D2.Civ.11.6-8C3 FrameworkSocial StudiesCivicsGrades 6-8

D2.Civ.11.6-8: How Decisions Are Made, from the Classroom to Congress

In plain English: D2.Civ.11.6-8 is the C3 Framework civics indicator for grades 6-8 that asks students to tell apart the procedures used to make decisions in a classroom, a school, community groups, and local, state and national government. Students describe who decides and how, then explain the civic purpose each procedure is meant to serve.

Differentiate among procedures for making decisions in the classroom, school, civil society, and local, state, and national government in terms of how civic purposes are intended.

C3 Framework for Social Studies (NCSS) · Dimension 2: Applying Disciplinary Concepts and Tools · Discipline: Civics · Processes, Rules, and Laws · Official standard

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Lesson Plan

55-80 min

Overview

Students learn to differentiate among procedures for making decisions in the classroom, school, civil society, and local, state, and national government in terms of how civic purposes are intended, the skill named in D2.Civ.11.6-8. A procedure is the set of steps and rules a group follows to make a decision: who decides, how many must agree, who may watch or speak, and what can stop or check the decision. A civic purpose is what a procedure is meant to accomplish for the group, such as giving everyone a voice, avoiding hasty decisions or protecting the minority.

Students read two school civics textbooks from 1897 and 1913 on how a town or city council, a state legislature and Congress make decisions, and two invented scenarios set in a seventh-grade classroom, a middle school student council and a food co-op. For each setting, they describe the procedure with four questions (Diagram 1) and then explain the purpose the procedure is intended to serve, citing the source. The homework applies the same questions to six new decisions about one park garden.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:

Define procedure, civic purpose, majority, two-thirds vote and veto, and describe a decision procedure with four questions
Describe how decisions are made in a classroom, a school, a civil society group, and local, state and national government, citing the sources
Explain the civic purpose each procedure is intended to serve, quoting the source where it states the purpose
Differentiate two or more procedures by comparing their steps and their intended purposes

Prior Knowledge Required

Students should already be comfortable with:

Explaining the basic structure and functions of local, state and national government D2.Civ.5.6-8
Comparing how different groups deliberate before deciding D2.Civ.9.6-8
Citing evidence from a primary or secondary source RH.6-8.1

Lesson Procedure

55-80 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

Warm-Up5-10 minutes
Start with decisions students already know.
Warm-Up Prompt
"Think of three decisions: what your family eats for dinner, what time your school day starts, and what the speed limit is on your street. Who makes each decision? How do they make it? Why do you think it is made that way and not another way?"
Students jot answers in three columns, then share. Point out that each answer named a procedure (who decides and how) and, often, a reason for it. Introduce the term civic purpose: the job a procedure is meant to do for the group, such as fairness, safety or getting work done. Write the question for the day: Why do groups use different procedures to make decisions?

Direct Instruction15-20 minutes

Part 1: Words for describing procedures. Hand out Diagram 1 and define these terms:

Majority: more than half of the votes. In a class of 27, a majority is 14 or more.
Two-thirds vote: at least two of every three votes, a larger share than a majority. A rule that needs more than a majority is also called a supermajority rule.
Legislature: an elected body that makes laws, such as a city council, a state legislature or Congress. A city or town law is called an ordinance.
Veto: an executive's refusal to sign a bill, which sends it back; an override is a second vote that passes the bill anyway.
Civil society: the groups people form outside government and outside their families, such as clubs, charities, religious congregations, unions and co-ops.

Six settings in this lesson and the source for each
Setting	Example in this lesson	Source
Classroom	A seventh-grade class writes its discussion norms	Source 4
School	A student council and a principal decide about the patio	Source 4
Civil society	Members of a food co-op change its rules	Source 5
Local government	A town board or city council makes local laws	Source 1
State government	A state legislature makes state laws	Source 2
National government	Congress and the President make federal laws	Source 3

Part 2: Local government (Source 1). James Alton James and Albert Hart Sanford wrote this civics textbook for students in 1913. Glosses: legislation is law-making; to delegate is to hand a job to someone else; a town meeting is a yearly meeting where a town's voters make decisions themselves; an ordinance is a city or town law; graded streets are leveled for paving. Read it aloud. Ask: who makes local laws, and whose opinions are they bound by?

