Hands-on Activity Pollution Politics

Learning Objectives

After this activity, students should be able to:

• Explain how a bill becomes law in the U.S. Congress and research legislation related to global warming.
• Incorporate source materials into their speaking and writing (for example, interviews, news articles, encyclopedia information).
• Write and speak in the content areas accurately using the technical vocabulary of the subject.
• Read, respond to and discuss literature that represents points-of-view from places, people and events that are familiar and unfamiliar.

Educational Standards

Each TeachEngineering lesson or activity is correlated to one or more K-12 science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) educational standards.

All 100,000+ K-12 STEM standards covered in TeachEngineering are collected, maintained and packaged by the Achievement Standards Network (ASN), a project of D2L (www.achievementstandards.org).

In the ASN, standards are hierarchically structured: first by source; e.g., by state; within source by type; e.g., science or mathematics; within type by subtype, then by grade, etc.

NGSS: Next Generation Science Standards - Science

International Technology and Engineering Educators Association - Technology

State Standards

Materials List

• Paper and pencils
• Internet access (for research)
• Climate Change Education Act Reading, one per group (optional since also available online)

Worksheets and Attachments

Pre-Req Knowledge

Familiarity with the greenhouse effect, and the topics of climate change, global warming, and air pollution emissions allowance trading.

Introduction/Motivation

You have been learning that air pollution does not respect human-made boundaries. Winds carry pollutants far from their points of origin. Without environmental legislation, it is unlikely much could be done, for example, about the effects of acid rain in locations in which the source of the pollution is far from the location of its impacts. Climate change and global warming are more especially challenging problems with more than one cause, and potential impact on everyone on Earth.

Today, you will learn how U.S. legislators — Senators and members of the House of Representatives — go about making environmental laws. You will first need to understand the basics of how a bill becomes law. Then you will study recent examples of proposed environmental legislation in summary form. Finally, you will write and present your own summary of an environmental bill that you think should be proposed to a legislature.

Procedure

Background

As students have been learning, pollution crosses boundaries. Understanding how environmental law works is integral to understanding the effort to control pollution. This activity focuses on global warming legislation to illustrate how a bill becomes law. The activity is based on the How a Bill Becomes a Law, online lesson prepared by the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives (see https://kids-clerk.house.gov/).

Working in pairs, students gain an understanding of the U.S. legislative process by visiting and reading the How a Bill Becomes a Law website. You may want to have the students make a flow diagram (see the Activity Extensions section) at this point. Next, they examine existing legislation using the search capabilities of https://www.congress.gov/, and read a summary of a global warming bill, S.477, Climate Change Education Act of 2019, as a pertinent example (the bill summary is also available as an attachment). Finally, they write their own bills and share them with the class.

Observing and Research

1. Your first task is to learn how a bill becomes a law. On the Internet, go to the Kids in the House website (https://kids-clerk.house.gov/) and search for "How a Bill Becomes a Law." Read through the steps and be ready to discuss the process in class. If your teacher requests, or if it helps you understand the material, prepare a flow diagram of the process (see the Activity Extensions section).
2. Next, look at the summary of the Climate Change Education Act, Senate Bill S.477. (See the Climate Change Education Act Reading attachment, which contains the main text of the summary, or locate it online. Click on https://www.congress.gov/. Type the bill number or title in the search box.)
3. Read the title and summary of bill S.477 and notice how it is formatted. You will use this same format when you compose your summary. Notice that the "title" is a summary of a summary; it serves as a kind of abstract. Some of the language in the summary is technical. Don't let that put you off. Notice the action verbs at the beginning of each new paragraph. They help you understand the point of each paragraph. Since February 2019, what has happened to this bill? What is its current status? (Investigate at https://www.congress.gov/.)
4. Lead a class discussion. Ask the students:

• Do you think that Senators and Representatives have a lot of reading to do?
• How do you identify a bill that has originated in the House of Representatives? In the Senate?
• What is a committee? Summarize a committee's role in the legislative process in a few sentences.
• What is the difference between how the Senate and the House handle time limits for a debate?
• If the President decides to take no action on an enrolled bill, what happens to that bill? Why do you think the President would choose to take such an action?
• Did you find the steps on How a Bill Becomes a Law to be complete? Why or why not? What other information would you like to know about how laws are made?

5. Continue the class discussion: Many citizens pay close attention to the actions of the Senators and Representatives. Ask the students: What is your opinion of bill S.477?

Thinking

The solution being proposed in S.477 wants to “increase the climate literacy of the United States by broadening the understanding of human-induced climate change, including possible consequences and potential solutions.” So, as students going through the Air Pollution lesson you are accomplishing what this bill is attempting to, which is trying to increase the amount of Americans that are aware of their impact on the climate.

Writing

Think of an environmental problem you feel concerned about. It does not have to be a major national or international problem. For the purposes of this activity it can be a local problem, perhaps an issue that affects your neighborhood, school or town. Propose a legislative solution for the problem in the form of a bill to be submitted to a legislative body. It could be your state government, city council or even your student government, but format your bill according to the model you have just studied. (Students at this grade level are not expected to write a simulation of an entire bill!)

Refer to the Climate Change Education Act Reading for the bill format and components. Include the Title (abstract), Sponsor (you), and Co-sponsors (if you are working with other students as a team). Write something appropriate for Latest Major Action and Status. In the Summary, provide the date "introduced" and begin your paragraphs with action verbs indicating the actions you propose be taken when the bill becomes law.

After student teams have presented their bills to the rest of the class, hold a class discussion. Ask the students: To what legislative body would you submit your bill? Why do you think your bill is important? Would everyone agree to pass your bill? Who would? Who would not?

Vocabulary/Definitions

abstract: A statement summarizing the important points of a text.

bill: A draft of a proposed law presented for approval to a legislative body.

filibuster: A tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches.

legislator: A person who creates or enacts laws, especially a member of a legislative body.

propose: To put forward for consideration, discussion or adoption. Suggest: propose a change in the law.

veto: The power or constitutional right of one branch or department of government to refuse approval of measures proposed by another department, especially the power of a chief executive (president) to reject a bill passed by the legislature and thus prevent or delay its enactment into law.

Assessment

Pre-Activity Assessment

Use call-out questions or a quiz to reinforce students' understanding of the greenhouse effect, the global warming theory and air pollution emissions allowance trading introduced or refreshed in the introduction.

Activity Embedded Assessment

Use call-out questions or a pop quiz during the Observing and Thinking discussions (in the Procedure section) to reinforce vocabulary and understanding.

Post-Activity Assessment

Assess students on how well they follow the format for their summary of proposed legislation, including their use of action verbs.

Troubleshooting Tips

Links to news articles can quickly become outdated. If any of the links in the References section are no longer available, find current articles by conducting a keyword search on "global warming" or other relevant keyword, at https://www.google.com/ under the "News" tab.

Activity Extensions

Make a flow diagram (a graphic that uses arrows and other symbols to represent how a process flows) that shows the steps a bill must go through to become a law. Illustrate each step with cartoons or other graphic symbols.

Activity Scaling

• Depending on the abilities of the students, adjust the written summary of proposed legislation to be an individual, team or class project.
• For older students, have them complete the attached Kids in the House Legislation Ditto as they independently research how a bill becomes a law at the Kids in the House website (see https://kids-clerk.house.gov/).

References

Copyright

Contributors

Supporting Program

Acknowledgements

The contents of this digital library curriculum were developed under grants from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), U.S. Department of Education and National Science Foundation (GK-12 grant no. 0338326). However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policies of the Department of Education or National Science Foundation, and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.