Learning Goals
Students will be able to trace and explain how a bill moves through committee, floor debate, presidential veto, and veto override in the U.S. federal lawmaking process.
Students will be able to analyze how proposed federal laws could benefit or harm different Oregon communities by evaluating stakeholder impacts and civil rights implications.
Students will be able to construct a defensible claim about whether a proposed bill should pass using evidence, reasoning, and at least one fair counterargument with rebuttal.
Students will be able to present and respond to questions in a mock congressional hearing using accurate civic vocabulary, active listening, and collaboration with peers.
Students will be able to reflect on how exclusionary constitutional language and government decision-making affect civic responsibility and inclusion in a democracy.
Products
Individual Evidence-Based Bill Analysis and Hearing Brief
Each student writes an independent argument for or against the proposed bill, supported by a source log, credibility analysis, counterargument, and rebuttal. The brief is used as the student’s personal evidence base for the team hearing and expo.
Mock Congressional Hearing Station for the Bill to Law Expo
Teams run an interactive hearing station where they present the proposed bill, deliver testimony, answer audience questions, and defend their position through collaborative oral argument. Visitors review the bill, hear competing impacts, and vote after the team synthesizes evidence across members’ research.
No rubric has been generated yet.