Civics & American Government

Course Information

Goals of the Course

  1. Students will acquire knowledge of Civics and American Government including specific names, terms, and concepts.
  2. Students will weave together the skills and content of civics, history, and geography and learn how they affect each other.
  3. Students will consider multiple perspectives, weigh evidence, and make sound judgments about the contemporary world.
  4. Students will develop media literacy skills which provide a framework to access, analyze, evaluate, create and participate with messages in a variety of forms — from print to video to the Internet. Media literacy builds an understanding of the role of media in society as well as essential skills of inquiry and self-expression necessary for citizens of a democracy
  5. These processes build student confidence as critical thinkers.
  6. Learners will leave prepared for advanced level courses in the social sciences and some of the analytical tasks common to the 21st century work world.

Course Syllabus

Civics & American Government Calendar

Course Description and Essential Knowledge

The purpose of this course is not simply to learn the structure and function of our government, but to analyze political decisions. We will study not only how our laws are made, but why they are made and how those decisions affect our lives (especially as Catholics). It is important to understand how the Constitution of the United States frames and guides our government, while making room for new situations and interpretations. We will study court cases (past and present), economic policies, political parties, Political Action Committees (PACs), public opinion, and various other forces that shape our complex and fascinating government. You should walk away from this course with more than enough political, governmental, and economic information to enable you to make informed decisions as participating and responsible members of society. We will also spend a lot of time discussing current events for students to gain competency in media literacy.

Student Course Resources

Magruder American Government Companion Website.

Each student will be given a copy of Magruder's American Government. Students will have required reading which will be assessed with short un-announced timed, reading quizzes. Students are allowed to refer to notes they took while reading as long as they are written in the student's own hand writing. I highly recommend using the companion textbook website and taking "Progress Monitoring Online" questions found with each chapter. Many questions on the reading quizzes will be taken from this website.

NOTICE: To access course unit folders, viewers MUST be logged into their QCHS Google Account.

Additional General Resources and Links

Digital Textbooks


Links

Crash Course US Government and Politics.

Craig Benzine teaches you about U.S. Government and Politics in this Crash Course. A link to the entire playlist can be found here.