and a brief description of why that link
would be beneficial.
** Remember: You will present this information to your group. You do not want to be reading directly from it.
Project Plan Sheet ** This will be turned in along with your project.
1. What part of the Constitution are your researching? __________________________________
2. My task list (what I need to do):
3. Due Date: _________________________________________
4. Write an excerpt that shows the key idea(s) about your part of the Constitution.
5. Write a summary of the main ideas in your part of the Constitution (in your own words).
6. Identify one basic principle you think is illustrated by the part of the Constitution and explain how.
7. List visual images or multimedia elements that will help describe your part of the Constitution.
8. Prove a link to an outside resource. Be sure to provide the title and a brief description of why that link
would be beneficial.
9. Action plan: How are you going to break up this project so that it is completed on time and not the night
before? Include tasks and dates for when you will complete the task.
Rubric
Points Research and Content
5
Research extremely thorough and facts
accurate and detailed; words and visuals
relevant and display quality information;
discussion of basic principle well
explained
4
Research thorough and facts accurate
and somewhat detailed; words and visual
relevant and display important
information; discussion of basic principle
well explained
3
Research lacks depth and facts not
detailed; most words and visuals relevant
and display important information;
discussion of basic principle explained
2
1
Little research conducted and some facts
missing or inaccurate; few words and
visuals relevant and/or display important
information; discussion of basic principle
not explained
Little research conducted and most facts
missing or inaccurate; words and visuals
irrelevant and/or display unimportant
information; discussion of basic principle
not included.
Presentation
All required elements included; Visual is extremely well
organized; words and visuals clearly and cleverly
presented; presentation highly engaging and easy to
understand; student does not read from the presentation at
all, demonstrating strong knowledge of topic
All required elements included; visual is well organized;
words and visuals clearly presented; presentation
interesting and easy to understand; student may read
minimally from the visual; demonstrates relatively strong
knowledge of topic
All required elements included; visual is organized; most
words and visuals are clearly presented; presentation is
interesting and mostly easy to understand; student reads
some information from the visual; demonstrates some
knowledge of the topic
1 to 2 required elements missing; Visual somewhat
organized; few words and visuals clearly presented;
presentation somewhat interesting but difficult to
understand; student reads mostly from the visual;
demonstrates minimal knowledge of the topic.
3 or more required elements missing; visual is not
organized; words and visuals not clear; presentation lacks
creativity and difficult to understand; student reads entirely
from the visual; demonstrates minimal to no real
knowledge of the topic.