Page 195 - Powerful Social Studies for Elementary Students 4th Edition

CHAPTER 7 How Can I Teach the Other Social Sciences Powerfully? 167
An effective way to develop such appreciation is to prepare a photo essay illustrating events occurring in a typical day in the life of one of the students in the class and under- scoring the role of government in facilitating these activities. For example, the photos might depict the child getting up in the morning wearing fire-resistant pajamas (per govern- ment regulations); washing using purified running water supplied by local government; changing into clothes inspected for quality and safety; eating a breakfast consisting of foods inspected for quality and safety; boarding a safety-inspected, government-provided bus driven by a licensed driver; traveling to school on government-maintained roads patrolled by the local police force; attending school in a government-owned building; participating in learning activities using government-supplied materials assisted by government-supplied teachers; and so on.
Initial ideas about alternative forms of government can be developed by contrasting our system of representative democracy (leaders are elected to limited terms and must act within constitutional guidelines) with systems in which leaders ascend to power through other means (inheritance, military power), hold office indefinitely, and exercise totalitarian power. Contrasts can be brought home through discussion or simulation of what it is like to live in countries where there are no elections or at least no secret ballots, where access to desired housing and jobs requires continued government approval, and where people who resist government policies are subject to arrest.
Some of the details of how our system works are best addressed around election times via study of the issues and the reasons why different stakeholders would prefer one candi- date or policy over another. Also, using examples easily understood by children, instruc- tion can help students learn that debates about laws or policies often focus on means-ends relationships and trade-offs rather than ultimate purposes (e.g., people who agree with the ultimate purpose of a proposed law or policy might nevertheless oppose it because they do not believe that it will accomplish the purpose or that whatever good it accomplishes will not be worth the costs in higher taxes or new restrictions on individual freedoms).
Lesson plans and children’s literature resources on the presidency are plentiful but often focus on the trivial and stop well short of genuine civic education. Such lessons produce outcomes like the one reported by Haas (2004): A middle school student who had completed a report on President Reagan recalled three facts: Reagan was called “the Gipper;” he had a sense of humor; and he loved jellybeans. Children can and should learn much more substantive information about the presidency and about the major policies and initiatives of any individual presidents they study. For ideas focusing on teaching about the presidency and presidential elections, see the Haas (2004) article, McGuire’s (1997) book, or websites established for introducing students to government and the electoral process.
During election years, the Kids Voting website (kidsvotingusa.org) is useful. It offers a program for students that provides information about registering to vote, the role of political parties in elections, and how to organize information for making voting deci- sions (through reading newspapers, analyzing political advertisements, and following debates about campaign issues). It concludes with a mock election held on the same day as the general election. Evaluation of the program indicated that it energizes students’ interest in elections and increases their communication with parents about pol- itics, their use of political media such as newspapers in the home, and their general knowledge about elections, with especially noteworthy effects on students from lower socioeconomic status families (McDevitt & Chaffee, 2000).
Key to successful civic and political education is thoughtful discussion of civic issues within an open classroom climate. Instruction in civic content increases students’ civic knowledge, but by itself it usually has negligible effects on student attitudes related to eventual civic and political participation. However, both sets of outcomes are likely
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