Asynchronous Teaching- Standard 6-8

Summary

In this educational video, Mr. Stewart introduces the topic of laws, regulations, and policies with a humorous anecdote about a city in Georgia that banned eating fried chicken with a fork. He guides viewers through the legislative process, emphasizing the roles of the government branches, particularly the legislative branch's power to legislate. Stewart encourages pre-assessment, platform reading, and a foundational video review before delving into the intricacies of law-making, including the committee process and presidential veto. He concludes with an interactive game to simulate bill passage and an exit ticket for reflection, aiming to deepen understanding of the legislative process.

Takeaways

• 📜 The lesson is about understanding laws, regulations, and policies, with an introduction to the legislative process and the roles of different branches of government.
• 🍗 An amusing example of a law from Georgia in 1916, which made it illegal to eat fried chicken with a fork, is used to illustrate the diversity of laws.
• 🏛️ The legislative branch, specifically Congress, is highlighted as the body responsible for making laws, as granted by the U.S. Constitution.
• 📊 A pre-assessment is suggested to identify the branch of government with law-making power and to define key terms such as 'bill' and 'public policy'.
• 📚 The importance of reviewing the lesson materials and watching the foundational video on laws and regulations is emphasized for better understanding.
• 🤔 The process of a bill becoming a law is detailed, starting from an idea, introduction to a committee, revisions, voting, and potential veto by the President.
• 🏢 The roles and functions of the three branches of government are briefly reviewed, with an emphasis on the legislative branch's law-making authority.
• 📝 Only Congress has the power to repeal a law, while the Supreme Court can declare a law unconstitutional, effectively rendering it invalid.
• 🎮 An interactive game is introduced to simulate the process of a bill becoming a law, allowing participants to represent a district and make decisions.
• 📋 The game's outcome and certificate are important, requiring participants to take screenshots or photos for submission as proof of completion.
• 🤔 Reflecting on the game and considering how it was played is encouraged, along with answering questions related to the experience.

Q & A

What is the main topic of Mr. Stewart's lesson?

The main topic of Mr. Stewart's lesson is laws, regulations, and policies.

What unusual law did a city in Georgia pass in 1916?

A city in Georgia passed a law in 1916 stating that it is illegal to eat fried chicken with a fork.

Which branch of government is granted the power to make laws?

The legislative branch of government is granted the power to make laws.

What is the first step in the process of creating a law?

The first step in creating a law is having an idea for a law.

Can a bill be introduced in either the House of Representatives or the Senate?

Yes, a bill can be introduced in either the House of Representatives or the Senate.

What happens to a bill after it is introduced and before it goes to the floor for a vote?

After a bill is introduced, it goes to a committee where it is researched, discussed, and possibly amended before being sent to the floor for a vote.

What is the special power the president has to reject a bill?

The president has the power to veto a bill, which is a way to reject it and prevent it from becoming law.

Can the Supreme Court repeal a law?

The Supreme Court cannot directly repeal a law, but it can declare a law unconstitutional, which effectively renders the law invalid.

Who has the authority to repeal a law?

Only Congress has the authority to repeal a law by introducing a new bill that addresses the issues in the previous law.

What activity does Mr. Stewart suggest to help understand how a bill becomes a law?

Mr. Stewart suggests playing a game that simulates the process of a bill becoming a law, where participants choose a district to represent and work through the legislative process.

What is required at the end of the game to complete the activity?

At the end of the game, participants are required to take screenshots or photos of two screens: the final results of their bill and their certificate, which includes details of the game session.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to Laws, Regulations, and Policies

Mr. Stewart welcomes viewers to a lesson on laws, regulations, and policies. He introduces the topic with a humorous example of a law in Georgia from 1916 prohibiting the use of a fork to eat fried chicken. The lesson aims to cover the roles of government branches, with a pre-assessment quiz on the legislative power. Stewart encourages students to review key terms and definitions, such as 'bill' and 'public policy,' and to watch a foundational video on laws and regulations. He also prompts students to read lesson materials on the platform for a better understanding of the subject matter.

05:02

🏛️ The Legislative Process and the Role of Congress

This paragraph delves into the legislative process, starting with the idea for a law and its introduction to a committee, either in the Senate or the House of Representatives. The committee's role is to discuss, research, and potentially amend the bill before voting to accept or reject it. If passed, the bill moves to the other chamber of Congress. The paragraph also explains the president's power to veto a bill and the unique ability of Congress to repeal laws, as neither the president nor the Supreme Court can do so. The Supreme Court, however, can declare a law unconstitutional, effectively rendering it invalid.

