table of contents - swamp life...

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CHAPTER 12

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do citizens, both individually and collectively, influence government policy?

SS.7.C.2.3 – Experience the responsibilities of citizens at the local, state, or federal levels. SS.7.C.2.10 – Examine the impact of media, individuals, and interest groups on monitoring and influencing government. SS.7.C.2.11 – Analyze media and political communications (bias, symbolism, propaganda).

DIRECTIONS:

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

After reading and reviewing, and studying this chapter use the information you learned to answer the chapter’s essential question in a paragraph below.

Table of Contents

Add dates to the lines below upon completion.

Date Title of Pages Page

______ Spotlight on Content Vocabulary ......................................................... 2-5

______ Lesson 1 Forming Public Opinion Lesson Kickoff Activity: Forming Public Opinion on a T-Shirt ......... 6

______ Lesson 1 Forming Public Opinion Active Note-Taking Activity ......................................................................... 7

______ Lesson 1 Forming Public Opinion

Analyzing a Political Cartoon ...................................................................... 8

______ Lesson 1 Forming Public Opinion Conducting Your Own Public Opinion Poll .................................... 9-14

______ Lesson 2 The Mass Media Lesson Kickoff Activity: Examining America’s Use of Mass Media ................................................................................................................ 15

______ Lesson 2 The Mass Media Active Note-Taking Activity ...................................................................... 16

______ Lesson 2 The Mass Media Analyzing Campaign Commercials ....................................................... 17

______ Lesson 2: The Mass Media Creating a Campaign Commercial ................................................... 18-19

______ Lesson 3: Interest Groups and Lobbying Lesson Kickoff Activity: Interest Groups Simulation ........................ 20

______ Lesson 3: Interest Groups and Lobbying Active Note-Taking Activity ...................................................................... 21

Page # POG 1

Page # POG 2

Public Opinion and Government

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DIRECTIONS: As the content vocabulary is discussed throughout the chapter, fill in the graphic organizer below. At the end of the lesson, use the word in a “meaningful” sentence. Underline or highlight the word in each sentence. These sentences should prove mastery of the word.

LESSON 1

Written Example or Visual Representation:

Hints:

Meaningful Sentence:__________________________________________

_____________________________________________________


Hints:


_____________________________________________________


Hints:


_____________________________________________________

public opinion: The ideas and attitudes that people hold about elected officials, candidates, government, and political issues

mass media: A mechanism of mass communication, including television, radio, the Internet, newspapers, magazines, books, recordings, and movies

interest group: A group of people who share a point of view about an issue and unite to promote their beliefs

CHAPTER 12 | Public Opinion and Government

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Hints:


_____________________________________________________


Hints:


_____________________________________________________ LESSON 2


Hints:


_____________________________________________________


Hints:


_____________________________________________________

CHAPTER 12| Public Opinion and Government

public opinion poll: A survey in which individuals are asked to answer questions about a particular issue or person

pollster: a person whose job is to conduct polls regularly

leak: To release secret government information by anonymous government officials to the media

public agenda: Issues considered most significant by government officials

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Hints:


_____________________________________________________


Hints:


_____________________________________________________


Hints:


_____________________________________________________


Hints:


_____________________________________________________


malice: evil intent

watchdog: The role played by a media organization that exposes illegal practices or waste

libel: Written untruths that are harmful to someone’s reputation

prior restraint: The act of stopping information from being known by blocking it from being published

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Hints:


_____________________________________________________ LESSON 3


Hints:


_____________________________________________________


Hints:


_____________________________________________________


Hints:


_____________________________________________________

public interest group: an organization that supports causes that affect the lives of Americans in general


shield law: A law that protects a reporter from revealing his or her sources

lobbyist: Representative of an interest group who contacts lawmakers or other government officials directly to influence their policy making

nonpartisan: Free from party ties or bias

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LESSON 1 | FORMING PUBLIC OPINION

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do citizens both individually and collectively, influence government policy? FORMING PUBLIC OPINION ON A T-SHIRT

Directions:

The idea of students wearing uniforms in public schools has long been debated. Imagine that your school principal has decided to implement a new dress code policy at your school, which required students to wear uniforms. Students, parents, and faculty are torn on this issue. Your job is to design a t-shirt expressing your opinion about the new uniform policy.

Items to include 2. A logo or design

: 1. Catchy slogan expressing your position. (Must be school appropriate)

3. Must be colored.

1. PREDICTION

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

: What do you think would happen if over half of the student body and some faculty wore your t-shirt design to school? ______________________ _____________________________________________________________

2. Why is it important for our government leaders to pay attention to what the public is saying? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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LESSON 1 I FORMING PUBLIC OPINION

Guiding Question: What is public opinion? PUBLIC OPINION

1. What role does public opinion play in democracy?

pp.328-329

2. 3 main sources of public opinion

pp.329 - 330

Source 1:

Source 2: Source 3:

What is it? What is it? What is it?

