PBL Lesson Plan

Grade 3

Standard: 3.2.6 Explain the role citizens have in making decisions and rules within the
community, state and nation such as participating in local and regional activities, voting in
elections, running for office, and voicing opinions in a positive way

Standards Learning Objective Assessment

3.2.6 Explain the role citizens TSWBAT: The students will be

have in making decisions and
rules within the community,
state and nation such as
participating in local and
regional activities, voting in
elections, running for office,
and voicing opinions in a
positive way
1. Explain why voting in assessed through a poster
local/regional areas is presentation in which they
important must explain to fellow
2. Give explicit classmates why they should
examples of how vote and what voting entails
voting affects the and means for their future
community they live community/country
in

Key Terms & Definitions:

1. Citizen: a legally recognized subject or national of a state or commonwealth, either native or

naturalized.
2. Elections: a formal and organized process of electing or being elected, especially of members of a
political body.
3. Politicians: a person who is professionally involved in politics, especially as a holder of or a
candidate for an elected office.
4. Local: belonging or relating to a particular area or neighborhood, typically exclusively so.
5. Regional: relating to or characteristic of a region.
Lesson Introduction/ Hook Grabber:

Overview:
The use of the driving question “ How do we get more people interested in voting for laws and
important topics in their community?” allows students to research and conduct studies within groups
to discover why being active in the voting community plays an important role for them as a citizen. The
creation of a poster will aid them in their own campaign they will develop and advocate to their fellow
classmates and get votes from their peers. This is a fun way for the students to have a mock election, but
also show it is important to vote for what you feel is fair and right as a citizen of the community.

Purpose:
The goal of this activity is to provide the student with a driving question in which they are able to develop
their own ideas and arguments based on the research they will conduct. The activity also allows for more
hands on student engagement and requires critical thinking skills as well as relative skills and information
for their future duty as voters.

Lesson Main:

1. Warm Up: The students will be introduced to a piktochart that entails details about a citizen's
duty in the community when it comes to voting as well as descriptions of local and regional
voting. The piktochart will serve as an opener to get the students familiar with key words and
definitions that are commonly seen when discussing such politics.

2. Hook/Grabber: The students will be simulated through a mock election. Ideas such as “should
recess be longer?” or “School should only take place 3 days a week instead of five” will be
introduced to the students. The facilitator will ask these types of questions to the students and will
have them vote. After this takes place, the facilitator will further describe to the students that
didn’t vote affected the results and caused recess to be the same amount of time. Next, explain to
the students who did vote how their vote contributed to the overall outcome of the mock election
and why it is important to participate in such decisions.

3. Main Lesson: The students will then be asked the driving question“ How do we get more
people interested in voting for laws and important topics in their community? ” After this is
asked the students will be broken up into groups of 3. In these groups they must research and use
critical thinking to come up with ideas and reasons as to why their group believes it is important
to participate in voting. A power point will be shown to the class on how to ensure proper
research and internet exploring is conducted when looking for such ideas.After the groups have
researched they will be paired with another group and discuss the ideas each group came up with.
They will be asked to discuss if they believe the other groups reasons and ideas are realistic and
convincing. After this, the final assessment will be explained to the students.
 4. Assignment/ Task : The students will be asked to create a campaign flyer that can be presented
in front of their classmates. The flyer should advocate a topic the group feels strongly about. For
example, “My group chose the idea that there should be longer lunches.” The groups should
explain why you should take part in voting for their topic and why it is important. The campaign
flyer should be creative as well as effective to the class in how the students present the flyer.

Assessment Rubric
3 2 1

Creativity: Students flyer is visually Students flyer has somewhat Students flyer is bland with
students flyer is appealing and unique as visual appeals, but lacks little to no color. The flyer is
creative and well as engaging. creativeness. hard to stay engaged to.
original

Presentation: Students have practiced Students presented well, but Students did little to no
students have specific roles for each there could have been more practice. Ideas were scattered
prepared and group member and practice of what each group and lacked good presentation
presented in a presented positively. member would say. qualities.
positive manner

Understanding: Students introduce the Students topic is made clear Students do not make the
students political topic immediately or soon to an extent, but not topic clear to the class and
topic is made after and made clear their explained well to the class. are confusing when
clear to fellow stance on the topic they discussing the issue.
classmates are advocating for.

Explain: Students emphasize the Students briefly explain why Students do not elaborate on
students are able importance of voting and their classmates should vote, what the purpose of voting is
to explain and why the class should but does not emphasize on or why one should
describe why participate in their voting the importance of voting. participate.
voting is poll.
important

Grammar There are no grammatical Students have little errors, Student has more than 3
errors on the flyer. but the errors do not affect noticeable errors and the
the overall context of the flyer is hard to understand
poster. because of them.

Artifacts:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1mmqDITI0yY008BctBoAE714kpxi_ERhjqs2oeGHLyDQ/e
dit?usp=sharing (Emma)

Example Flyer (Katelyn):

https://create.piktochart.com/output/34898524-government-and-politics (Claire)
Differentiation:
1. Differentiation for ability levels:
a. For students who learn at different paces:
i. Students who learn material fast will be given the time do so
ii. Students who take a little longer to grasp materials will be given the time to do so
as well, even if they need extra time. They can even be paired up with a high-
achieving student if they need assistance grasping the material.
b. As always the teach will be available for any questions or assistance that the students will
have.
2. Differentiation for demographics:
a. All students will be treated as equal no matter the race, gender, culture, or socio-
economic status, etc. It will be expected of the students to treat all of their peers with
respect, so that no issues arise regarding demographics.
3. Differentiation for languages:
a. Most students will speak the English language, but if by chance they don’t, the materials
can be translated for them, or they can be paired with a partner (someone who speaks
their native language) so they can help them understand the materials for the lesson.
4. Differentiation for access & resources:
a. Lesson plan should be completed in class to take away the chance that students don't have
access to computers or wifi outside of the school environment. GIving students the
opportunity to work in class allows them to be focused and under the right circumstances
to produce excellent work for the presentations of their flyers.

Anticipated Difficulties:
There aren’t necessarily any anticipated difficulties expected, however, if students don’t understand how
or what the goal of the lesson is, the teacher or classmates can assist in helping the student understand
what is going on. Also it would be helpful if students had access to computers in class so they can
individually have access to the materials and learn at their own pace. Other than that, if students are
struggling with understanding how they can participate in government and how they will campaign in a
mock election we can lead them to outside resources such as videos, and worksheets that will help them
better understand the concept of the lesson and the problem-based learning aspect of the lesson.