Design A Constitution Trivia Game

About
Increasing homework completion and engaging today’s digital
students can be challenging. If you want to improve information
retention and increase student achievement, all while teaching your
students important 21 st Century skills, you’ve found the perfect
resource. SimpleK12 is thrilled to present to you this printable
project and we hope it will bring new life to your classroom.
This resource is just one of several SimpleK12 printable projects
that focus on infusing technology into the four main curriculum
areas: Math, Science, Social Studies, and Language Arts.
Many teachers have been using our projects to meet
Common Core and technology standards for all grade levels
and subject areas …and you can, too!
This resource is yours to keep, use, and share. Enjoy!
© 2013 by InfoSource, Inc. and SimpleK12.com
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Project Info
Design a Constitution Trivia Game
Discipline: Social Studies
Skill: 5
This project consists of two main components:
A series of project questions that are presented and answered online.
A list of questions for this project is included in the Project
Questions section below.
A digital project that is either uploaded and submitted as an electronic
file within the LMS or as a link to the project in an external location.
An overview of this digital project is included in the Digital Project
Overview sections below.
Although these two components are designed to be used together, they
are separate and can be completed in the order you prefer. The Digital
Project can be uploaded without the questions having been completed.
At the completion of these two components, students will be able to
print and submit a document that shows the completed questions and
answers, as well as the name, description, and submission time and
date for any of the digital files or links.
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Digital Project Overview (for teachers):
One of the most important documents written in our history is the
United States Constitution. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, our third
president, the Constitution is "the result of the collected wisdom of our
country." It set forth the guiding laws of our nation, and today it is the
oldest constitution in effect. Because the Constitution has existed for so
long, amendments have been made to keep up with the issues of the
changing times. Some of the biggest issues for Americans today are our
rights and responsibilities as digital citizens. Although the constitution is
the guiding law of the U.S., the Founding Fathers could not conceive of
the technological advancements of today, and therefore new laws and
protections have been put in place. This project is designed to teach
students about the Constitution and its amendments, but it is also
intended to get them thinking about the technology of today and our
rights and responsibilities in its use.
Each student will read, research, and study the U.S. Constitution using
credible sources. Students will use their research to create a trivia
game, such as Jeopardy! or "Trivial Pursuit" with questions about the
US Constitution, as well as its amendments and the way in which
amendments are passed. The game should include categories for the
Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches, as well as one for
amendments. Students should also include categories for digital
citizenship rights and digital citizenship responsibilities. They should be
required to include a bibliography or works cited page. The game should
be for two or more players, and you should specify a minimum number
of questions that must be included.
Students will be required to choose appropriate software applications
and technologies for their game design. This may include presentation
software to make the game interactive, such as Microsoft Office
PowerPoint or iWork's Keynote, or a layout application like Adobe
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Illustrator to create a text-based board game. The game should be
playable and must be uploaded as a file for grading. Encourage students
to be creative. They should make the game fun and engaging. This can
be done by using music, sound effects, graphics, and pictures.
As an extension to this project, you could choose a few of the best
games and play them in class. You could film the game being played as
a real game show and post it on TeacherTube or a school Web site to
teach others about the Constitution and digital citizenship.
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Digital Project Overview (that the students see):
One of the most important documents in American history is the United
States Constitution. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, our third
president, the Constitution is "the result of the collected wisdom of our
country." Because the Constitution has existed for so long, amendments
have been made to keep up with the issues of the changing times. Some
of the biggest issues facing Americans today are our rights and
responsibilities as digital citizens. Although the Constitution is the
guiding law of the U.S., the Founding Fathers could not conceive of the
technological advancements of today, and therefore new laws and
protections have been put in place.
You will read, research, and study the U.S. Constitution using
credible sources. You will use your research to create a trivia game,
such as Jeopardy! or "Trivial Pursuit" with questions about the U.S.
Constitution, as well as its amendments and the way in which
amendments are passed. The game should include categories for the
Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branches, as well as one for
amendments.
You should also include categories for digital citizenship rights and digital
citizenship responsibilities. Examples might include CIPPA, COPPA,
cyberbullying, sexting, plagiarism, acceptable use policies, creative
commons, etc. You are required to include a bibliography or works cited
page. The game should be for two or more players, and you must have
at least the minimum number of questions specified by your teacher.
You are required to choose appropriate software applications and
technologies for your game design. The game should be playable and
must be uploaded as a file. Please be creative! A requirement of this
project is that the game is fun and engaging. This can be done by using
music, sound effects, graphics, and pictures.
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Hints:
These are hints that are provided to the students online as ways they
might complete the Digital Project. Please review them to ensure that
you are familiar with the technologies listed and that you can open files
using that application. If you do not have a particular application, you
will need to caution your students to either save the project as a file
type you can view, such as a pdf, or to use an alternative application.
Here’s what the students will see for this project:
There are likely several different technologies that you could use to
complete this project, and we’ve included a few possibilities below. Take
time to think about which technologies are available to you and which
ones you know how to use. You may think of a different way, or your
teacher may suggest an alternative.
Use Microsoft Office PowerPoint or iWork Keynote to design an
interactive game Use Adobe Illustrator, Microsoft Office Word, Google
Drawing, or Adobe Photoshop to create a board game that can be
uploaded as a file.
Use credible sources such as those found in the national archives or
from the House of Representatives to research your project.
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Project Questions:
These are the questions that the students will be presented and will
answer online. This is what the students will see for this project:
Listed below are a number of questions you need to answer prior to
doing your project. These questions will help you to think about and plan
how you will complete your project. Unless your teacher advises
otherwise, answer ALL questions in the text boxes provided. The
questions and responses are saved and can be printed out as part of the
Project Plan.
1. What type of game are you going to create? What software
application will you use to create it?
2. Will you include music or pictures to enhance your game? What will
those additions be and where will you find them? What permissions
do you need to have to use them?
3. How many people can play the game?
4. What questions will you include for the Legislative, Executive, and
Judicial categories?
5. What questions will you include for the category about amendments?
What must happen for an amendment to pass? What are some
amendments that have been passed? How many times has the
Constitution been amended?
6. What aspects of the rights and responsibilities of digital citizenship do
you plan to include? List them here.
7. How can you connect digital citizenship to the Constitution?
8. What would the Founding Fathers have added to the Constitution if
they could have foreseen the technology that we have available
today? Would they disapprove of all these new amendments?
9. What amendments related to digital citizenship would you suggest?
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Grading Rubric
Shown below is a copy of the grading rubric that you may wish to use to
grade this project. Or you may wish to copy and extract portions of it
and incorporate them in your own rubric.
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Resources
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classroom resources to our collection on an ongoing basis.
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