3. 3 features of public opinion

p.331

Direction:

Intensity:

Stability:

Guiding Question: How is public opinion measured? PUBLIC OPINION POLLS

4. How do political leaders learn what the public thinks about an issue?

p.332

Method 1: Method 2:

5. What is “random sampling”?

p.333

6. Why is the wording in poll questions so important?

p. 333-334

7. Pros and Cons of Polls

p.334

PROS CONS


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ANALYZING A POLITICAL CARTOON

Directions: Study the political cartoon on page 332 of your textbook. Analyze the cartoon, and answer the following questions.

1. List some of the objects, people, important words, or symbols you see in this cartoon.

2. What is the time of year in this cartoon? How can you tell?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Public opinion polls are frequently used during election campaigns. Why do you think these polls are so important to the candidates? ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. What is the message the cartoonist is trying to portray in this cartoon? Use information from your textbook (p.

334) to support your answer. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. OPINION

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

: Are public opinion polls a useful tool for our government officials? Defend your answer with information discussed in this chapter.

6. If you could write a caption for this cartoon, what would it be? ___________________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________________________


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1.

CONDUCTING YOUR OWN PUBLIC OPINION POLL

PICKING AN ISSUE: Pick one issue that directly relates to your

school and record it below. Ex: cafeteria food, school mascot, vending machines, etc.

ISSUE: _________________________________________________ 2. QUESTIONS: Come up with 5 questions

- Do not make them all “Yes and No” Questions – Give people options. that you are going to use to poll people about your issue.

- Questions should be unbiased. - (Reference pages 333-334 in your textbook)

Question #1 ________________________________________________________________________________________________ Answer Choices: A.

B. C. D.


B. C. D.


B. C. D.


B. C. D.


B. C. D.

3. CONDUCTING YOUR POLL: You must poll at least 50 People. You must poll a Representative Sample

of the school population in order to narrow the margin of error in your results. This means you must poll sixth graders, seventh graders, eighth graders, and faculty. (Reference page 333 in your textbook).


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4. RECORDING YOUR RESULTS:

Use the chart on the next page to record your data.

Poll Group Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5

Record names below 6th grade

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Poll Group Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 7th Grade

Record names below 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Poll Group Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 8th Grade

Record names below 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10


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Poll Group Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5

Faculty/Staff Record names below 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Poll Group Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 Extra/Any Level

Record names below 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 5. TOTALS : Tally your results and record them below.

TOTALS

Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Question 5 A: B: C: D:

A: B: C: D:

A: B: C: D:

A: B: C: D:

A: B: C: D:

6. 1. You are going to create 5 bar graphs, one per question.

GRAPHING YOUR RESULTS:

2. Label the bottom axis with the possible responses for each question. 3. Take your totals for each possible response and divide it by 50, the total surveyed. Ex: If 12 people answered B for Question 1, then you will divide 12/50= .24

4. Move the decimal to the right twice to make a percentage. Ex: .24 = 24%

5. Finally, graph the results below. Color your graphs to make them more visually appealing.

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Question 1: ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Question 2: __________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________


100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0

Percentage of Respondents


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Question 3: __________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Question 4: __________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0



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Question 5: __________________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0


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ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How do citizens, both individually and collectively, influence government policy?

LESSON 2 | THE MASS MEDIA

EXAMINING AMERICA’S USE OF MASS MEDIA

Directions: Use the graph of page 338 of your textbook and discuss the following questions with your partner. Answer the questions in a complete sentence.

Pair Thinking Discussion Questions

1. Which form of mass media is used by most Americans of all age groups? ____________________________________ 2. Why do you think the number of Internet users decreases among the older age groups? __________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. INFERENCES:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Why do you think newspapers are used less than the other three forms of mass media? __________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. What groups of people do you think would find the data illustrated useful? Why? _____________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 5. How might a political candidate be able to use the information from the graphs in his/her campaign? _____________ ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Why should politicians consider age groups when presenting information via the various forms of mass media? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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LESSON 2 I THE MASS MEDIA

Guiding Question: How do the media influence public opinion and government? THE INFLUENCE OF THE MEDIA

1. What are the two types of mass media sources?

p. 335

Source 1: Source 2:

Example(s): Example(s):

2. How does the media influence the public agenda?

p. 336

3. Why do reporters and politicians need each other?

p. 336

4. How does the media play a “watchdog” role?

p. 337

Guiding Question: What are the restrictions on freedom of the press? PROTECTING THE PRESS

5. How is the freedom of the press limited?

pp. 338-339

6. What precedent was set up by New York Times v. Sullivan (1964)?

p. 339

7. What are two ways the federal government can limit

p. 339

broadcast media?


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During this activity, you will examine ways that politicians “deliver” both spoken and unspoken messages. You will be viewing various campaign ads from past and present politicians. You will analyze these advertisements using the matrix below. You will quickly realize that these ads are planned very carefully and that everything from the background, to the words, and to the music is very purposefully chosen.

Role of the Media in U.S. Elections Activity

These ads can be conveniently viewed from the following website: www.livingroomcandidate.org

Advertisement

Issue(s) – What is this ad about? (health care, security,

political experience, etc.)

Tone – What is the tone of the ad? (Positive, character building, Negative, attacking, etc.)

