Lesson introducing the US Constitution - students should have their own copy of the constitution to refer to throughout the study of US government (most textbooks have a copy in the back, but a paper copy is good for annotating and highlighting throughout the course)

Powerpoint and handout for lesson examining the democracy and sovereignty enshrined in the UK constitution

Lesson examining the role of the federal bureaucracy in supporting the president in his roles.

Lesson examining the roles, functions and significance of the US cabinet and Executive Office of the President. *May need to be updated to keep up to date with cabinet changes!*

Lesson examining the flexibility of the constitution - how and why has the constitution managed to survive? How flexible is it? Encouraging pupils to make a thorough assessment of how the constitution works in practice.

Lesson examining how parliament holds and is held accountable

Powerpoint and supporting documents for introductory lesson

This lesson examines the legislative process in the UK, including key vocabulary.Pupils are encouraged to independently research a piece(s) of legislation they are interested in to use as contextual examples in exam answers.

MODEL ANSWER; Which is the most accurate description of US government: 'separated powers' or 'shared powers'? 15 mark exam question for Constitution topic at A2 (Edexcel Unit 4C; Governing the USA)

Lesson focusing on the reforms made to the constitution

Lesson encouraging pupils to examine the different newspapers (you will need to provide a recent copy of each newspaper) focusing on both content/price/target audience as well as the political bias of the major newspapers.

Lesson examining how difficult the legislative process in the US political system is

Lesson introducing the concept of judicial review and then progressing to a more in depth examination of how it has been used, and if it was the intention of the framers of the constitution to include judicial review. Includes group activity for pupils to interpret supreme court rulings.

Lesson introducing the structure of Congress and constitutional requirements to be a senator or representative in addition to asking pupils to think about extra-constitutional requirements that may be expected by the public.

Independent Student booklet/activity that can be accessed and completed online (and submitted) via Google Drive.

Lesson examining the US presidential system of government - good for helping students to identify key differences from UK system

Lesson examining constraints on prime ministerial power in the UK political system

PM & Cabinet Unit - Fact Test (Governing the UK)

Lesson examining the extent of the impact of the coalition on prime ministerial power - can be supplemented with resources from previous lesson on PM dominance.

Lesson introducing the hung parliament and the resulting coalition government