Law-Making.--The executive and the judicial officers are both subject to higher authority: the one applies and the other executes the law. The framing of the law is the third function of government. This work is called legislation, and is carried on by such bodies as the town board, the village board, and the city council. But these law-making bodies do not have independent authority; they are bound more or less strictly by the opinions of those who elected them to office; i.e., the body of voters.
The Three Divisions of Government.--We say, then, that in our country government is based finally upon the will of the people. For the expression of their will they choose numerous officers, who may be grouped under three heads, corresponding to the general divisions of government: legislative, executive, and judicial.
Just as it would be impossible for all the voters to take part in applying or interpreting the law, so it is in most cases impossible for them to assemble in a body and make the laws. They generally delegate this work to legislators; but in some States the voters of a town (or township) assemble yearly in town meeting, where all may take part in discussion and in voting.
Roads and Streets.--The preservation of order is but one of the functions of government. In towns where the population is scattered, roads must be built, and it is still more necessary that in villages and cities, where many people live within a small area, streets should be graded and paved and sidewalks maintained. This is an illustration of the way in which, through the machinery of government, people provide themselves with many conveniences that it would be impossible for each citizen to provide for himself. The legislative bodies already mentioned determine the extent to which these things shall be done: the town board orders the laying out of a new road; the village board or the city council passes ordinances saying what streets shall be paved and what materials shall be used in the work.

James Alton James and Albert Hart Sanford, Our Government: Local, State, and National, chapter I, "The Work of Local Government" (Source 1: who makes local laws) (1913). Public domain (published 1913). Source text.

Part 3: State government (Source 2). James T. McCleary taught civics in Minnesota and later served in Congress; this is his 1897 textbook. Glosses: bicameral means having two chambers, or houses; hasty legislation means laws passed too quickly; to mass votes is to give them all to one candidate; partizan (today spelled partisan) means acting for one political party; to expel a member is to remove him or her from the legislature; the journal is the official written record of what a house did. Read it aloud, pausing after each numbered item.

Bicameral.--The legislature of every state consists of two chambers or houses. [...]
The advantages to be derived from having two houses are numerous. Perhaps the only one which it is necessary to mention here is that it tends to prevent hasty legislation, because under this arrangement a bill must be considered at least twice before passage.
[...] Illinois has a peculiar, and it would seem an excellent, plan. The state is divided on the basis of population into fifty-one parts as nearly equal as possible. Each of these districts elects one senator and three representatives. In voting for representatives, a person may mass his three votes on one candidate, or give them to two or three. The purpose is to enable a party in the minority to secure some representation.
[...] Unruly members are as a general thing simply called to order. For persistent disorder they may be reprimanded or fined. [...] But in extreme cases they may be expelled. To prevent a partizan majority from trumping up charges and expelling members of the opposite party, it is a common constitutional provision that the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members elected shall be necessary for expulsion.
[...] Publicity.--On the theory that legislators are servants of the people, we would naturally expect the proceedings to be made public. And so they are. Publicity is secured in the following ways:
1. In accordance with the constitutional provision, each house keeps a journal of its proceedings which it publishes from time to time, usually every day.
2. Spectators are admitted to witness the daily sessions.
3. Newspaper reporters are admitted, and are furnished facilities for making full and accurate reports.

J. T. McCleary, Studies in Civics, chapter XII, "The Legislative Branch" (Source 2: how a state legislature makes decisions; cuts marked [...]) (1897). Public domain (published 1897). Source text.

Model the two steps with paragraph 2. Procedure: a bill must pass two houses. Intended purpose: McCleary says it "tends to prevent hasty legislation." Students write both in the State row of their chart.

Guided Practice15-20 minutes
National government (Source 3). The same 1913 textbook explains how Congress makes laws. Glosses: a committee is a small group of members that studies bills on one subject; a bill is a proposed law; testimony is information given by witnesses; the minority report is a written report by the committee members who disagree with the majority; the yeas and nays are a roll-call vote, in which each member's name is called; the framers are the people who wrote the Constitution in 1787. Read it with Diagram 2 in view.
I. The Committee System.--An understanding of this system is necessary in order that we may follow the steps taken in the making of laws. Two facts made the committee system necessary in the houses of Congress. (1) The number of members, especially in the House of Representatives, is so large that business cannot be transacted quickly by the entire body. (2) The number of bills introduced is so very great that it is impossible for either house to consider all of them; hence it is necessary that committees shall examine the bills and decide which are worthy of consideration.
In the long session of the 61st Congress more than 33,000 bills were introduced into the House. The number of committees in the House was 61, the membership varying from 5 to 19. [...]
Many of the important committees have separate rooms where their meetings are held. Here the members may confer in secret, or they may hold public hearings; i.e., persons are invited to give testimony or to make arguments. Frequently the majority members of a committee hold separate meetings, determine their policy, and then adhere to it regardless of the wishes of the minority members. The latter may present a separate report called the minority report of the committee.
[...] (3) When the "yeas and nays" are called for, or whenever the rules of either house require them, the roll is called and each member votes as he responds to his name. This vote is entered on the Journal.
[...] The President's Power in Law-Making.--A bill which has received a majority vote in both houses is next sent to the President. [...]
There are then three ways in which a bill may become a law. (1) It may pass by majority vote in both houses and be signed by the President. (2) It may, after being vetoed by the President, be passed by two-thirds vote in both houses. (3) It will become a law if the President neither signs nor vetoes it within ten days, unless these are at the end of the session.
The framers of the Constitution intended that the veto power should be a check, though not an absolute one, upon hasty or unwise legislation. [...]
James Alton James and Albert Hart Sanford, Our Government: Local, State, and National, chapter IX, "How Laws Are Made by Congress" (Source 3: committees, votes and the veto; cuts marked [...]) (1913). Public domain (published 1913). Source text.
- Local government (Source 1)
  Who makes local laws, and what does the source say they must pay attention to?
  Result: Laws are made by "the town board, the village board, and the city council" (paragraph 1). These bodies "do not have independent authority; they are bound more or less strictly by the opinions of those who elected them to office." The procedure is election of a small law-making body; its intended purpose is that local government follows "the will of the people" (paragraph 2), even when the people do not make each law themselves.
- State government (Source 2)
  Why does a state legislature have two houses?
  Result: Procedure: "a bill must be considered at least twice before passage," once in each house (paragraph 2). Intended purpose: it "tends to prevent hasty legislation." A bill that slips through one house in a rush still has to win over the second house, which can catch mistakes.
- Classroom (Source 4)
  The norm "Students choose a new seat every day" got 16 of 27 votes. Was it adopted, and why does the class use this rule?
  Result: A majority of 27 is 14 votes, so 16 is a majority. But Room 114 needs two-thirds: 27 x 2/3 = 18 votes. Since 16 is less than 18, the norm was not adopted (paragraph 2). Mr. Abernathy's reason: "Everyone has to follow these norms all year, so a norm should have wide support, not just one more vote than half" (paragraph 1). The two-thirds rule is meant to make sure rules that bind everyone have broad agreement.
- National government (Source 3)
  Why does Congress send bills to committees?
  Result: The source gives two reasons: the House is "so large that business cannot be transacted quickly by the entire body," and so many bills are introduced that neither house can "consider all of them" (paragraph 1). In 1909-1911, "more than 33,000 bills" went to 61 House committees (paragraph 2): 33,000 / 61 is about 541 bills per committee. The intended purpose is to get the work done: small groups study bills and decide "which are worthy of consideration."
Pair task: Pairs fill in the National row of their chart with the four questions of Diagram 1, then find the sentence in paragraph 7 that states what the framers intended the veto to do. Each pair writes one sentence comparing the national procedure with the state procedure in Source 2.
Independent Practice15-20 minutes
Students read two invented scenarios. Source 4 is set in a classroom and a school. A norm is an agreed rule for how a group behaves; a forum is a meeting where people share their views; to recommend is to suggest a decision to someone else who makes it.
Room 114 makes its discussion norms. On the second day of school, Mr. Abernathy's seventh-grade social studies class of 27 students wrote its discussion norms, the rules for how the class talks together. Any student could propose a norm on an index card. The class read every card aloud and discussed each one for up to three minutes. Then a norm needed at least two-thirds of the class, 18 of the 27 votes, to be adopted. Mr. Abernathy explained the rule: "Everyone has to follow these norms all year, so a norm should have wide support, not just one more vote than half." He also said that he would add any safety rule himself, without a vote, "because keeping every student safe is my job."
Two of the results: the norm "One person speaks at a time" passed 25 to 2. The norm "Students choose a new seat every day" got 16 votes. That was more than half of the class, but it was not adopted.
The student council and the patio. The student council of Oakmont Middle School has 12 representatives, four elected by the students of each grade. Many students asked to eat lunch outside on the school patio. Before voting, the council held an open forum in the library at lunch: 40 students came, and 11 of them spoke. Then the council voted 9 to 3 to recommend that students may eat on the patio on dry days.
Under the school handbook, the council recommends and the principal decides. The principal, Dr. Sato, met with the lunch supervisors and the custodian before deciding. She approved a four-week trial: the patio would be open on dry days with two adults on duty, and the council would report back on litter. "The council knows what students want," she said. "I am responsible for safety, so I have to be sure we can supervise it."
SVHS (invented scenario; the school, the class and the people are invented), Source 4: Room 114 and the Oakmont student council (invented scenario written for this page) (2026). Original passage written for this page.
Source 5 is set in civil society. A household is the people who live in one home; bylaws are a group's written rules; a petition is a written request signed by many people; the agenda is the list of business for a meeting.
The Fox Run Food Co-op is a grocery store in the town of Linden Falls that is owned by its shoppers. A co-op, short for cooperative, is a business owned and run by its members. Anyone may shop there, but 640 households have paid a one-time fee of $100 to become member-owners.
One member, one vote. Each member household has exactly one vote, no matter how much it spends at the store. The co-op's written rules, called its bylaws, explain why: "The co-op belongs equally to every member. A family that spends $50 a year has the same voice as a family that spends $5,000."
