Creating a Government Class Assignment

In this active learning class assignment, students are asked to think about what type of government they would create if all options were on the table and they were starting a new country. In this respect, it gets the students thinking about the implications and consequences of different regime types, systems of government, and various powers granted to the government. The only parameters given to the students are that the country is large in size and population and that it is diverse in population–and the government must be able meet the needs of the large and diverse population. Deployed after discussions regarding political culture, the Constitution, and federalism, this assignment serves as a good way for the students to be able to tie together the information from those parts of the course and think about if they would have done anything differently.

Key words: active learning; lower division course; in class assignment; federalism