Digital Unit Plan Template

Unit Title: Comparing Political Systems Name: Joseph Beauregard

Content Area: Government Grade Level: 12
CA Content Standard(s)/Common Core Standard(s):
History-Social Science Content Standards
 12.9. Students analyze the origins, characteristics, and development of different political systems across time, with emphasis on the quest for political
democracy, its advances, and its obstacles.
 12.9.1. Explain how the different philosophies and structures of feudalism, mercantilism, socialism, fascism, communism, monarchies, parliamentary
systems, and constitutional liberal democracies influence economic policies, social welfare policies, and human rights practices.
 12.9.4. Describe for at least two countries the consequences of conditions that gave rise to tyrannies during certain periods (e.g., Italy, Japan, Haiti,
Nigeria, Cambodia).
 12.9.7. Describe the ideologies that give rise to Communism, methods of maintaining control, and the movements to overthrow such governments in
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland, including the roles of individuals (e.g., Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Pope John Paul II, Lech Walesa, Vaclav Havel).

Big Ideas/Unit Goals:

 What are the defining features of various political systems, such as democracies, monarchies, fascism, socialism, communism, etc.? How are they
structured? What are the ideologies and philosophies that inform these political systems?
 What are the similarities and differences between various forms of political systems, such as democracies, monarchies, fascism, socialism communism,
etc. that have existed in the past and present?
 Why do governments rise and fall? What conditions allow governments to rise or fall? How do people participate in the creation, maintenance, and
destruction of governments?

Unit Summary:
This unit will examine various forms of political systems that have existed all over the world in both the past and present. The political systems that will be
covered over the course of this unit are monarchy, democracy, socialism, communism, and fascism. In order to comprehend countries around the world in both
history and current events, it is important to understand how those countries were governed and what political systems were in place. Having this knowledge
should allow students to more effectively understand their own government here in the US as well as governments of other countries based on different political
systems.

The unit will begin with a teacher lecture that provides an overview of each of the political systems in the unit: monarchy, democracy, socialism, communism,
and fascism. Students will learn about the varying characteristics of these different political systems, including the philosophies and structures found in those
systems and governments based on them. They will see how the economic policies, social welfare policies, human rights practices, and other functions and
policies of governments are influenced by the political systems that those governments are based on. Students will see real-world examples of political systems
in action, learning about some of the countries that have existed under each of the political systems both in the past and in the present. During the lecture,
students will fill out guided notes. After the lecture has concluded, students will make use of the information they have written down and critical thinking skills
to answer questions about the different political systems.
The unit will continue with students comparing the characteristics of political systems, examining the similarities and differences that exist between them.
Students will be split up into small groups and each group will be assigned a political system. In that group, they will study their political system in greater depth
to become experts on the subject. They will work to create a graphic organizer that shows the characteristics of their group's political system and present it to
other groups. Students will then work on an activity where they compare and contrast their political system to the ones that have been assigned to the other
groups. Working together in their groups, students will create Venn Diagrams that display the similarities and differences between the political systems they
have chosen. They will then present their work to the rest of the class. Through this, students will gain a greater understanding of each of the political systems by
comparing them to one another.

The unit will conclude with each group of students choosing a country that had a government based on their group’s political system, such as Italy for fascism,
Poland for communism, etc. Each group will create a timeline of the history of the government they are studying for that country. The timelines will cover
important events, people, and other information related to the government and political system. The timeline will include what led to the creation of that
government and whether that government fell or continues to exist into the present day. Students will see what conditions allow particular political systems and
governments based on them to rise to power, as well as how the actions of people and governments lead governments to either fall or remain in power.

Through this unit, students will gain a greater understanding of many different kinds of political systems that have been used to create governments around the
world. This knowledge will be useful when learning about the history and current events of countries that are based on those political systems. Students can also
use this knowledge for their own civic engagement, whether they are engaging with their own local communities or the federal government. A greater
understanding of the political system their own country is based on, as well as those found in other countries, will better prepare students to act as informed and
engaged citizens.

Assessment Plan:
Entry-Level: Formative: Summative:

Brainstorming Political Systems – Students will
write down all their prior knowledge about each
political system
Guided Notes – Students will fill out the guided
notes for the teacher’s lecture about political
systems and answer the questions that are listed at
the end of the guided notes
Kahoot Quiz – Quiz about the properties of each
political system using the Kahoot app on the
students’ phones and other mobile devices
Venn Diagram – Student groups will create Venn
Diagrams to compare and contrast the properties of
political systems and then present them to the class
Timeline Presentation – Student groups create a
timeline of the history of a government based on
their group’s political system and then present it to
the class

Graphic Organizer – Student groups create a

graphic organizer for a political system and they
then present their graphic organizer to the other
groups

Advantages and Disadvantages – Students write op-

eds about the advantages and disadvantages that
are found in each political system

Flashcards – Student groups make flashcards about

important people and events in the history of a

Lesson 1 (Teacher Lecture)
Student Learning Objective:
Students will be able to
explain the nature of
various forms of political
systems, including the
philosophies and
structures found in those
systems.
Lesson 2 (Webercise/ iPad Lesson)
Student Learning Objective:
Students will be able to
compare and contrast
different political systems,
explaining how they are
similar and different from
one another, including in
philosophy and structure.
government that they can make use of while
creating their timelines
Acceptable Evidence
(Assessments):
Students will fill out the
guided notes for the
teacher lecture about the
political systems and
answer the questions at the
end of the guided notes.
Acceptable Evidence:
Students will work in
groups and pick a political
system to focus on. They
will then create Venn
Diagrams to compare and
contrast their political
system to other political
systems. Those Venn
Diagrams will be presented
to the rest of the class.
Lesson Activities:
The teacher will give a lecture using a Prezi presentation to cover the different political systems that are
included in this unit. Those systems are monarchy, democracy, socialism, communism, and fascism.
During the lecture, students will fill out guided notes that have been provided for them. The guided notes
give students many different activities to complete over the course of the lecture. The content of the
guided notes follows the content of the teacher lecture. At the end of the lecture, there are several
concluding questions that students will fill out that will require them to make use of all the information
they had written down previously. These questions also require some critical thinking and evaluations to
be made by the students in their responses. Filling out the guided notes and answering the questions will
serve as the assessments for this lesson.
Lesson Activities:
Students will be split up into groups of about 4 or 5 members per group. Each group will then pick a
political system that they want to focus on and become experts in. Using Google Docs, each group will
brainstorm all the information they know about that political system. They can use their guided notes
from the teacher lecture as well as the online resources that have been provided for students on the unit
website. This information will then be used by students to construct a graphic organizer of their political
system using Popplet on their iPads.
Then, each student group will be split into 2 halves: presenters and ambassadors. The ambassadors will
travel around the room to talk to other groups while the presenters will remain where they are. The
presenters will then show their group’s Popplet graphic organizer to the ambassadors and present the
information they gathered about their political system while the ambassadors take notes on Google Docs.
Afterwards, the ambassadors will present their group’s graphic organizer while the presenters take
notes. This process will repeat until all the ambassadors have visited each group in the class.
After all the groups have seen the graphic organizers of the other groups, they will then begin an activity
to compare and contrast political systems. Using their notes, each group will decide which political
system they think is most similar to their own and which is most different. Students will then create Venn
Diagrams comparing and contrasting those political systems using A Web Whiteboard on their iPads.
They will make a Venn Diagram for their group’s political system and the system they believed was most
similar and a second diagram for their system and the system they chose as the most different. When all
of the groups have finished both their Venn Diagrams, they will then present them to the rest of the class.
These presentations will detail the similarities and differences between the political systems and why the
group chose the systems they did. The Venn Diagrams and the presentations will be used to assess
student learning for this lesson.
Lesson 3 (Graphic Organizer)
Student Learning Objective: Acceptable Evidence: Lesson Activities:

Students will be able to
explain how governments
came to power and how
they either remained in
power or were replaced.
Students will work in
groups and create a
timeline of the history of a
government that was based
on their group’s political
system. The groups will
then present their timelines
to the class.
Students will still be in their groups of 4 or 5 from the previous lesson. Their group will still have the
same political system that they chose to focus on previously. Now, each group will choose one country’s
government that either existed in the past or present that was based on their political system, such as
Italy for fascism or Poland for communism. A list of some suggestions has been provided for students, but
they can choose any country’s government they wish as long as it is approved by the teacher.
Once they have selected a country’s government, each group will then conduct research about the history
of that government. They can use online resources, such as those found on the Unit Website, as well as
any sources they find in the school library. Using the information gathered from the research, students
will produce a timeline using Timetoast. The timeline will cover important people and events from the
history of the government they selected. It will include how the government rose and came into power,
actions the government took while in power, and whether the government fell or has continued to exist.
It should include images that relate to the people and events discussed. All sources of information must
be cited.

After all groups have completed their timelines, they will then present those timelines to the rest of the
class. The presentations will explain how the government rose and why it either fell or was able to
remain in power. Student presenters should be prepared to answer questions at the end of the
presentation. Student learning for this lesson will be assessed by the timeline created by the groups and
their presentation of the timeline.

Unit Resources:

 Comparing Political Systems Unit Website: This is the link to the unit website. All the lessons, assignments, assessments, documents, and other unit resources can
be found on this website.
 Prezi Presentation for Teacher Lecture: This links to the presentation for the Teacher Lecture so that students can access it at any point that they wish to for
study and review.
 Google Docs: This website will be used for group projects. Students can use it to write down all the group notes on a shared document that they all have easy
access to.
 Popplet: This website will be used for when the student groups create a graphic organizer for their group’s political system. They will use the Popplet app on
their iPads. They will then present this graphic organizer to other groups.
 A Web Whiteboard: This website will be used by the student groups to create their Venn Diagrams on their iPads to compare and contrast political systems. The
Venn Diagrams will then be presented to the rest of the class.
 Timetoast: This website will be used by the student groups to create their timelines of the histories of governments based on their group’s political system. The
timelines will then be presented to the rest of the class.

Useful Websites:

 Scholastic - Forms of Government: This is a good link to start with for finding basic descriptions about the many political systems and forms of government that
exist.
 The Quad - 20 Common Forms of Government: This is another good link for finding information about several different forms of government and political
systems.
 Types and Forms of Government: This YouTube video provides an overview you can watch about several political systems and forms of government.
 Crash Course - Capitalism and Socialism: This YouTube video from Crash Course provides a detailed overview of the philosophy and history of both capitalism
and socialism, as well as providing comparisons between them.
 Crash Course - U.S. Government and Politics: This YouTube playlist contains all of the videos Crash Course has created about the U.S. government and politics.
These videos can be very useful for finding information about the characteristics of American democracy.
 Encyclopedia Brittanica - Communism: This link provides a more detailed description about the philosophy and history of communism.
 Encyclopedia Brittanica - Fascism: This link provides a more detailed description about the philosophy and history of fascism.
 National Archives - America's Founding Documents: This link will allow you to view the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. These
documents provide information about the philosophy and structure of the U.S. government.
 Project Gutenberg - Communist Manifesto: This link allows you to read the Communist Manifesto. This reading will allow you to understand the main principles
in the philosophy of communism.
 Project Gutenberg - Readings on Fascism and National Socialism: This link will take you to several readings on the nature of fascism, including its philosophy and
primary principles.