Democracy Lesson Plan: Government

Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Democracy Lesson Plan. 

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic Democracy, and supports the standard of comparing different forms of government. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Explain that the word “democracy” means “rule by the people.” Ask students:

  • What do you think it means for a government to be “ruled by the people?”
  • What do you think might be some responsibilities of citizens living in a democracy? 

Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

  • Read the description on the Democracy topic page.
  • Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding. 
  • Have students read one of the three Related Reading articles. Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY and ASSESS 

Students take the Democracy Challenge and Quiz, applying essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about democracy while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

  • Make-a-Movie: Imagine you are living in ancient Athens. Produce a video diary that answers this question: What was democracy like in ancient Athens? 
  • Make-a-Map: Make a concept map comparing and contrasting features of modern American democracy with Athenian democracy.
  • Creative Coding: Code a game where players determine whether information describes direct democracies or representative democracies. 
  • Primary Source: Listen to a 1944 recording of FDR’s radio address on the right to vote, and cite details from the broadcast to answer the accompanying questions. 

More to Explore

Branches of Power: Players run all three branches of government in this interactive game.

Cast Your Vote: This game challenges students to become informed voters by uncovering information about issues and candidates. 

Time Zone X: Democracy: Challenge players to put historical events in chronological order in this interactive timeline game.

Teacher Support Resources:

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Related:

    Filed as:  3-5, 6-8, 9-12, BrainPOP, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.2, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.11-12.4, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.2, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.6-8.7, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.2