Ohio Social Studies Strands
Political Science, 7 th Grade
By: Robyn Hawley

Table of Contents
• American Heritage
• People in Societies
• World Interactions
• Citizenship Rights and Responsibilities
• Democratic Processes
• Decision Making and Resources
• Science, Technology, and Society

ACTIVITIES:
American Heritage
• Create a timeline that demonstrates the move of people from England to America and the beginning of government and society in America.
• Write a paper that compares and contrasts the government in England and in America. How have we been shaped by England’s traditions? What makes us
Americans?
•
How has America been influenced by other countries?
Look at South America, Asia and Africa and brainstorm a list of similar experiences, traditions and habits.

ACTIVITIES:
American Heritage
• Groups of students will debate the Articles of
Confederation versus the
Constitution to see which would provide a better government for America, using primary resources.
• Groups of students will create a visual aid that demonstrates why they are for or against the Articles of Confederation or for or against the
Constitution.

WEBSITES:
American Heritage
•
British Government
• U.S. Constitution
• Articles of Confederation
•
British Monarchy
• American Historical Association

ACTIVITIES:
Plato
People in Societies
• Students will research philosophers and their
Locke beliefs about government, power and politics.
Philosophers may include, Thomas Paine, John
Locke, Machiavelli, Karl Marx and Alexis de
Tocqueville.
• Students will create a political philosophy time line beginning with Plato. This timeline will explain what each philosopher thought the function of government was and who should possess the power.

ACTIVITIES:
People in Societies
• Students will research the U.S. Census Bureau.
Students will discover and analyze current data and how different racial, ethnic, religious, gender and class groups have different perspectives on issues in our society. How do all of these groups work together for the common good?
•
Students will read letters on the editorial page of a newspaper. Students will identify the government priority of the letter writer and the writer’s recommendations. These letters will be shared with the class.

ACTIVITIES:
People in Societies
• Students will identify
3 issues on which they are conservative, liberal and moderate.
Students will discuss whether political ideology is connected to geographical differences.

WEBSITES:
People in Societies
• U.S. Census Bureau
• Political Philosophers
• Philosopher’s Historical
Documents
• Cincinnati News
• Los Angeles News

ACTIVITIES:
World Interactions
• Groups will be each assigned a different treaty
(NATO, Warsaw Pact, SALT, etc…) to research.
Students will learn the circumstances that led to each treaty and the present state of the treaty.
• Students will discover how a treaty is similar and different from a private contract. Students will share their information with the class in an outline form.

ACTIVITIES:
World Interactions
• Students will read a news article about foreign policy and write a summary and present to the class. These articles will be current news.
• Students will debate the possibility of the U.S. going to war with Iraq. Students will take on different roles, such as
President Bush, Prime Minister
Tony Blair and Saddam Hussein.
• Students will compare and contrast elections in the U.S. with elections in South Africa,
Peru, France and Russia.

WEBSITES:
World Interactions
• United Nations
• Constitutions, treaties, and official declarations in countries around the world
• Foreign Policy In Focus
• Foreign Political / Election Data
• White House

ACTIVITIES: Citizenship
Rights & Responsibilities
• Groups will each research a candidate running for office. Groups will present their findings to the class, including information about their family, previous jobs and education and the current key issues that are important to them.
•
Each group will create a poster that represents their candidate and what he/she is all about to use as a visual aid during the presentation.
•
Guest speakers (such as the U.S. Congressman and
Ohio State Representative) will speak to the class about their role as elected officials and candidates in the election.

ACTIVITIES: Citizenship
Rights & Responsibilities
•
Students will write a letter to an elected official expressing their priorities for our government.
•
Students will participate in a mock election and will then write a paper explaining why they voted for a particular candidate.

WEBSITES: Citizenship Rights
& Responsibilities
•
League of Women Voters
•
Smart Voter
•
Kids Voting
• Election Vocabulary
• Federal Election Commission

ACTIVITIES:
Democratic Processes
• In groups, students will be faced with a societal problem, for example “Parents are concerned that students are not passing the proficiency test.” The students develop a course of action to deal with the problem based upon a place on the political spectrum
(for example, conservative, liberal, etc…).
•
Each group will be assigned a different country.
Groups will research the type of government the country has, when its present form of government came into existence and where each power is concentrated.
The groups will present their findings to the class.

ACTIVITIES:
Democratic Processes
• Students will create a chart that provides 5 examples of each power (Delegated, Concurrent and Reserved) that the States assigned, according to the constitution.
• Groups of students will research how their local government, Ohio’s government and federal government is set up. During their research they will search the Internet.
•
Each student will use their own needs, desires and ideas about what they think government functions should be as they create their own constitution.

WEBSITES:
Democratic Processes
•
City of Reading, Ohio
• State of Ohio Government
• U.S. Government
•
Republican Party
• Democrat Party

ACTIVITIES:
Decision Making & Resources
• Students will have a debate about the pros and cons of campaign finance reform.
• Due to uneven distribution of resources, students will discuss priorities in different regions and realize that priorities may be due to the amount of available resources.
•
Compare and contrast different governments around the world. Focus on different currencies, price systems and how they might affect the economic status of the country.

ACTIVITIES:
Decision Making & Resources
• Groups will each research a different country and find out information about their national defense programs and how these programs differ from country to country. Why do they differ?
Are these differences due to economic status of the country?
• Discuss past trade barriers that the United States has imposed on other countries.
Why do we implement these barriers? Are they successful?

WEBSITES:
Decision Making & Resources
• Campaign Finance
• Institute for International Economics
• U.S. Department of Defense
•
Office of the U.S Trade Representative
•
The Dalai Lama : UN World Conference, Distribution of World's Resources

ACTIVITIES:
Science, Technology & Society
• Students will discuss voting machines and the technology crisis in Florida during the past presidential election.
• Students will discuss whether our government should regulate our use of the
Internet.
• Students will trace the impact of improvements in warfare on our government and the governments around us.

Bio-Terror
ACTIVITIES:
Science, Technology & Society
• Students will research new policies and legislation that is in reaction to new science and technology
(drugs, improved weapons, cameras, listening devices, etc…)
• Students will each choose a scientific discovery that may be controversial and conduct research.
Student will share with the class their discoveries and why it may be controversial (for example: new medications).

WEBSITES:
Science, Technology & Society
•
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
• THOMAS -- Legislative Information
• Voting Machine Controversy News
•
Federal Government Regulations
• Florida Department of State - Elections