Who decides what. At the annual meeting, the members elect a board of seven directors. The board meets once a month, and any member may attend and speak during the first 15 minutes. The board hires the store manager and decides everyday questions, such as store hours, by majority vote. The biggest decisions belong to the members themselves. Changing the bylaws needs a two-thirds vote of the members voting at the annual meeting, and at least 50 members must be present for any vote to count. Any 25 members may sign a petition to put a question on the agenda of the annual meeting.
This year's annual meeting. 161 members attended. A petition signed by 31 members asked to change the bylaws so that members could vote online for one week after each annual meeting, because many members work in the evening. After a 30-minute discussion, the change passed 112 to 49.
SVHS (invented scenario; the co-op, the town and the numbers are invented), Source 5: the Fox Run Food Co-op decides (invented scenario written for this page) (2026). Original passage written for this page.
Students complete the Classroom, School and Civil society rows of their chart, answering the four questions of Diagram 1 and naming the intended purpose for each, with a quotation where the source states it. Then they write one paragraph that differentiates two of the six procedures: how they differ, and why each group chose its procedure.
Closure5-10 minutes
Exit ticket: "Pick two settings from today. Write one sentence on how their procedures differ and one sentence on the purpose each procedure is meant to serve."
Teacher note on the sources: Sources 1-3 are school textbooks from 1897 and 1913, quoted exactly. They use "he" and "himself" for every citizen and officer; when they were written, women could not vote in most states, which is worth pointing out. Some facts have changed: Nebraska has had a one-house legislature since 1937, Illinois voters ended the voting plan in Source 2, paragraph 3 in 1980, Congress later cut the number of its committees, and since 1973 the House has recorded most roll-call votes electronically instead of calling each name. The Constitution's ten days for the President to act on a bill do not count Sundays. The textbooks state the purposes of each procedure as their authors saw them; ask students whether the purposes still make sense today. Sources 4, 5 and 6 are invented.
Homework passage. Source 6 describes six invented decisions about one park garden. A chaperone is an adult who goes along to supervise students; a public hearing is a meeting where the public may speak to officials before they decide; to testify is to give information to officials.
Ms. Ferris's eighth-grade science class wanted to help plant a pollinator garden, a garden of flowers that feed bees and butterflies, in Riverside Park in Linden Falls. The 30 students voted by secret ballot between two Saturdays. April 12 won, 17 to 13.
The trip needed the principal's approval. The principal, Mr. Haddad, signed the field-trip form after the school nurse and two parent chaperones agreed to come, as the district's field-trip policy requires.
The Linden Falls Bee and Butterfly Society, a volunteer group with 85 members, lends shovels and watering cans. Its five-member board voted 3 to 2 to spend $400 on native wildflower plants. The society's bylaws say that any 10 members may ask for a vote of all the members on any spending over $300. Twelve members asked, and at a members' meeting the spending was approved, 41 to 6.
The town council of Linden Falls has seven members. It held a public hearing on a proposed ordinance, a town law, to set aside one acre of Riverside Park as a garden area that town crews may not mow. Fourteen residents spoke, for and against. The council then adopted the ordinance by a vote of 5 to 2, and the mayor signed it.
In the state capital, a state senator proposed a bill to give $2 million in grants for town gardens like the one in Riverside Park. The bill passed the state Senate 30 to 8 and the state House 61 to 37, and the governor signed it.
In Washington, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a bill to pay for pollinator-garden grants in every state. The bill was sent to a House committee. The committee held a hearing where garden groups and town officials testified, but it has not voted on the bill.
SVHS (invented scenario; the town, the park, the groups, the state bill and the federal bill are invented), Source 6: six decisions about the Riverside Park pollinator garden (invented scenario written for this page, for the homework) (2026). Original passage written for this page.

