Providing Services: Whose Role Is It Anyway?

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This lesson is most appropriate for High School classrooms.

Theme: What is the relationship between state and local governments

MCF Benchmark: Explain the advantages and disadvantages of a federal system of government.

Other benchmarks this lesson targets include: none

Materials needed:

  1. Reproducible "Governments in Michigan" table (see supplementary files below).
  2. Two colors of large colored "sticky notes"
  3. Rubric for "fishbowl" conversation (see web resource below)
  4. Construction materials for flyers: white paper, markers, magazines, and glue
  5. Template for flyers and rubric for assessment (see supplementary files below)

Methodological procedure:

1. THE GOVERNMENT SERVICES GAME

-- Tell the students "One of the functions of government is to carry out laws. Today we are investigating how governments provide services to carry out laws. As an introduction to learning about those services, we are going to play a game."
-- Divide the class into three teams. Then, explain the rules of the game.
-- The game will proceed as follows:
- Ask the students "What services should the government provide for its citizens?"
- The teams will have 3-5 minutes to generate as many ideas as possible and write them on large sticky notes. Each team will place their sticky notes on their side of the board. The first team done with the most sticky notes gets to choose which side of the board they will be using for the remainder of the game.
- The rest of the game is to be carried out like a race. Post two sets of headings on the board (one list of headings for each team) representing the types of governments in Michigan: state, county, township, city, village, special districts, and school districts.
- Call out a government division from those posted on the board, ie. state or district. One student from each group must go to the board and place a sticky note that corresponds to the division called under that heading on the board.
- Each group will have one copy of the "Governments in Michigan" table. The student can check his or her choice with the group. However, speed and correctness are important. The first correct group to select a sticky note and signify (by a signal of the teachers choice) that they are done gets a point.
- Each new turn, a new student must go up to the board.
- As a final or bonus question, give the teams approximately 2 minutes to look on the board, find the services that are provided by more than one part of government, and post different colored sticky notes under the appropriate headings. For example, if there was a yellow sticky note for law enforcement under the state heading, for the final question students should put a blue sticky note under city, township, village, and county. Teams can wager points before the final question is given (like Jeopardy). The team with the most right wins the bonus. The team with the most points wins the game.
-- At the end of the game, pass out copies of the "Governments in Michigan" table to all students.

2. THE FOLLOW UP DISCUSSION - This discussion should not take more than 15-20 minutes.

-- Ask the students, "Why are there services provided by both state and local governments? Let's think of some scenarios where it might be important to have more than one government providing a specific service." Answers to this question should be recorded on the board.
-- Be prepared to provide the students with prompts or sample scenarios.(See notes)

3. THE FISHBOWL(see author's notes for detailed explanation and set up instructions)

-- Pose the policy question "Should state and local governments in Michigan continue providing related services for the common good of its citizens?"
-- Divide the students up into five focus areas: law enforcement, public health, transportation, education, and recreation.
-- Tell the students "In order to answer the question I just posed, we will hold a "fishbowl" conversation to evaluate the state and local governments' role in providing services to its citizens. When you are sharing your ideas with your group, focus on these criteria for evaluating the governments' role:
--the knowledge needed to provide the service;
--the efficiency in delivering the service;
--the redundancy of providing the service; and
--the quality of the service provided."
Remind the students that these issues were just addressed in the follow up discussion. Answer any questions that the students have about the criteria.
-- Pass out the "fishbowl" conversation rubric to the students. Explain to the students, "The conversation should include making accurate statements, asking pertinent questions, using core democratic values, and responding appropriately. In this conversation you are not debating right or wrong; you are gathering more information by listening and sharing points of view." (See attachments for rubric)
-- Inform the students that the members of a group should divide the points that they need to discuss, as well as positive and negative view points of the criteria. For example, one or two students (depending on group size) in the law enforcement group would research the aspect of knowledge needed to provide the service. One student might look into the merits of having different levels of government control law enforcement and the other might look at the drawbacks, or assert that different levels are not needed to attain the knowledge needed to provide the service.
-- With the time left in class, the students should begin discussing and researching their services and viewpoints. Further preparation should be continued as homework.
-- The next class period have students set up the room.
-- Begin the fishbowl. Have one group share at a time, spending about 5-8 minutes in the "fishbowl."
-- After all groups have shared, check with students for any questions or clarifications they need answered. Many of these answers and clarifications can be asked of the group that was in the "fishbowl". Use this discussion and question period to reinforce the benefits of state and local governments providing related services for the common good of it citizens.

