Branches of Power allows you to do something that no one else can: control all three branches of government! You'll have the power to write any laws you want about issues you choose. Careful, though, there's a lot to juggle when you're playing all three branches. Good luck!

Using an inquiry based approach, Michigan high school students will learn about the foundations of American government by studying the Constitution and exploring how it works today.

In Democracy in America. Alexis de Tocqueville referred to America as “The Great Experiment.” But what did he mean by saying that America’s constitutional democracy was an experiment? America was founded on key principles which, are the same principles that govern our nation today.   America’s Founders initiated the experiment in democracy by trying out a new form of government, including the ideas that power should ultimately come from the people, that government power should be limited, and that individual liberties of all peoples should be protected.

In a letter written to James Madison in 1797, Thomas Jefferson wrote, “The principle of the Constitution is that of a separation of legislative, Executive and Judiciary functions, except in cases specified. If this principle be not expressed in direct terms, it is clearly the spirit of the Constitution…” The separation of powers was one of the fundamental principles of the Constitution’s Framers. The Legislative Branch is sometimes referred as the “people’s branch” since the Founders believed and intended the legislative branch to closely reflect the will of the citizens.

Inquiry DescriptionThis inquiry will guide students to use the definition of “federalism” to evaluate documents that illustrate the power of state (NC) government and the power of the US government in relation to immigration to NC. Students will examine the documents to determine which level of government has the greatest power to deal with immigration into NC. 

This two-day lesson centers around a project that is designed to help students demonstrate knowledge of the key concepts and issues that they learned in this unit of study. They will be comparing and contrasting laws passed in the United States and South Africa regarding segregation and apartheid, respectively.This lesson was developed by Carolin Bethea-Brown as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

The purpose of this lesson is to help students gain a much deeper understanding of apartheid through a teacher facilitated presentation that gives students the opportunity to read, write, hear, and discuss key concepts and issues related to apartheid. In this lesson, students will start to identify important similarities between South Africa and the United States. To assist them in this process, questions are embedded throughout the presentation. In addition, numerous visuals are provided with guided questions that will help students further develop their observation, critical thinking, and discussion skills. I, Caroline Bethea-Brown, am the owner of all the visuals used in this presentation.This lesson was developed by Caroline Bethea-Brown as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

In this two-day lesson, students will analyze the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well as laws passed at the state and federal levels that were used to systematically deny African Americans of their constitutional rights. Throughout the lesson students will draw comparisons between laws made in the United States with laws made by the apartheid government of South Africa.This lesson was developed by Caroline Bethea-Brown as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.            

This lesson is to be conducted over a two-day (90 minute block schedule) period. The purpose of this lesson is to help students understand the role the federal government played in overturning laws that systematically undermined the 14th and 15th Amendments. During this process students will gain a better understanding of federalism, checks and balances, and judicial review. In addition, they will have the opportunity to compare and contrast laws passed in the United States with laws passed by the South Africa's apartheid government.This lesson was developed by Caroline Bethea-Brown as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.