The European Union

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Instructor: Amie Billman-Poole

Students: 6th Grade

Objectives:

  1. Students will identify countries in the European Union (EU).
  2. Students will identify positives/negatives of group membership.
  3. Students will create a mock governing body for their school.
  4. Students will design a membership ID.

Materials:

  1. EU PowerPoint presentation
  2. Maps of the World and of Europe
  3. ID card materials
    • Camera
    • Paper
    • Pens
    • Markers
    • Cards that could be created on the computer (if possible)

Procedures:

  1. The teacher will provide a short Powerpoint lecture on the EU and its origins.
  2. During the lecture, the teacher will:
    • Identify all member countries.
    • Show a map of the world and ask students to label the EU member
      countries.
    • Explain that one benefit of EU membership is the ease of travel within member countries.
    • Explain the EU ID card (providing a visual) and explain that it acts as a passport with EU citizens travel within the EU.
  3. The class will discuss how the school is like the EU in that we have different teams (countries) but we are all a part of the same school and have certain things in common.
  4. Students will then list commonalities. Possible examples include:
    • Same money
    • All have the same school ID
  5. Students will then create a common ID that anyone in the school could use to identify them as a member of our school.
  6. Students will discuss the positive and negatives of group membership.

Evaluation:

After creating ID cards and discussing positive/negatives of group membership, students will create a mock governing body. Students will decide what type of government they have and how representation will be divided (if it was a representative government). Students will also create voting criteria and discuss how school decisions would be made. For example, they could discuss whether 8th grade would have more votes because of their status.