Analyzing a Legislative Bill Student Activity

Once students understand how bills become law, it's helpful for them to dig deeper and analyze legislative bills. In this activity, students are required to research a bill and create a Frayer Model that visualizes a bill or resolution in either the U.S Senate or House of Representatives.

Students should answer the following questions in corresponding boxes of their storyboard.

1. Title of your bill and number
   
2. Problem Your Bill is Addressing
   
3. Description of your bill
   
4. Should it be passed? Why?
   

Directions For Students:

1. Go to this web address: https://thomas.loc.gov/home/bills_res.html
   
2. Click “Search Bill Text”
   
3. Click on “Browse By Bill Number” and choose one of the House or Senate lists
   
4. (Optional) Using the search bar to find a topic of interest
   

Additional Information: In order to successfully accomplish this activity, teachers should browse the website beforehand to comfortably navigate the bills and resolutions page. Teachers should reinforce that most bills are created to either solve a problem or facilitate a facet of society. As the website is constantly updated with new bills and resolutions, teachers should encourage students to avoid certain bills (giving permission for a champion sports team to see the President of the United States, for example) and encourage them to find a bill or resolution that is truly geared at improving society.

Student Instructions

Create a frayer model analyzing a legislative bill that you chose from the website your teacher provided.

1. Click "Start Assignment".
2. In the first cell, identify the title and bill number.
3. In the second cell, summarize the problem your bill is addressing.
4. In the third cell, describe the bill.
5. In the fourth cell, identify if the bill should be passed and why.
6. Create an illustration for each cell using appropriate scenes, characters, and items.
7. Save and exit when you're done.