Resources
Bloom's Taxonomy
Definition of Learning Categories (based on Bloom's Taxonomy)
The following information provides guidance to teachers who want to submit lesson plans for the CongressLink site. It describes learning objectives for students based on Bloom's taxonomy. CongressLink lesson plans should incorporate classroom activities that reflect the taxonomy.
Learning Category: Knowledge
Description: The learner recalls or recognizes information previously presented. This is the lowest level of learning but is indispensable as a basis for all understanding and critical thinking. Knowledge can involve remembering, memorizing, recognizing, and recalling information.
Useful Questions: Who, what, when, where, how? How do you define?
Useful Verbs: List, Match, Name, Locate, Group, Define, Recite, Label, State
Learning Category: Understanding/Comprehension
Description: The learner changes the form of the previously learned information by translation. The student grasps the meaning and intent of material. Comprehension involves reordering ideas, making estimate and predictions, and grasping the implication of a concept. Comprehension is the lowest level of understanding, but it is still an important level of thinking that must be achieved before higher-order thinking can take lace.
Useful Questions: How would you paraphrase? What are the main ideas? How would you summarize? What examples of . . . can you find?
Useful Verbs: Compare, Classify, Summarize, Describe, Relate, Diagram, Reword, Illustrate, Categorize
Learning Category: Application
Description: The learner has done something with what s/he has learned. Application is the ability to use previously learned material in new and concrete situations. Application involves problem solving, applying information to produce some result, and using facts, rules, and principles in new situations.
Useful Questions: How is . . . an example of . . . ? How is . . . related to . . . ? Why is . . . significant?
Useful Verbs: Apply, Solve, Try, Practice, Execute, Construct, Determine, Investigate
Learning Category: Analysis
Description: The learner breaks down an idea into its principal parts so that its organizational structure may be understood. Analysis involves the detection of the relationships of the parts and of the way they are organized. It involves subdividing something to show how it is put together, finding the underlying structure of a communication, identifying motives, and separating a whole into component parts. Analysis is the critical step between comprehension and synthesis, and it involves the skills used in application. Analysis combines understanding of the structural form as well as the content.
Useful Questions: What are the parts or features of . . . ? Classify . . . according to . . . . How does . . . compare or contrast with . . . ? What evidence can you list for . . . ?
Useful Verbs: Examine, Investigate, Categorize, Compare, Contrast, Classify, Relate, Divide, Infer, Determine, Discover
Learning Category: Synthesis
Description: The learner takes knowledge which is new to him/her and creates a whole from the bits and pieces. Synthesis involves putting together elements and parts to form a whole -- a pattern or structure not clearly there before.
Useful Questions: What would you infer/predict from . . . ? What ideas can you add to . . . ? How would you create/design a new . . . ? What might happen if you combined . . . ? What solutions would you suggest for . . . ?
Useful Verbs: Develop, Construct, Design, Hypothesize, Compose, Deduce, Formulate, Create
Learning Category: Evaluation
Description: The learner forms judgments based on facts, example and specific criteria. Evaluation involves making value decisions about issues, resolving controversies or differences of opinion, and developing opinions, judgments, or decisions. This is the highest level of learning because it contains elements of all of the other learning categories plus conscious value judgments based on clearly defined criteria.
Useful Questions: What would you infer/predict from . . . ? What ideas can you add to . . . ? How would you create/design a new . . . ? What might happen if you combined . . . ? What solutions would you suggest for . . . ?
Useful Verbs: Critique, Evaluate, Select, Justify, Support, Argue, Decide, Assess, Rate
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Resources
14 Units to Learn How a Bill Becomes a Law
The legislative process is a fascinating, important, and complex set of actions whose excitement and variability are not fully captured in the standard "a bill becomes a law" chart. While the formal stages in the legislative process are a good place to start, it is important to recognize alternative routes. Legislation passes or fails both on the quality of its content and the strategies of its opponents and proponents. This module uses text, graphics, and video to enliven students' understanding of the legislative process and to encourage them to explore its various facets in-depth.
An Effective Congress and Effective Members: What Does It Take?
What are the skills needed to serve effectively in Congress and how do politicians acquire them? Political scientist Barbara Sinclair answers these questions in an article that originally appeared in PS Online in September 1996.
How to Communicate Effectively with Congress
This selection from AdVanced Consulting's Advocacy Classroom provides expert tips for reaching your Congress member. Learn what a congressional office can and cannot (or should not) do for you, what staff members do, and how best to deal with them.
Historical Documents
Reference Sources on the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Reporting on Congress: The Role of the Media
Political scientist Stephanie Larson briefly answers these questions: Why teach Congress and the media? What would a comprehensive lesson on the media and Congress include? What approach can you take to teaching this information? What does scholarship teach us about Congress and the media?
The Ten Most Important Things to Know about the U.S. Senate
Betty Koed, Associate Historian of the U.S. Senate, identifies ten factors organized around six major themes: the Senate as a deliberative body, as protector of minority rights, as promoter of compromise, as “cooling factor” in the legislative process, as “states’ ambassadors,” and as advisory body.
The Ten (Really Twelve) Most Important Things to Know about the U.S. House of Representatives
Ray Smock, former historian of the U.S. House, singles out 12 factors key to understanding the so-called lower chamber. They range from the House as the “embodiment of representative democracy” to “the virtue of inefficiency.”
The Voices of Your Classroom are the Voices of Our Future
Writing in The Instructor (March 1967), Dirksen told America’s teachers: “Our challenge and responsibility are clear. If we would desire good citizenship, love of country, respect for heritage among our young, then we must teach them. And we must do so actively, consistently, and most of all early. It is essential that we provide children with an environment conducive to the learning about, practicing of, and valuing of good citizenship and responsible involvement in national life.”
What Do Students See When They Look at Congress?
Professor Jeffrey L. Bernstein presents a video report on his “think-aloud” methodology to explore what students see when they look at Congress. His research reveals the importance of understanding (1) the tension between majority rule and minority rights and (2) the essentially conflictual nature of legislative activity. When students have a low comfort level with these ideas, their ability to understand the work of the legislative branch suffers dramatically. He concludes this lecture by discussing how his findings can inform classroom teaching.
What Every Student Should Know about Congress
Congressional scholar Charles O. Jones responds to this question: “Suppose you had 15 minutes to describe the ten most important features of the U.S. Congress—what would they be?”
What High School Government Teachers Should Know about Congressional Elections
Jeffrey Bernstein, a political scientist at Eastern Michigan University, describes the central fact about congressional elections: incumbents are re-elected in overwhelming numbers. He also reviews how political scientists have explained this phenomenon and suggests ways for high school and college teachers to teach their students about incumbency.
What I Wish Political Scientists Would Teach about Congress
Former Congressman Lee Hamilton offers ten basic lessons about Congress ranging from “the legislative process is dynamic and complex” to “the country needs more politicians.”
Bloom’s Taxonomy
A classification of six “learning categories” to guide educators in teaching their students.
Glossary
A glossary of congressional terms.
Historical Notes
Notes on congressional events and procedures.
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