Differentiation Strategies

For Struggling Students

Give a chart with the four questions of Diagram 1 already written in each row, and the Local row completed as a model
Read Sources 2 and 3 aloud paragraph by paragraph, with a glossary card for majority, two-thirds, veto, committee and journal
Use the frame: "In the ___, decisions are made by ___. This procedure is meant to ___, because the source says ___."

For Advanced Students

Find one fact in Source 2 or Source 3 that is no longer true and explain whether the purpose behind it still applies today
Design a decision procedure for a new club at school and explain the purpose of each rule, using at least two procedures from the lesson as models
Compare who can stop a decision in the school (Source 4) and in Congress (Source 3)

Assessment Guidance

What to Look For

Strong work does two things for each setting: it describes the procedure accurately (who decides, how many must agree, who may watch or speak, what can check the decision) and it names the purpose the procedure is intended to serve, quoting the source where the source states it. Watch for students who describe procedures without purposes, who give one purpose for every procedure, or who mix up a majority with a two-thirds vote.

Classroom Activities

3 Activities

Procedure Detectives

15 minGroups of 3, then mixed groups

Each student in a home group becomes the expert on one government level, local (Source 1), state (Source 2) or national (Source 3), and teaches it to the others.

Procedure

Expert groups answer the four questions of Diagram 1 for their source, with a quotation for each answer (6 minutes)
Experts find every sentence in their source that states a purpose (look for words such as "purpose," "intended," "to prevent" and "necessary") and copy it (3 minutes)
Experts return to their home group and teach their row; listeners copy it and ask one question each (6 minutes)

Where the Purposes Are Stated

Teacher guide: Source 1 states its idea of purpose in paragraphs 1, 2 and 4; Source 2 in paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 5; Source 3 in paragraphs 1 and 7. Paragraphs 3 and 4 of Source 3 describe procedures whose purpose students must infer: accept any reasonable inference supported by the text.

Check for Understanding

Ask each home group: "Which level of government uses the most steps before a decision is final? Why might the most steps be at that level?" Accept any answer that counts the steps in two sources.

One Question, Three Rulebooks

20 minWhole class

The class decides the same question three times, under three different procedures: "Should our class have a five-minute free-reading break at the start of every Friday class?" After each round, students record the result and how long the round took.

Round 1: Simple Majority (4 minutes)

Two minutes of discussion, then a show of hands
The question passes with more than half of the votes

Round 2: Two-Thirds (5 minutes)

Same discussion time; students may change their votes
The question passes only with at least two-thirds of the votes; the class first computes the number needed

Round 3: Two Houses and a Veto (8 minutes)

Split the class into a "Senate" (one third of the students) and a "House" (two thirds); each must pass the question by majority
A student "President" then signs or vetoes it; a veto is overridden only if two-thirds of each house vote again to pass it

Debrief (3 minutes)

Which round was fastest? Which made it hardest to pass? Which procedure would you want for a rule that lasts all year, and which for a one-time choice? Students connect each round to a source: Round 2 to Source 4, Round 3 to Sources 2 and 3.

Setting Sort

15 minPairs

Each pair gets 12 cards: 6 procedure cards, each from a different setting, and 6 purpose cards. These are new procedures, not the ones in the sources. Pairs match each procedure to its setting and to the purpose it is most likely meant to serve, then explain one match to another pair.

The 6 Procedure Cards

A teacher draws names from a jar to set the order of student presentations
A principal asks a committee of teachers and parents to recommend a new dress code
The coaches of a youth baseball league elect the league's president every year
A city publishes its budget two weeks before the council votes on it
In most states, a change to the state constitution must be approved by the voters
A federal agency publishes a proposed rule and accepts public comments before the rule is final

The 6 Purpose Cards

Leaders answer to the members who chose them
Every student gets an equal chance
The public can see the plan before the vote
People affected by a rule help shape it
Anyone can point out problems before a rule takes effect
The people approve their most basic rules

Answer Key for the Teacher

Likely matches: card 1 (classroom), equal chance; card 2 (school), people affected help shape the rule; card 3 (civil society), leaders answer to the members; card 4 (local), the public sees the plan; card 5 (state), the people approve their basic rules; card 6 (national), anyone can point out problems. Accept other matches that pairs can defend: most procedures serve more than one purpose.

Diagrams & Visual Aids

2 diagrams

Diagram 1: Four Questions to Ask About Any Decision Procedure

Students use the four questions to describe a procedure in any setting, then name the civic purpose it is meant to serve. The six purposes are common ones, not a complete list; a procedure can serve more than one.

Diagram 2: How a Bill Becomes a Federal Law

The three ways a bill may become a law, as Source 3 lists them in paragraph 6. Students add the purpose of each step from Source 3 in the guided practice.

Homework Assignment

~30 min

D2.Civ.11.6-8 Homework: Six Decisions About One Garden

Directions: Use Source 6, printed in the Closure phase of the lesson plan, together with Sources 1-5. For each answer, describe the procedure and the purpose it is meant to serve, and cite the source and paragraph. Show your math where a problem asks for it.