10:04

🎮 Interactive Learning Through a Bill-Becoming-Law Game

The script introduces an interactive game designed to help students understand the process by which a bill becomes law. Players choose a district to represent and consider demographic factors such as age, city density, income levels, and gender. The game's objective is to gather constituent support for a bill and predict its passage. Upon completion, players receive a certificate and results, which they must screenshot and submit. The paragraph emphasizes the importance of reflecting on the game experience and answering questions about it to consolidate learning.

15:04

📝 Conclusion and Encouragement for Further Learning

In conclusion, Mr. Stewart thanks the students for their attention and effort in learning about the legislative process. He expresses excitement to see their game certificates and final results, encouraging them to enjoy the learning experience. He also invites students to suggest additional content for future lessons and reminds them to explore provided sources for more information, particularly highlighting a source with amusing state laws and another detailing the law-making process.

Keywords

💡Laws

Laws are rules and regulations established by a governing authority to maintain order and ensure justice within a society. In the context of the video, laws are the central theme, with an emphasis on how they are created and enforced. The script uses the example of a peculiar law in Georgia about eating fried chicken to illustrate the diversity of laws.

💡Regulations

Regulations are specific rules or directives made and maintained by an authority to control certain activities or areas. They are a subset of laws and are often more detailed and technical. The video discusses regulations in the broader context of legal frameworks and their role in governance.

💡Policies

Policies are a set of principles or strategies adopted by an organization, government, or political system to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. The script distinguishes between laws and policies, indicating that while laws are binding and enforceable, policies are more about guiding actions.

💡Legislative Branch

The legislative branch is one of the three branches of government responsible for making laws. In the U.S., this is embodied by the Congress, as mentioned in the script. The legislative branch's role is crucial in the law-making process, which is a key focus of the video.

💡Constitution

A constitution is the fundamental legal document of a country or state, outlining the framework of the government and the rights of its citizens. The script refers to the U.S. Constitution, specifically Article One and Section One, which grants legislative powers to Congress.

💡Bill

A bill is a proposed piece of legislation that is presented for deliberation and voting in a legislative body. The script explains the journey of a bill from an idea to becoming a law, including the process it undergoes in committees and chambers of Congress.

💡Committee

A committee is a group of individuals delegated to consider, investigate, or take action on specific issues. In the context of the video, committees play a pivotal role in the legislative process, where bills are discussed, amended, and voted upon before proceeding to the floor of the legislative body.

💡Veto

A veto is the power of one entity, usually a chief executive, to nullify a bill, decision, or law. The script mentions the presidential veto as a check on the legislative process, allowing the president to reject a bill and prevent it from becoming law.

💡Supreme Court

The Supreme Court is the highest judicial body in a legal system, with the power to interpret laws and determine their constitutionality. The script discusses the Supreme Court's role in reviewing laws and potentially rendering them invalid if they are found to be unconstitutional.

💡Repeal

To repeal is to revoke or abolish a law or ordinance. The script clarifies that only Congress has the power to repeal a law, not the president or the Supreme Court, although the latter can declare a law unconstitutional, effectively ending its enforcement.

💡Constituent

A constituent is an individual represented by a member of a legislative body, such as a representative or senator. The script uses the term in the context of a game where the player represents a district and must gain constituent support for a bill to pass.

💡Game-based Learning

Game-based learning is an educational method that employs games to engage learners and facilitate understanding of complex concepts. The script describes a game where participants simulate the process of a bill becoming a law, aiming to enhance comprehension of the legislative process.

Highlights

Introduction to the lesson on laws, regulations, and policies.

Anecdote about a city in Georgia that passed a law in 1916 making it illegal to eat fried chicken with a fork.

Pre-assessment question about the branch of government with the power to make laws.

Instructions to pause the video and define key terms like 'bill' and 'public policy'.

Emphasis on the importance of reviewing the lesson material and watching the foundational video on laws and regulations.

Review of the roles and functions of the three branches of government in relation to laws.

Explanation of the legislative process starting with an idea and moving through committees to becoming a law.

Clarification that a bill can be introduced in either the House of Representatives or the Senate.

Discussion on the process within a committee, including research, discussion, and voting on a bill.

The potential for a bill to be passed to the other chamber of Congress and the President's options to sign or veto.

Only Congress has the power to repeal a law, not the President or the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court's role in determining the constitutionality of a law.

Suggestion to read more about the legislative process on the provided platform and website.

Activity suggestion to teach or explain the lesson content to someone else to aid in memorization.

Introduction of a game to understand how a bill becomes a law, including choosing a district to represent.

Instructions on capturing screenshots of the game's final results and certificate for submission.

