Constitutional Civic Inquiries
GRADES 5–12: WE THE PEOPLE, LEVELS 2 & 3
Compelling Question: Does historical context change how we understand an issue's importance today?
Time Required: One to two class periods
Overview
Every hearing team is assigned a question, and every strong hearing begins with genuinely understanding what that question is asking. This lesson teaches students to unpack their assigned prompt before they research a word of it — identifying the historical context it assumes, the constitutional provisions it turns on, and the contemporary relevance it invites. Students learn that the question is the objective of the game, and that knowing the objective changes how you play.
What Students Will Do
Students begin with an Objective of the Game activity, discussing familiar games and how things change when you know the goal, then apply that insight to their assigned hearing question. Working in their hearing teams, they use a Decoding the Hearing Question organizer to break the prompt into its component parts, identify the historical era and constitutional text it draws on, and determine how it connects to their own community today. They review the Simulated Congressional Hearing Scoring Rubric to understand how their response will be evaluated, learn to identify reliable sources, and begin building their research plan.
Student Outcomes
By completing this lesson, students will be able to analyze their assigned hearing question, articulate precisely what it asks, interpret both the historical and contemporary contexts surrounding it, explain how the Constitution informs their response, and evaluate the reliability of the sources they intend to use. Students will also develop a clearer sense of the role individuals play in the political process and the constitutional issues that shape it.