Part 1: Describe the Procedures (Problems 1-3)

Source 6 describes six decisions. For each paragraph, name the setting (classroom, school, civil society, local, state or national government), who made the decision, and how many had to agree or approve.
Ms. Ferris's class chose April 12 by a vote of 17 to 13 (Source 6, paragraph 1). Would that vote have adopted a norm under Room 114's two-thirds rule (Source 4)? Show the math. Then explain why it makes sense for one class to use a majority and the other two-thirds.
Compare how Mr. Haddad approved the field trip (Source 6, paragraph 2) with how Dr. Sato decided about the patio (Source 4, paragraph 4). What purpose does giving the final decision to the principal serve in both cases?

Part 2: Differentiate by Purpose (Problems 4-6)

In the Linden Falls Bee and Butterfly Society, 10 members can ask for a vote of all the members on spending over $300 (Source 6, paragraph 3). How is this like the Fox Run Food Co-op's petition rule (Source 5, paragraph 3), and what purpose do both rules serve?
The state garden bill passed the Senate 30 to 8 and the House 61 to 37 (Source 6, paragraph 5). If the governor had vetoed it and the state used a two-thirds rule for overrides, would each house have had enough votes to override? Show the math. Then use Source 2 to explain why the bill had to pass two houses at all.
Write a paragraph that differentiates the town council's procedure (Source 6, paragraph 4) from the national procedure (Source 6, paragraph 6 and Source 3). Compare at least two steps and the purpose each step is intended to serve.

Rubric

Criterion	Full Credit (2 pts)	Partial Credit (1 pt)	No Credit (0 pts)
Procedure	Describes who decides, how many must agree and any check, accurately	Describes part of the procedure, or with one error	Does not describe the procedure
Purpose	Names the intended purpose and ties it to the procedure	Names a purpose without connecting it to the procedure	No purpose
Evidence	Cites the source and paragraph for each claim	Refers to sources without paragraph numbers	No evidence
Math	Computes the votes needed correctly and compares	Sets up the comparison with one error	No math shown

Quiz: 20 Questions

Interactive, with answers

Instructions

Questions 1-2 use Source 1 (local government), Questions 3-5 use Source 2 (a state legislature), Questions 6-8 use Source 3 (Congress), Questions 9-11 use Source 4 (a classroom and a school), Questions 12-13 use Source 5 (a food co-op), and the rest compare sources. All sources are in the lesson plan phases above. Choose the best answer, then check your work.

Multiple choice: pick an option to check it. Short answer: write your answer, then reveal the model answer.

0 of 20 answered · 0 correct

Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 1, paragraph 3, why do the voters in most places not make their local laws themselves?
Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 1, paragraph 4, what purpose do the authors give for having a town board or city council decide about roads and streets?
Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice
What was the purpose of the Illinois voting plan described in Source 2, paragraph 3?
Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 2, paragraph 4, why do many state constitutions require a two-thirds vote to expel a member?
Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which of these is NOT one of the ways Source 2 (paragraphs 5-8) says a state legislature's work is made public?
Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 3, paragraph 3, what happens at a committee's public hearings?
Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 3, paragraph 7, what did the framers of the Constitution intend the President's veto to guard against?
Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice
A roll-call vote ("yeas and nays") is described in Source 3, paragraph 4. What does it produce that a quick voice vote does not?
Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 4, paragraph 1, why does Mr. Abernathy add safety rules himself, without a class vote?
Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 4, paragraph 3, what did the student council do before it voted on the patio?
Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice
Which statement best differentiates the roles of the student council and the principal in Source 4?
Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice
According to Source 5, paragraph 2, why does each member household of the co-op get exactly one vote?
Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice
The bylaw change in Source 5 passed 112 to 49. Which statement correctly shows that it met the co-op's rule for changing the bylaws?
Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice
In Source 2, a second house "tends to prevent hasty legislation." Which procedure in Source 3 was intended to serve a similar purpose?
Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer
Room 114 (Source 4) and the Fox Run Food Co-op (Source 5) both use a two-thirds vote for some decisions. Which decisions, and what purpose does the two-thirds rule serve in both settings? Name one way the two procedures differ.
Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer
Differentiate who makes the final decision at Oakmont Middle School (Source 4) and at the Fox Run Food Co-op (Source 5). What purpose does each procedure serve?
Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer
Source 1, paragraph 3 describes two ways to make local laws: a town meeting and elected legislators. Which would fit a town of 900 people, and which a city of 80,000? Explain the purpose each procedure serves.
Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer
Source 2 says state legislatures make their work public (paragraphs 5-8), but Source 3, paragraph 3 says congressional committees "may confer in secret." Differentiate the two procedures and explain a purpose each might serve.
Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer
Suppose a state bill passed the Senate 26 to 14 and the House 70 to 30, and the governor vetoed it. If the state uses the same two-thirds rule for an override as Congress (Source 3, paragraph 6), and the same members vote again, does the bill become law? Show the math.
Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer
Write a paragraph that differentiates the decision procedures of three settings from this lesson, one of which must be a level of government. For each, describe the procedure and the civic purpose it is intended to serve, with evidence.