Reflection questions after playing the game to consolidate understanding of the legislative process.

Exit ticket with questions about what should have been included in the lesson and sources for further reading.

Closing remarks expressing gratitude for attention and anticipation for seeing the certificates and results from the activity.

Transcripts

hello everyone mr stewart here it's good

to have you on board

let's get started with our next lesson

our lesson today is on

laws regulation laws regulations and

policies

i'm going to share my screen with you

right away and we'll get started

good to have you back laws regulations

and

policies now if you look at this first

slide you may wonder what on earth does

fried chicken

have to do with laws regulations

and policies well believe it or not

there is a city in georgia

that passed a law back in 1916

that said it's illegal to eat

fried chicken with a fork

can you believe that

in the state of arizona these are weird

laws

because today we're talking about laws

and before we get started with

uh our lesson in particular let's go

ahead and do our pre-assessment tell me

please

which branch of government is granted

the power to make

laws and number two not going to read

them

this lesson because we have a bit to get

through

so you can just pause the video and read

each of these

objectives use a little bit differently

perhaps

and some of these terms you've actually

already gone over

in the last couple of lessons

bill and public policy

so i'm going to choose but if you don't

know these words

i'd like for you to just uh pause for a

moment

and define these words you can use

google or

any dictionary that you have that you

prefer you can use that now

and just make sure you go over these

because these words are in our lesson

for

our review and our lecture

as i mentioned earlier i'd like to

remind you first before going any

further

take a moment and go to the platform

and read the information for this lesson

secondly i'd like for you to make sure

that you

watch this video this video is on

laws and regulations i think it's a

great primer it's a great

foundational video to get you ready for

everything else so please

take a moment to go over this video

and read the information the articles

that are on our

platform for this lesson they will be

very helpful

in helping you grasp to

learn the information

what are you going to do you're going to

watch the video and

you're going to read the information on

our platform very good please do

that now i want you to take a moment now

that you're back welcome back

i want you to take a moment and think

back on our lessons

um in the last few lessons about

the branches of government and public

policy and foreign policy those

different lessons

think about those three branches i know

you recall them

they're here in front of you do you

recall

what the jobs are and the roles and

functions

are of each of these branches of

government

if you don't lucky for you i have taken

the liberty of putting them here for you

are really important but i'm not going

to read them

you can feel free to pause this video

and to read them

at your leisure however i won't do that

this time

this is just a quick review i want you

to know that

this must be very important because i've

used

these same graphics several times

regarding the three

branches of government say right away

oh the legislative branch right because

they

legislate that word legislate they make

laws

so that is very true the constitution

of the united states has granted

congress all powers to legislate if you

take a look

at the blue box on the right of your

screen

article one and section one of the us

constitution revives

that all now we're going to stop for

just a moment

and review what we've just gone over

i want you to not look at the screen but

just take a moment and listen

close your eyes if you must or look away

every law starts with

what what start the law

it starts with an idea that's the first

thing it's an idea

someone has the idea for a law right

and then what happens to that bill

that bill is introduced

to a committee and

that bill where does it start does it

start

uh with the president's desk where does

it start

it starts in the senate or the house of

representatives which one

tricky question huh well actually if you

said either

you're correct it can begin in either

the house of representatives

or in the senate that bill is introduced

to either of them

and then it goes where to committee

what happens in committee remember we

just discussed it

what happens in committee

in committee a small group is there

to research to talk about and to make

changes

to the bill they can vote to accept or

reject

the bill as it is and its changes

before sending it to the floor

of either the house

or the senate very good very very good

and then if the majority vote for

and pass the bill then

what do you predict happens next so for

example

if that bill um was or

if i introduced that bill in the house

of representatives for example if i'm a

congressman

and i introduced this bill in the house

of

representatives and it has gone to

committee

and we've talked about it and we've made

changes

and we've voted on it finally

what happens to it now after everyone

has debated it and it's been voted on

it now goes to the other

chamber of congress right it goes to the

other chamber of congress

right now the president can choose to

sign the bill

or not and of course you recall from a

previous

lesson that the president

has the power to reject

a bill and not make it a law by a

special power called

it begins with the letter v

veto i'm sure most of you got that right

and that's great if you did if you

didn't that's okay

now you'll know what happens then i mean

can

they repeal the law because we just

understood you can change

that bill before it becomes a law but

once it becomes the law

can they repeal that can the president

repeal it

and or can the supreme court repeal it

no not really if you look at your screen

only congress can repeal a law and now

i'll take the opportunity

to remind you to go back to

your platform reading and there's more

information here but i want to just

remind you that

