Big Civics Ideas Through Political Cartoons

Grade
6-9
9-12
Lesson Duration

Florida Joint Center for Citizenship

How do the political cartoons illustrate big civics ideas?

This activity can be used to introduce big civics concepts or as a review prior to the end-of-course civics assessment.

Students:

  • identify the goals and purposes of government as set forth in the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution.
  • evaluate the impact political parties have on society, government, or the political system.
  • recognize the structure of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.
  • compare the roles and responsibilities of the three branches of the federal government.
  • identify the general powers described in Articles I, II, and III of the U.S. Constitution.
  • examine the processes of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government.
  • cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
  • analyze the interactions between individuals, events, and ideas in a text (e.g., how ideas influence individuals or events, or how individuals influence ideas or events).

Graphic Organizer 1: Congress and the Constitution

Graphic Organizer 2: Congress, The Elected, Representative Branch of Government

Graphic Organizer 3: Congress: Making Laws for the Nation

Graphic Organizer 4: Congress and the President

Graphic Organizer 5: Political Parties

Graphic Organizer 6: A Member’s Job: Representing the People and the States

 

Students Investigating Primary Sources (SIPS) is a K-12 collection of brief introductory mini-lessons centered on particular topics and primary sources.

 

Source

https://floridacitizen.org/school-resources/students-investigating-primary-sources/#middle

The Florida Joint Center for Citizenship is a partnership between the Lou Frey Institute of Politics and Government at the University of Central Florida and the Bob Graham Center for Public Service at the University of Florida.