3 class periods of 70 minutes each
Small Groups
Enduring Understanding:
Paper, Pen
movie-Lord of the Flies
NR black and white version (available from Amazon.com)
assignments
This lesson helps students understand the most important philosophical ideas underlying our Constitutional government.
There are ideas accepted by almost everyone in the colonies even before the Revolutionary War. These basic ideas were developed and refined by philosophers like John Locke (1623-1704) and by many others in Europe and in the colonies. The political philosophy Locke wrote about is often called the Natural Rights Philosophy.
The Natural Rights Philosophy is based on imagining what life would be like if there were no government. Locke and others called this imaginary situation a state of nature.
This lesson helps students understand the basis for the formation of government and states.
Students should understand the nature of the state. This should include the definition of a state, the characteristics of a state, the theories of how states came into being, and the basic tenets of Natural Rights Philosophy. This should include a discussion of John Locke and other philosophers that contributed to these theories.
Students will understand the significance and impact of the Constitution on everyday life.
Students will understand the ideas that influenced the creation of the Constition.
Students understand the philosophies of Locke.
Students understand the state of nature philosophy.
Students would have already had the basic vocabulary and a lecture/discussion on the basics of the formation of the state.
Anticipatory Set-Lead the students into a discussion of imagining what society would be like without government.
Explore the possible reasons why governments are created.
Lesson: Survival
Enrichment-Challenge students
Students can do library/Internet research on one ancient government and report their findings to the class, individually, or in small groups.
Students can also research for a civilization that existed without a government.