0 of 20 answered · 0 correct

Frequently Asked Questions

10 Questions

What does D2.Civ.11.6-8 mean?

D2.Civ.11.6-8 asks students in grades 6-8 to tell apart the procedures groups use to make decisions, from a classroom to Congress, and to explain what each procedure is meant to accomplish. Students look at settings such as a class, a school, a community group and local, state and national government.

What is a civic purpose of a decision procedure?

A civic purpose is the job a procedure is meant to do for the group or the public. Common purposes include giving everyone a voice, preventing hasty decisions, protecting the minority, letting the public see what happens, getting a large amount of work done and putting the responsible person in charge.

Is D2.Civ.11.6-8 just about how a bill becomes a law?

No. How a bill becomes a federal law is one example, but the indicator names six settings: the classroom, the school, civil society, and local, state and national government. Students should compare procedures across those settings and explain why they differ.

What counts as civil society?

Civil society means the groups people form outside government and outside their families, such as clubs, charities, unions, religious congregations, neighborhood associations and co-ops. Many of these groups have written rules, called bylaws, that set their decision procedures.

What is the difference between a majority vote and a two-thirds vote?

A majority vote needs more than half of the votes; a two-thirds vote needs at least two of every three. In a group of 27, a majority is 14 votes and two-thirds is 18, so a proposal with 16 votes passes under the first rule but not the second.

Why does this lesson use civics textbooks from 1897 and 1913?

They state the purposes of procedures plainly, in words written for students, which is exactly what this indicator asks students to find. Some facts have changed since then, such as Nebraska's one-house legislature, so the lesson notes the changes and asks students whether the purposes still apply.

How do I assess D2.Civ.11.6-8?

Ask students to describe a procedure and to name its intended purpose, with evidence, for at least two settings, and then to explain how the procedures differ. The rubric in this lesson gives separate points for the procedure, the purpose, the evidence and any vote math.

What mistakes do students often make with this indicator?

Students often describe a procedure but never say what it is for, or give the same purpose, such as "to be fair," for every procedure. Another frequent mistake is treating more than half and two-thirds as the same rule.

How is D2.Civ.11.6-8 different from D2.Civ.11.9-12?

D2.Civ.11.6-8 asks students to differentiate procedures by how their civic purposes are intended; D2.Civ.11.9-12 asks them to evaluate governmental procedures by the purposes they actually achieve, including international ones. Middle school students explain what a procedure is meant to do; high school students judge whether it works.

How does D2.Civ.11.6-8 connect to other C3 indicators?

It builds on D2.Civ.5.6-8, the structure and functions of government, and works alongside D2.Civ.9.6-8, which compares how groups deliberate. It leads to D2.Civ.11.9-12 and to D4.8.6-8, where students use democratic procedures to make decisions themselves.