The Case of the Vote That Counts Sixty-Seven Times

What students do

1. Learn. A short case reading follows the Constitutional Convention: the Virginia and New Jersey Plans, the Great Compromise that gave every state two senators, the Three-Fifths Compromise read correctly, and the one clause of the Constitution that cannot be amended.
2. Review. Students read a real graph of the California-to-Wyoming population ratio since 1900 and explain why it rose from about 16 to 1 to about 67 to 1 while the rule never changed. A short webquest sends them to the Constitution's own text at the National Archives.
3. Try. Auto-graded questions check the concepts, then a short claim-evidence-reasoning response asks them to evaluate the claim that the Senate is "obviously undemocratic."

The numbers students work with

What's included

• Self-grading Google Form (force-copy link, so it lands in your own Drive)
• Teacher lesson plan with pacing, standards and the full answer key, including model answers for the written questions (PDF)
• Works for in-class, sub days, homework or homeschool
• Aligned to the C3 Framework (D2.Civ.4.9-12) and CCSS RH.9-10.1, RH.9-10.7, WHST.9-10.1

How to use it

Open the link, click Make a copy, and assign the copy through Google Classroom or share the link directly. Grades appear in the form's Responses tab. No printing required, but the lesson plan includes the questions and answers if you want a paper version.