4. Assessment

-- With time left, students should begin work on an additional assessment activity.
-- Tell the students "You have been asked to help our middle school teachers. Their students do not understand how governments provide services for their citizens."
-- The students will then develop a three-fold flyer, convincing them that related services provided by state and local governments are beneficial to citizens. They will choose one service to serve as an example.
-- Students will use their data charts, as well as the notes from the 'fishbowl' conversations to complete the assignment. They can use provided construction materials to make the flyers or they can also choose to use Microsoft PageMaker or Publisher to create these electronically. Using the four criteria of knowledge, efficiency, redundancy, and quality from the conversations, create panels that show the advantages that the state and/or the local government has in providing this service. The students will make a cover panel to identify the service and a back panel for their name and date. They may include any images that they would feel would add to their text.

Author's notes:

Note to the introduction service game:

--Remind students that this is a brainstorming activity. Their ideas do not have to be formal. Before starting the game, provide the students with one or two examples, ie. picking up the trash or fire fighters. You may want to be prepared with a few pre-made sticky notes in case the students' ideas are not sufficient and to complicate the game. You also might want to prepare some random information cards that are not government services in order to complicate the game. The prize for winning the game, if there is to be one at all, is to be determined by the teacher.

Notes on the follow up discussion:

--* This is the "who cares" element of the lesson bring in as many scenarios as possible.
--For example, in the area of law enforcement, it is important to have more than one government providing the service. Rather than laying out the scenario, ask students for their opinions in order to get them to realize why it is important. For instance, to help them understand the idea of knowledge required to provide the service, ask them if they think a police officer from the Upper Peninsula, Farmington Hills, or Detroit could easily switch jobs one day. Generate a discussion about the criteria to be used in the fishbowl discussion later in the lesson.

Notes on the fishbowl:

--Encourage students to think in terms of examples if it helps them better grasp the concepts.
--It could be beneficial to prepare a different scenario for each of the five groups and have their fishbowl discussion take place in terms of the scenario (a what if). If you choose to do this, make sure that there are both positive and negative elements to having multiple governments providing one service in your scenario.
-- A "fishbowl" conversation is where a group of students are placed in the middle of the classroom to hold a substantive conversation. The other students are placed around the small group; they are looking in on the conversation. The students on the outside should be taking notes during the "fishbowl". These conversations can be captured with video or audiotape, as needed.
--To set up the room for a fishbowl, arrange most of the desks in the room in a circle. Place four or more desks in the center of the circle, an equal number facing north and south, so that students seated at these desks would be facing each other.
--Have all students sit on top of their desks around the circle.
Students seated outside of the fishbowl should take notes as the debate progresses, in order to determine which side has made the most compelling arguments.

Assessment strategies:

The fishbowl discussion and the pamphlet at the end of class are to be used as assessment tools. Rubrics are provided.

Enrichment suggestions:

As an additional enrichment exercise, students may write articles for HighestWire addressing stories in which state and local government services are of interest.

Available downloads:

  • Pamphlet Rubric, (23 K)
    This rubric lays out the requirements and grading criteria for the pamphlet portion of the assessment.
  • Fishbowl Rubric, (23 K)
    This rubric provides the requirements and grading criteria for the fishbowl/ group discussion portion of this lessons assessment.
  • Movie, (23 K)
    This is a movie to supplement the lesson. It can be viewed using RealMedia Player.

Suggested web sites:

  • Michigan in Brief
    This website addresses more than 40 Michigan public policy issues, presents a glossary of terms, background, a nonpartisan discussion of policy options, and sources of additional information. It describes the three branches of state government, explains the state budget process, contains appendices presenting economic and census data about the state, and describes the operation and role of the Michigan nonprofit sector.
  • Michigan Township Association
    This website was created by the Michigan Township Associaton, a non-profit group thats purpose is to keep its members informed of current township issues.