State Government Investigation

Grade Levels: 4 - 8

Overview

Students use the Internet to identify key offices and officeholders in their state's government.

Objectives

Students will practice using the Internet to locate information about state government offices, their directors, and their missions.

Materials

• Copies of the worksheet State Government Investigation
• State Offices Matching Quiz

Procedure

1. Working in twos or threes, students will use the Internet to find information on a state.
   
   
2. Students will fill in the worksheet. Students will need to look for the name of the director (information may be located in different places, depending on the website) and the purpose of the office (most sites provide a mission statement or summary).

Assessment

• Have student groups exchange their papers and check the answers as a class. Because answers for each state are different and the information is cyclical, no answer key is provided here. You may choose either to make your own answer key, or have student volunteers show the students the answer they've found on the Internet using a computer connected to an overhead projector.
  
• After students have reviewed their worksheets, have them put their work away and complete the State Offices Matching Quiz.
  
• Check their answers using the State Offices Matching Quiz Answer Key.

Extensions

• Use the Government and States themes on TeacherVision^® for lessons for all grade levels.
• Split the class into two teams. Allow about five minutes for each team member to write a brief (one- to three-sentence) scenario describing but not naming a state office. For example, "You are building a series of houses on land near a creek and need information about the water quality. Which office would you need to visit?"(Answer: the Office of Geological Survey.) Students should read their questions to the other team, game-show fashion, with a score kept for the State Government Guru award.
• Have students research one of the office directors (e.g., governor, attorney general) using search engines in your state's leading newspaper. They should locate at least three articles about this person.