Propaganda Techniques

(p.345 in textbook)

Opinion – Was the commercial effective? Why or

why not?

Peace Little Girl

(Daisy), Johnson (D), 1964

Youth

Nixon (R), 1968

South

Carter (D), 1976

Hope Campaign ‘80

Reagan (R), 1980

Tank Ride

Bush (R), 1988

Scary

Clinton (D), 1992

Hopeful

Bush (R), 2000

Windsurfing

Bush (R), 2004

Need Education Obama (D), 2008

** Reference the Propaganda Techniques Chart located on page 345 of your textbook.


http://www.livingroomcandidate.org/�

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SS.7.C.2.10 Examine the impact of media, individuals, and interest groups on monitoring and influencing government. CREATING A CAMPAIGN COMMERCIAL

SS.7.C.2.11 Analyze the media and political communications (bias, symbolism, propaganda).

Directions:

Your commercial must include:

Below is a brief description of two candidates who are running for a Senate seat in Congress. You will be assigned one of the candidates. According to the statistics used by the U.S. Census Bureau in the graph on page 338 of your textbook, television is the most widely used form of mass media across all age groups. Therefore, you are going to create a commercial for your candidate.

1. At least 3 of the propaganda techniques discussed on page 345. 2. Must include at least 6 frames with colored3. Each frame must have the script written underneath.

graphics.

4. Be creative! 5. Optional:

Videotape your commercial and play it back for your class.

John Stevenson Candidate A

Donna Robinson Candidate B

John Stevenson attended Harvard University where he majored in business administration and graduated in 2002. Shortly after his graduation, he decided to enter the military because he wanted to help fight the War on Terror for his country. John lost his uncle in the World Trade Center attack. He served 3 tours of duty in Iraq. On his third tour, his convoy was bombed and he was left paralyzed from the waist down. He now chooses to fight his battles with his mind and would like to represent the people of his state in the Senate. He is a strong advocate for the second amendment (“Right to Bear Arms”) and believes in the death penalty, especially in terrorism cases. John would fight to provide funding to keep the space program running in the United States. He fears that little by little we are handing over all of our power and achievements to other countries. John believes that everyone has the right to formal union or marriage, regardless of their sexual orientation. He is married with 2 children. Lastly, John believes that knowledge is power and our government should be allocating more funds for the education systems around the country. He believes that it is important to keep in mind who will be running the nation in the years ahead.

Donna Robinson attended the University of Florida and studied sociology. She went on to earn her masters at the University of Florida in political science. Donna was involved in public service while in school and continued her service outside of school. She helped to organize a “Halfway House” program for juvenile delinquents who had served their sentence and needed some help in transitioning back into regular society. She is a strong advocate for the “rehabilitation” of lawbreakers, rather than punishment. She is completely against the death penalty in any situation. Donna realizes that illegal immigration is a problem in our country, but wants to develop a realistic plan that allows illegal immigrants the opportunity to become naturalized citizens. She realizes that “scare tactics” are not going to work. Just as she developed a transitioning center for juveniles, Donna would like to do the same for illegal immigrants. Ideally, she would like to provide them with education classes, language classes, and technical training. She believes these measures will help them to become effective contributors in our society. Donna believes that our government went astray when we turned our backs to God and religion and she wants to bring that back to the Capitol. It is because of her strong religious beliefs that she does not believe gay marriages or unions should be legalized.


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CAMPAIGN COMMERCIAL

_______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________

_______________________________________ ________________________________________ _______________________________________ ________________________________________

___________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ___________________________________________ ____________________________________________


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LESSON 3 I INTEREST GROUPS AND LOBBYING

NGSS.7.C.2.10 Examine the impact of media, individuals, and interest groups on monitoring and influencing government. INTEREST GROUPS SIMULATION

After selecting your groups and discussing what an interest group is with your teacher, write your own definition in the space provided below.

INTEREST GROUP PREVIEW:

INTEREST GROUP Define in your own words Quick Illustration

INTEREST GROUPS REFLECTION AND DEBRIEF:

1. Based on your specific role (lawmaker, lobbyist, or interest group member) how did you feel during this activity? Explain.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Which group do you think had the most reasonable rule for the school? Why? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Which group had the most power? Why? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. After taking part in this activity, what is your new opinion about the role of interest groups and the influence

they have on our government? Defend your opinion with specific ideas and events from the simulation. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


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LESSON 3 I INTEREST GROUPS AND LOBBYING

Guiding Question: How do special-interest groups influence public policy? INTEREST GROUPS

1. How does the First Amendment support interest groups?

p. 341

2. Examples of interest groups

p. 342

3. What is the main goal of interest groups?

p. 343

4. PAC’s

p. 343

5. Lobbyists

p. 344

Who are they? How did they get their name?

Guiding Question: How does the government regulate interest groups? REGULATING INTEREST GROUPS

6. How are interest groups limited by laws?

pp. 345-346

7. Interest Groups

p. 346

Critic’s Arguments

Supporter’s Arguments

8. What role does propaganda play in influencing public policy?

p. 345


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