Web Project #2 Name: _________________________ Date: _________

Bills & Laws!

The Game of How a Bill Becomes a Law

Objective

Your Teacher needs your help to complete a game. This game is based on bills (START) becoming laws (FINISH).

What You Need

a glue stick (maybe)

a computer with internet access

a way to print out the game map/steps*

small card-sized pieces of paper or index cards

The Rules of the Game (So Far)

The players start with a token (pawn, coin, tiddly-wink etc.) on the START. They represent bills before congress. They are to try and advance up the track on Capitol Hill until they arrive at the FINISH where they become laws.

How a player advances one step/block/segment is by answering a question from the question bank. A successful answer means the player advances one. An incorrect answer means the bill is defeated and must START again!

Of course, I will consider any suggestions/additions to the game rules.

For simplicity’s sake, start with the youngest player first. Each player gets a chance to answer one question before a new round starts, and so on.

How You Will Help

I need your help in two ways.

1) What you need to do figure out how many steps/blocks/segments to make on the track. Each should be labeled appropriately. For example, the first step is “Introduce the Bill”. You should put some small explanation about what happens there as well, for example after “Introduce the Bill” you should write “Anyone can write the bill and try and get a congressperson to introduce it” or something to that effect.

2) Next, I need a question bank to make the game work. I need you to devise questions based on Bills, Laws, or the Constitution itself. Write them on slips of paper or index cards. They should be clearly answerable and in the context of this lesson. I need at least as many from each student as there are steps on your game map. You may do more, of course. The best student questions will be selected for the final version of the game.

How to Get Started

Locate this website: http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa010899.htm

Print out the game map (or use the one I give you)

Determine how many steps you will need. Draw lines or arrows where necessary. You may do the steps separately and glue them in if necessary.

For each step, it would be nice (but it is not required) to coordinate the questions with the action of the step. For instance, the first step could be “Can anyone write a bill?” (yes). But we will need many more questions than steps, so please go ahead and think them up.

How You Will Be Graded

1) Properly fill out sequence of “Bills & Laws!” (10 points)

2) Meaningful, sensible questions – (2 points each -- max of 20 points)

3) Meaningful suggestion to game rule (extra credit – max of 5 points)

* If you don’t have printer, I will provide you with printouts.

The Game Map

Click here: GAME MAP for MS Word version, or see below: