6 - 8 Activity - Redistricting
Apportionment vs. Redistricting
Objectives:
 Students will be able to understand the difference between apportionment
and redistricting.
 Students will analyze the purpose and process involved in apportionment and
redistricting.
Materials:
 ABCville worksheet
 Apportionment map,
http://www.census.gov/rdo/pdf/StrengthInNumbers2010.pdf
 Map of North Carolina districts,
http://www.nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/pdf/congdist/pagecgd110
_nc.pdf
Instructions:
APPORTIONMENT
 A school just ordered 30 new computers for Ms. Johnson’s and Mr. Smith’s
classrooms. Ms. Johnson’s class consists of 30 students, while Mr. Smith
has 15 students in his class.
o Ask the students to act as the school’s principal and decide how to
divide the shipment of computers between the two classrooms.
 Discuss: Who should get the most computers? Why? What
would be a fair way to distribute the computers?
 Compare the computer distribution discussion to the process that the
American government undergoes to divide the 435 seats in the House of
Representatives between the 50 states. Explain to students that this
process of apportionment is used to make sure that Americans have
adequate representation in Congress.
o Discuss: What role does the census play in congressional
apportionment?
 Direct students’ attention to the apportionment map created as a result of
the 2000 census.
 “Strength in Numbers: Your Guide to Census 2010
Redistricting Data from the U.S. Census Bureau”, page 3
http://www.census.gov/rdo/pdf/StrengthInNumbers2010.pdf
o Discuss: Which states gained/lost seats? What was this reason for
this gain/loss? What population trends do you notice?
6 - 8 Activity - Redistricting
REDISTRICTING
 Explain to students that the state’s legislature is responsible for dividing
the state into districts that are as equally distributed as possible. Students
should pretend that they are on the redistricting committee charged with
creating a bill to divide the state of ABCville into districts. The main goals
are to create districts that meet the following criteria:
o Districts must have equal numbers of citizens.
o All parts of the districts must touch. No free-standing parts of a
district are allowed.
o Don’t favor one group over another in individual districts.
 To practice this process of creating districts, students use the worksheet to
divide the make-believe state of ABCville into six districts. Each district
must contain the same number of citizens and the same number of
supporters of each political party.
o Math connection: ABCville has a total population of 360,000. Have
students figure the number of citizens that will reside in each of the
three districts. Each icon indicates a group of 10,000 citizens. Ask
students to determine how many icons would create one district.
o Answer:

o Discussion: In an actual vote, citizens’ votes will be divided based
on more than political party lines.
 Have students generate a list of characteristics relating to a
person’s background that may influence the way they vote
(age, gender, religious beliefs, race/ethnicity, income,
urban/rural, etc.)
 Why is it important to divide districts so they include a
mixture of citizens from different backgrounds?
Show students a map of North Carolina districts drawn as a result of the
2000 census:
6 - 8 Activity - Redistricting


http://www.nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/pdf/congdist/pagecgd11
0_nc.pdf
http://www.ncleg.net/GIS/RandR07/District_Plans/Plans_DB03.asp?Plan=
Congress_ZeroDeviation&Body=Congress&Vintage=2003
o Discussion:
 How many districts does North Carolina have?
 How many representatives does North Carolina have in the
U.S. House of Representatives?
 Compare the process of drawing districts for NC to drawing
districts for ABCville. Discuss the challenges of dividing a
state as large as North Carolina into so many districts.
 Is it possible to divide a state into districts with such equal
representations of citizens?
 Have students find their district on the map.
 Why are some districts larger in geographic size than others?
Is this fair?
Discussion Questions:
 Why is it important to divide districts equally?
 Why does our democracy depend on fair/equal representation?
 Why is the census important to the apportionment and redistricting
process?
 If a state’s population increased or decreased, what would be the effect on
apportioning and redistricting?
Summarizing Options:
 Have students write a paragraph explaining the connection between
apportionment and redistricting. Students should include a clear
description of the difference between the two terms.
 Have students create an analogy to explain apportionment and
redistricting. (Alternative: students respond to the analogy examples
below.) Students should include a detailed explanation of the relationship.
o Examples:
 Apportionment is like a parent with several needy children.



Seats in the House of Representatives are divided amongst the 50
states so that all may receive representation. The size of the state
determines the number of representatives.
Parent must divide resources – food, allowance, toys, etc. –
between children so that they all receive a fair share of the
resources. The size/age of the child may determine the number of
resources.
Redistricting is like a pizza maker.

The General Assembly divides the state into the number of
districts apportioned by the census results. The goal is to have
each district be as equal as possible.
6 - 8 Activity - Redistricting

The pizza maker makes the pizza with the number of toppings that
are specified by the size of the pizza and divides it into sizes that
are as equal as possible.
Additional Resources:
 “What You Should Know about Appropriations Counts”,
http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/pdf/pio00-ac.pdf
 “First Census 2000 Results: Resident Population and Apportionment
Counts”, http://www.census.gov/mso/www/rsf/apportionment/sld001.htm
 U.S. Census Bureau: Resident Population and Apportionment of the U.S.
House of Representatives”,
http://www.census.gov/dmd/www/resapport/states/northcarolina.pdf
 Overview of North Carolina Redistricting process,
http://www.ncleg.net/GIS/RandR07/Overview.html
 The Redistricting Game, http://www.redistrictinggame.org/index.php
6 - 8 Activity - Redistricting
Name ________________________________________________
Welcome to ABCville. You are a member of the special redistricting committee.
Your job is to create three districts. The census results indicate that ABCville
must be divided into districts of 60,000 people each. In order to prevent one
district from having an unfair advantage over another, the committee must try to
include an equal number of citizens from each political party. All parts of the
district must touch.
Key
Use a different color crayon or marker to
draw the borders of each district on the
map below.
ABCville
10,000 Republican citizens
10,000 Democratic citizens
6 - 8 Activity - Redistricting