The current midterm elections have been preceded by the most widely watched and controversial campaigns in history. This has created a lot of debate and discussion about the role of government, the functions of the House and Senate, the role of the Supreme Court, and the interpretation of the Constitution in addressing the current economic and societal problems of the U.S.
The Tea Party in particular refers to following the Constitution as a major priority of their political agenda. The Constitution is a living document that has been amended 27 times, and therefore includes many powers that were not specifically mentioned in the original version. Many arguments and debates are part of the political clashes between Democrats and Republicans regarding the specific meaning of some of these amendments as they apply to current and proposed legislation.
BookCart Learning Activity
eLibrary Elementary BookCarts are flexible lesson plans for inquiry-based learning activities. Instead of sending students out to search eLibrary Elementary, and often waste time in finding and selecting a topic's relevant resources, assign students to open a BookCart learning activity that minimizes searching and maximizes learning.
BookCarts can include all the information and resources that students need to complete the learning activity:
Essential Questions for Critical Thinking that guide and motivate students
Student Directions that list what students are expected to do with the resources
Correlated Print Resources provide call numbers for students to include in their research
Quizzes when appropriate to assess student knowledge of content
ProQuest has created a BookCart learning activity for your students to use: "The Constitution—History and Importance."
It includes four examples of essential questions for critical thinking that you can assign to your students. It also includes a 10-question quiz that you may want students to take after reading a few articles that you select. You can even create more or substitute others if you wish.
Here are the instructions for you to copy this BookCart into your local collection for your students to use:
Logon to the eLibrary Elementary TEACHER EDITION to access BOOKCART EDITOR.
Click the BOOKCART ADMIN link at the top right of the Teacher Edition.
Click the PROQUEST CARTS tab.
Type "The Constitution—History and Importance" in the SEARCH box
Click the COPY icon in the ACTIONS column to the right of this title.
Click RETURN TO MY LOCAL CARTS.
This BookCart can easily be edited for most effective use by your students:
Click the new BookCart Title with the prefix "COPY OF."
Delete "Copy of" and then type your first and last name in the AUTHOR boxes.
Type your email address in the EMAIL box; or use your initials as the required filler.
Edit the sample of STUDENT DIRECTIONS in the DESCRIPTION box.
Option: type call numbers for PRINT RESOURCES related to this topic.
Scroll down and click SAVE.
Click MY LOCAL CARTS tab to see your newly edited and ready to use learning activity.
Traditional Search Learning Activity
Assign students to write a report of at least 100 words or a presentation of at least five slides. Students should cite at least three resources and use the pathfinder listed below to save time and find the most relevant resources. Students should address the essential questions (you can edit or add to these) listed below:
Who were the most significant founding fathers of the Constitution and why?
Why is the Constitution so different than other forms of government at that time and now?
Which of the amendments of the Bill of Rights is most important to you and why?
Educators may also wish to employ the Quizinator Web tool (free, but registration required) for creating a variety of printed resources, including short assessments.
