Middle School Social Studies 2 (Civics)/Middle School Social Studies 2 (Civics) Advanced

Competency

Students will demonstrate an understanding of citizenship by examining and explaining the United States’ cultural landmarks and regions, paths to citizenship, and evaluating the duties and responsibilities of citizens.

Project

You have been hired as an Immigration Services Officer (ISO) with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). In this job, you must understand the different paths that individuals can take to become a United States citizen and the duties and responsibilities that are required of all United States citizens.

You will create a citizenship guide for Immigration Services Officers (ISOs) to use for potential citizens. Your guide will include information about the United States’ regions and landmarks, the process to become a United States citizen and the duties and responsibilities of citizens. These are important for all citizens of the United States to understand.

Competency

Students will demonstrate an understanding of the historical and philosophical basis of the United States government by investigating and explaining influential philosophies and important founding documents such as the Constitution.

Project

You are an archivist for the National Archives in Washington, DC. In honor of the upcoming Constitution Day in September, you have been asked to create a display that highlights important documents and events that led to the creation of the United States Constitution.

Competency

Students will demonstrate an understanding of federalism by differentiating between the responsibilities of the United States government at the national, state and local levels.

Project

You are a visitor guide at the United States Capitol Building. You are a specialist in our federalist form of government here in the United States. A reporter from a foreign country, with a different form of government, has asked to interview a specialist on federalism from the United States. Your boss has asked you to represent your country by sharing the advantages of a federalist form of government over other forms of government. You will be provided with the questions before the interview and you will prepare your responses. It is up to you to show the reporter and those that listen to the interview why our form of government is advantageous over other forms of government found around the world.

Competency

Students will demonstrate an understanding of civic action by investigating and explaining the lawmaking process at different levels of government and ways that citizens are able to resolve local problems.

Project

You are a Policy Analyst for an advocacy group and part of your role includes investigating the responsibilities and legislative process at the national, state, and local level. You will use your knowledge of the lawmaking process to help your group create an idea for a law and recommend the process this idea should go through to become a law.

Laws and public policy ideas can come from citizens, groups, lawmakers, or the president! Once an idea is introduced to a lawmaking group, we call the idea a bill, and it must go through many steps before it can become a law. The steps differ depending on the level of government as well as that level of government’s responsibilities.

Competency

Students will demonstrate an understanding of the constitutional rights of citizens by explaining constitutional rights and analyzing Supreme Court cases that have defined those rights.

Project

You are a commercial interior designer who works for a large design firm. Your firm was just awarded a contract to update the interior of the local courthouse. You have been asked to select interior artwork that represents Supreme Court cases that helped define the constitutional rights of citizens.

Along with selecting the artwork, you will be writing an informational placard about the Supreme Court case that will be displayed next to the artwork in the courthouse.

Competency

Students will demonstrate an understanding of how the United States interacts and compares with other countries around the world by analyzing and explaining the governments of other countries and factors that influence the standard of living in various countries compared to the United States

Project

You are a Program Director for the United States Peace Corps. The Peace Corps is a volunteer program run by the United States government. Its mission is to provide social and economic development around the world. The agency has noticed that many new volunteers do not have a good grasp on the different countries that the Peace Corps works in and the reasons why we are there helping its citizens. Your boss has asked you to create a presentation, to show new recruits, which will summarize the different forms of governments and the different standards of living that they will encounter once they are sent out into the field. For your presentation, you will discuss several different countries and describe and evaluate the factors that contributed to the country’s current standard of living.

Competency

Students will demonstrate an understanding of the role the United States plays globally by examining and explaining the system of currency exchange between nations, international organizations and ways the United States has dealt with international conflict.

Project

You are a Foreign Service Specialist for the United States. The mission of a U.S. diplomat in Foreign Service is to “promote peace, support prosperity, and protect American citizens while advancing the interests of the U.S. abroad.” You serve at one of the more than 270 embassies around the world.

Due to a current foreign policy issue, you have been asked to give a briefing. You will highlight the system of currency exchange between nations, important international organizations and ways the United States has dealt with international conflict. These will all be important to understand when dealing with the current foreign policy issue.

Competency

Students will demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between individuals, businesses, and government in a free market economy by examining and explaining taxation, regulations, and banking practices.

Project

You are a magazine journalist for young adult magazine, and the editor-in-chief has asked you to write an article for an upcoming special issue titled “Kids and the Economy.” You will write an article and create a digital presentation that will help elementary children learn more about the United States Economy. The article and digital presentation will focus on helping students understand the relationship between individuals, businesses, and government in a free market economy by examining taxation, regulation, and banking practices.