Education Technology


NCSS: What Should Become a Law?

Activity Overview

Students receive 10 different prospective laws to investigate what should become a law. They must answer, in secret ballot, whether or not they favor or oppose the law, and then interview the others to determine their stance on this new legislation.

Before the Activity

See the attached Activity PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity.

Print the appropriate pages from the Activity for your class.

Install the CellSheet(tm), LearningCheck(tm), and NoteFolio(tm) Apps on the students' graphing calculators following the attached instructions.

Make sure each student has a TI-83 Plus or TI-84 Plus graphing calculator loaded with both the LearningCheck(tm) and CellSheet(tm) applications. Make enough copies of the Student Work Sheet, Researching Laws, so that each student can have a copy.

During the Activity

  • Distribute the appropriate pages from the Activity to your class
  • Distribute the LearningCheck(tm) file(s) to your class using TI Connect(tm) and the appropriate TI Connectivity cable
  • Follow the procedures outlined in the Activity


  • Students will:
  • Examine persistent issues involving the rights, roles, and status of the individual in relation to the general welfare.
  • Locate, access, analyze, interpret, and evaluate sources and examples of citizens' rights and responsibilities.
  • Practice forms of civic discussion and participation consistent with the ideals of citizens in a democratic republic.
  • Students will act in a virtuous and ethically responsible way as members of society.
  • Participate in activities to strengthen the "common good," based upon careful evaluation of possible options for all citizens.
  • After the Activity

    Review the students' progress on the assignment. The students should conduct their interviews as homework. Use the instructions that follow this section to review the use of the CellSheet(tm) application. Inform the students that the class will have a substantive conversation about the issues contained in the vote as well as the different positions on each of the issues. During this conversation, the class will be videotaped. To successfully complete this task, students must come prepared for this conversation and add insight to the group discussion.