Critical Thinking (ELO Critical Thinking) - Local Politics

Click HERE to see 16 ways to get more involved in local politics!

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:

• Identify and clearly state the details of a social issue.
• Gether information from additional reliable sources related to the issue.
• Formulate an objective opinion on the issue.
• Draw conclusions related to multiple perspectives on the issue.
  

Teaching

The point of this particular assignment is to have you go into your community and participate (passively or actively) in a political meeting of some sort.

Meetings that can be used may include:

• Town Meetings
• School Board Meetings
• Club Meetings (not social...they have to be business meetings)
• Church Meetings (not services...they have to be business meetings)

The organization needs to be addressing an issue and debating different approaches to the issue.

You are to do the following:

• Attend the meeting.
• Take notes and participate (as much as you wish) in the exploration of a topic that is discussed in the meeting.
• Take notes on the viewpoints and evidence that is presented by participants in the debate.
• After the meeting, conduct some fact-finding research on the topic (make sure you look at both sides of the issue).
• Evaluate your own thoughts on the issue in light of your participation in the meeting and your research.
• Write the paper in accordance with the rubric below.
• Submit the paper in MS Word or PDF format to the appropriate drop box.

Grading Rubric

The following criteria will be used to evaluate and grade your submission: