This lesson contains multiple summative options. One is directly related to the Solution Plan Project; the other is not, though completing it would still help your students progress towards completing the project. If you are treating this lesson as a stand-alone entity (rather than teaching it along with other lessons in the Protecting Nebraska Waters curriculum), or if your students are not completing the Solution Plan Project, you should choose Option 1. In making your decision, you should also keep in mind how much time you want to dedicate to this assessment, as well as which option is the most natural “next step” in your students’ learning, regardless of whether or not they are completing the Solution Plan Project. 

The students will respond to a series of reflection questions, either in an essay or within the context of a dialogue. The questions for these assessments, as well as some general instructions and tips, can be found in the documents below:

Lesson 5 Essay Questions

Lesson 5 Dialogue Questions 

Although they are designed to measure the same knowledge and skills, the questions for the two different assessments are formatted a little differently, due to the varying nature of essays and dialogues. For instance, questions that require students to apply what they learned to their own plans and goals do not always translate well to dialogues, which require a steady back-and-forth between students. If a question is not debatable, it does not really belong in a dialogue. In both cases, you may choose to have the students respond to all or just some of the reflection questions, depending on how much time you can devote to this assessment. In addition, you may choose to select questions from both lists and incorporate them into one assessment.

Essay prompts:

• Summarize the process of how a bill becomes a law in the Nebraska Legislature. Identify ways in which a citizen can participate in this process. 
• In your opinion, how important is a citizen’s right to testify at a committee hearing? Explain your reasoning. 
• You are a student, and you want to promote the protection and improvement of Nebraska’s water quality through committee hearings. 
  1. In what ways could you use committee hearings to accomplish your goals? What are your options? 
  2. Which of these options would you choose, and why?

Discussion prompts:

• How do the structure and practices of the Nebraska Unicameral encourage citizens to participate in state government? 
• Based on your knowledge and experience of how legislation is designed and debated, do you think the process is the best suited for changing society, promoting the common good, and/or protecting rights? Why or why not?
• Why is it important to participate in state government? 
  1. How valuable do you think committee hearings are to Nebraska senators? How valuable do you think committee hearings are to Nebraska citizens?
  2. What makes a strong testimony?
  3. Are some testifiers “better” than others because of their background or experience? (i.e. is an expert scientist’s testimony more valuable than an average citizen’s?)
  4. Should citizens be expected to participate in state government beyond exercising their voting rights?  Why or why not? 
  5. Should a committee be allowed to speak in private, meaning without citizens knowing what they discussed?
• If we were to pursue our water quality improvement goals by participating in a committee hearing, would we be more successful doing so directly or indirectly (by testifying at a hearing or by supporting someone else to testify on our behalf)? Explain your reasoning.
• Do you think it would be worth our time and effort to try to accomplish our goals by participating in a committee hearing (directly or indirectly), or would we be better off pursuing different options?

The students will write 300 – 500 words about how what they learned in this lesson could apply to their end-of-semester civic solution plan project. To provide them with a little more guidance, attach the following reflection prompts to the assignment:

• How might participating in a committee hearing (either directly or indirectly) play a role in your civic solution plan project? Describe your potential options. 
• Based on what you learned about participating in a committee hearing in this inquiry, how likely are you to incorporate this method of civic participation into your civic solution plan? Do you think it would be worth your time and effort? What are some pros and cons of choosing this option?