How is your state government organized? How many elected officials are women? What is the mean age of your state representatives? Young scholars answer these questions in a research project before creating a chart to reflect their responses.

Concepts

state government, Government, demographics, local government

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Use the resource when discussing an upcoming local election
• Extend the activity by having class members focus on one branch of state government, or comparing the demographics of their state government to the federal government

Classroom Considerations

• Demographics are updated through 2007; have learners find current numbers

Pros

• Brings a real-world focus to a government lesson that may feel abstract to some members of the class

Cons

• None