Learning and Working Together

1. C3 Teachers College, Career, and Civic Life: Rules

Inquiry Questions: Are all rules good rules?

• Who makes the rules?

• What does it mean to follow the rules?

• Can the rules ever change?

Engage: Share the compelling question with the class and have students brainstorm initial responses. Teachers should chart the responses in order to compare them with students’ ideas at the end of the inquiry. See video: "Neil Patrick Harris Talks to Kids about Rules"

Purpose: This inquiry engages kindergartners in exploring the various ways people interact with and act upon rules and laws in society. The compelling question “Are all rules good rules?” assumes that while students generally enter school with some concept of rules and what it means to follow or break them, they may not yet understand who makes rules and how they change.

Outcomes: Students will...

• Construct an argument supported with evidence that addresses the compelling question.

• Create a digital recording of the oral argument.

• Create and label a wheel-spoke chart identifying the role of rule makers and authority figures.

• Illustrate and label a two-sided picture showing a rule being followed on one side and a rule not being followed on the opposite side.

• Complete a three-column chart showing the situation before a related law was changed, after the law was changed, and why the law was changed.

• Create and/or revise rules for the classroom or school and educate others about how to follow the new rules.

Citizenship:

Understand: Review the class and school rules.

Assess: Determine whether the classroom or school needs additional or revised rules.

Take Action: Create and/or revise rules for the classroom or school and educate others about how to follow the new rules.