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.
Directions For Students:
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.
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Student Instructions
Create a frayer model analyzing a legislative bill that you chose from the website your teacher provided.
Help students choose impactful bills by guiding them to focus on legislation that addresses real-world societal issues rather than ceremonial or symbolic bills. This ensures their analysis is meaningful and relevant.
Show students how to assess whether a bill addresses a significant problem or improves lives. Encourage them to look for bills that affect education, health, safety, or the environment for deeper analysis and classroom discussion.
Facilitate a class discussion to generate criteria for choosing a bill, such as relevance, impact, and interest. This collaborative process empowers students to make informed and thoughtful selections.
Walk students through using the website’s search functions and filters to find bills on topics that matter to them. Visual demos and step-by-step instructions help students confidently navigate bill databases.
Invite students to reflect on issues they care about in their communities or personal lives. This makes the activity more engaging and ensures their legislative analysis is personally meaningful.
To help students analyze a legislative bill, guide them to research a real bill using reputable sources like the U.S. Congress website. Have them break down the bill’s title and number, identify the problem addressed, summarize the bill, and decide if it should be passed, explaining their reasoning. Using a Frayer Model or similar graphic organizer makes analysis structured and engaging.
A Frayer Model is a four-cell graphic organizer that helps students deeply analyze a concept. For legislative bills, each cell can cover: the bill’s title/number, the problem it addresses, a description of the bill, and an opinion on whether it should pass (with reasons). This structure encourages critical thinking and clear presentation.
Students can find real legislative bills on the official U.S. Congress website at thomas.loc.gov. They can search by bill number, browse House or Senate lists, or use keywords to find bills on topics of interest for analysis.
Teachers should explore the bills website beforehand to assist students effectively, encourage selection of bills that address meaningful societal issues, and remind students to avoid purely ceremonial bills. Reinforce that bills are meant to solve real problems or improve society.
Analyzing legislative bills helps students understand how laws are made, develop critical thinking and civic literacy, and see the real-world impact of government decisions. It empowers them to engage thoughtfully with current events and public policy.