Responsible citizenship, including civil and political participation is essential to maintain a representative government that truly represents the people of the United States. In this course, students learn about the structure of government and how it shares power at the local, state and federal levels. This course also explores founding principles that inspired the Constitution and Bill of Rights, preserving the freedoms that students experience daily. Students will examine the processes of each branch of government, the election process, and how citizens can impact public policy. The media, interest groups and, influential citizens provide examples of how the government can be effected by informed and active participants. Students will examine the U.S. Court system, and become a part of the process by participating in the judicial decision making process. They will also discover ways the United States interacts with countries around the world, through domestic policy, foreign policy and human rights policy.
Prerequisites: None
Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students will be able to...
- Identify the constitutional principles of representative government, limited government, consent of the governed, rule of the law, and individual rights
- Illustrate examples of how the government affects citizens at the local, state, and national levels
- Evaluate constitutional provisions establishing citizenship and examine citizenship criteria for citizens by birth, naturalized citizens, and non-citizens
- Evaluate the importance of civic and political participation
- Explain how the Declaration of Independence reflects the principles of popular sovereignty, social contract, natural rights, and individual rights
- Evaluate the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution reflects principles of law, checks and balances, separation of powers, republicanism, democracy, and federalism
- Explain how the Constitution distributes, shares, and limits power and responsibility
- Evaluate, take, and defend positions on the founding ideals and principles in American Constitutional government
- Evaluate significance of Supreme Court cases Gibbs v. Ogden, McCulloch v. Maryland, and Washington, D.C. v. Heller
- Explain why rights have limits and are not absolutes
- Analyze the structure, functions, and processes of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches
- Explain, analyze, and evaluate how technologies have impacted political communication
- Evaluate processes and results of elections as well as the factors that impact voter trends and turnout
- Describe judicial review and compare the roles of an appointed judge to an elected official
- Identify important civil rights that were expanded through amendments and legislation
- Explain how the world’s nations are governed differently and evaluate influence of a country’s foreign policy on other societies
Course Outline:
Module or Unit 1: What is Citizenship?
Module or Unit 2: Foundations
Module or Unit 3: Policy and Elections
Module or Unit 4: The Courts and Civil Liberties
Resources Included: Online lesson instruction and activities, opportunities to engage with a certified, online instructor and classmates, when appropriate, and online assessments to measure student performance of course objectives and readiness for subsequent academic pursuits.
Additional Costs: None
Scoring System: Michigan Virtual does not assign letter grades, grant credit for courses, nor issue diplomas. A final score out of total points earned will be submitted to your school mentor for conversion to their own letter grading system. Total course points may vary per student based on the items students test out of. The total points in the course may vary per student based upon the number of lessons which each individual demonstrates mastery through scores earned on lesson pre-tests. Students will be exempted from the points possible on a lesson quiz associated with successfully passing a related lesson pre-test.
Time Commitment: Semester sessions are 18-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1 or more hours per day in the course to be successful. Summer sessions are 10 weeks long: Students must be able to spend a minimum of 2 or more hours per day, or about 90 hours during the summer, for the student to be successful in any course. Trimester sessions are 12-weeks long: Students must be able to spend 1.5 or more hours per day in the course to be successful.
Technology Requirements: Students will require a computer device with headphones, a microphone, webcam, up-to-date Chrome Web Browser, and access to YouTube.
Please review the Michigan Virtual Technology Requirements: https://michiganvirtual.org/about/support/knowledge-base/technical-requirements/
Lightweight devices such as Apple iPads, Google Chromebooks, and tablets have limited support for Java or Flash which still appear in a small percentage of our catalog. While FLVS does not offer technical support for these devices, FLVS is working to remove Flash from their remaining course content. Students will need extra work-around steps or alternate browsers to engage with some portions of those courses. FLVS recommends students have a Windows or Mac based computer available to complete coursework in the event that your selected mobile device does not meet the needs of the course. Fully supported Operating Systems for FLVS courses include Windows (10 or higher) and MacOS (11 or higher). Supported Browsers include the most recent versions of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Apple Safari on devices that support Java and HTML5. Browsers need to be up to date, and some FLVS courses may require installation or enabling of the following Plug-ins: JavaScript enabled, Cookies enabled, Java installed. https://www.flvs.net/student-parent-resources/more/system-requirements
Instructor Support System: For technical issues within your course, contact the Customer Care Center by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.
Instructor Contact Expectations: Students can use email or the private message system within the Student Learning Portal to access highly qualified teachers when they need instructor assistance. Students will also receive feedback on their work inside the learning management system. The Instructor Info area of their course may describe additional communication options.
Academic Support Available: In addition to access to a highly qualified, Michigan certified teacher, students have access to academic videos and outside resources verified by Michigan Virtual. For technical issues within the course, students can contact the Michigan Virtual Customer Care by email at [email protected] or by phone at (888) 889-2840.
Required Assessment: Online assessments consist of formative and summative assessments represented by computer-graded multiple choice, instructor-graded writing assignments including hands-on projects, model building and other forms of authentic assessments.
Technical Skills Needed: No special skills are required beyond being able to operate a computer and use word processing software.
Additional Information: This course permits students to test out of content and therefore are not NCAA eligible. If you are enrolling a student athlete for Credit Recovery purposes, we recommend our full-length Plus courses.