only congress can repeal

a law neither the president nor the

supreme court

can do this now the president

can refuse to enforce

the law and the supreme court cannot

repeal the law but what it can do

if someone challenges the law

and it that challenge comes to the

supreme court

the supreme court can choose to take

that case

and decide if the law

is constitutional or not and if the

supreme court decides

hey this law is not in harmony

with our constitution the law is no

longer valid essentially

so it appears that it's being repealed

but what happens is just not valid so

that's similar to being repealed but

it's not being repealed

only congress itself can repeal it so

congress can then decide

to go back and write another law

congress itself can actually repeal a

law

by introducing a new bill

that addresses the problems in the

previous law

and that can repeal whatever that law

was

i'd like to suggest to you to please go

ahead

and read more about this on your

platform and

at the website at the bottom of your

screen you can

teach your sibling you can teach your

mom or your dad or your grandpa

grandmother

some family member you can just

even if there's no one around what i'd

like to do sometimes

when i'm alone and i'm rehearsing

different things i'm learning

um i'm studying german i've been

studying for a long time actually

sometimes i'll just read aloud to myself

i'll just say

things aloud and try to help myself

remember

so you can do the same thing you can

tell someone or teach someone near you

or if there's no one there

you can simply pause the video for a

moment and go

over this information now of course i've

given you some sample sentences to

help you get started but you don't have

to use these feel free to make new ones

you can do it i believe in you let's go

now some of you i'm certain enjoy

playing games some of you play games a

lot and some of you don't

and for those of you who don't play

games a lot this will be something new

for you and for those of you

who don't like to read a lot but you

rather play games

this is your activity you're going to

play

a game to help you understand

how a bill becomes a law

there we are a bill rather that will

hopefully become a law

so you get to choose a district to

represent

and since i like the city i'm going to

choose a city

and um you'll read everything that's

there for you

just to say time i'm going to just press

through keep going through

you can look at the different

demographics you remember that word

demographics

these are things like age the density of

the city

the income level of the people in your

district and so forth uh even

gender i'm going to

[Music]

show you exactly how this is going to

look at the end

this is very important that you stay

with me on this this is really important

that you listen carefully because

at the end of your game you're going to

have

two screens one screen will show you the

final results

i want you to screen shot that

grab the screen or take a photo with

your smartphone

or you can even print it out

even you'll see on my results here

my bill passed i had 68

of the constituent support for the bills

and remember what a constituent is

a constituent is a person where in your

district whom you represent very good

i have a 61 chance

of being reelected to the house that's

pretty good i think

a decent chance of being re-elected and

of course as i mentioned earlier

the the bill that i chose was an energy

bill

and it passed so

you've taken a picture of that one or

screenshot of that one and then you have

a certificate

that certificate tells the date that you

played this game

it tells me your district it tells me

the bill that you

introduced it tells me how many

predictions you got correct in your

survey

it tells me everything we just went over

and

it tells me how much time you spent

on this game you can screen to

take a screenshot of it or you can

simply print it off

and then snap a picture of it and uh

both of those screens need to be

submitted to me

if you don't have one of those you'll

need to play the game again

until you get both of those so be

careful

be on the lookout for that at the end of

the game i

need to have a picture of both screens

how many screens

one no two screens i need to have

a photo of both of those screens your

certificate

and the last one which was your final

results okay

very good at this point

i would like for you to stop for a

moment

and i want you to reflect on the game

that you played

now if you haven't played the game

that's fine you can still pause and just

look over these questions

and then play the game but if you've

already played the game i want you to

stop

and think about how you uh played your

game

think about that and i want you to go

through these questions these questions

will take you no more

than a couple of minutes two to three

minutes playing the game

for example okay and then i'd like to

have you submit that

it's time for our exit ticket and you

have two questions in this lesson the

first question is or something that you

thought should have been in the lesson

but which wasn't and you'd like to share

it with me

please send it to me and i'll be more

than happy to include it in our next

lesson

and drop it on the platform of course

there's some sources here feel free to

go back and check these out

um for those of you who like funny and

weird

things uh the fourth

the fourth source down usa today that

one

is the one that takes you to the weird

laws in every state and if you'll recall

how many states there are

in america how many are there by the way

if you said 50 you're correct that would

mean there's 50

weird laws you get a chance to go over

and

probably laugh at some of them and if

you'd like more reading

you can go to the very first source and

check out

more on how laws are made

guys that was quite a bit we went

through but you made it through

and i'm very happy about that

at this time i'd like to say thanks for

paying attention

and i hope you learned quite a bit

that's all for now

great job i hope that you will enjoy

playing the game and i can't wait to see

your certificates

and your final results from your

activity

see you next time take care ciao